Harris County Commissioners Court Agendas Reflect HCFCD Slowdown

11/7/2025 – Seven years into what was supposed to be a ten-year flood bond, less than 40% of the money has been spent. As a result of slower than expected project execution, Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) is running out of time to complete projects associated with hundreds of millions of dollars in matching grants. It has also lost hundreds of millions of dollars in purchasing power due to inflation.

Faced with that potential loss, you would think HCFCD would be scurrying to launch projects. But the last two commissioners court agendas offer a glimpse into an institution hampered by malaise.

October 30 Agenda

The October 30th agenda showed just four items under Flood Control District.

• One had to do with recognizing a vendor name change
• Another had to do with buying out a single property to prevent future flood damage to it
• Two had to do with purchasing four tracts of land for stormwater conveyance improvements.

In fairness, the agenda included several additional Flood-Control items under the Purchasing department. They included:

• Five vendor name changes
• Two maintenance contract extensions
• Feasibility study for a detention basin in the Greens Bayou watershed
• A bid calendar
• A professional services procurement policy

Under Transmittals, Commissioners received a Preliminary engineering report for mainstream improvements to Halls Bayou that was completed 4.5 months earlier. They also received notice that two mowing contracts would be advertised for bidding.

The agenda included no capital-improvement or construction contracts that would actually reduce flood risk.

November 13 Agenda

The 11/13/25 Commissioners Court Agenda lists five items under Flood Control District.

• A $350,000 request to have the Houston Advanced Research Center provide support services for the resilience program managed by AECOM. Amount: $350,000.
• One million dollars for engineering services for sediment removal in Addicks Reservoir channels
• $100,000 staff-augmentation contract for engineering and inspection services related to sediment removal
• A $1.09 million engineering contract to support channel erosion repairs along Cypress Creek
• $190,476 for archeological and environmental consulting along White Oak Bayou.

However, the Engineering Department did ask permission to buy or condemn several pieces of property related to HCFCD channel improvements.

Also, under Purchasing, Flood Control listed:

• A contract extension
• First-aid supplies
• A $424,450 contract for hazardous tree removal
• A new maintenance-portfolio-management program

HCFCD also transmitted several documents to Commissioners:

• The fourth annual report of the Community Flood Resilience Task Force prepared by a vendor
• Notices of four Flood-Control projects/contracts being advertised for bids by Purchasing:
  • Storm-sewer-outfall repairs
  • Channel rehab within the Barker Reservoir
  • A stormwater detention basin at FM1960 and FM2100
  • Nuisance-animal control

So, out of those two meetings…

HCFCD is only bringing one new capital-improvement construction project to the table that would reduce flooding in the last month.

That’s the Forest Green Regional Detention Basin at FM2100 and FM1960.

Comparison to Previous Management

Flood-mitigation spending at HCFCD has fallen to less than half of what it was under previous management.

Commissioners Court agenda’s in recent years reflect that. I opened a random selection of agendas both before and after the peak shown above.

The number of HCFCD items on agendas has also fallen by approximately half.

Most agendas sampled after the peak contained half the number of HCFCD items compared to agendas before the peak.

I asked a half dozen sources why. They pointed to a combination of factors. Most frequently mentioned:

• Less sense of urgency on the part of leadership
• Difficulty of making decisions that cause delays
• Personnel turnover and loss of institutional knowledge
• Need to hire outside consultants to fill the gaps in knowledge
• A longer purchasing cycle that includes the new Department of Equity and Economic Opportunity and the Equity Prioritization Framework.
• IT support issues

Ironically, all that could harm disadvantaged constituents that the majority on commissioners court says need help the most – minorities with low-to-moderate incomes. Reportedly, more than 70% of the $322 million in projects endangered by a looming February 28, 2026 deadline would benefit that group.

At the current rate of one new construction project a month, it could take HCFCD another 11 to 12 years to complete the 137 projects remaining in the Flood Bond.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 11/7/25

2992 Days since Hurricane Harvey