HCFCD Director Tina Petersen Keeps Her Job … For Now
5/15/2026 – Yesterday, at the 5/14/2026 Harris County Commissioners Court meeting, Commissioners discussed the job performance of the Flood Control District Executive Director, Tina Petersen, Ph.D., in executive session. After coming out of the discussion, Commissioners announced that they were taking “no action” re: Petersen.
Petersen has come under increasing pressure to produce results on $322 million worth of projects funded by HUD Community Development Block Grants for Disaster Relief (CDBG-DR). They have a looming February 28, 2027, deadline.
Hidalgo Putting Petersen’s Performance Back on Agenda
Despite taking “no action” on Petersen this week, in a lunch-time press conference yesterday, County Judge Lina Hidalgo, said she was putting Petersen’s performance back on the agenda for the June Commissioner’s Court meeting.
Here is a transcript of her press conference (the Petersen portion only).
Addressing schedule slippage on CDBG-DR projects with tight deadlines, Hidalgo said, “The best I can do is place my trust in somebody else that might bring a different kind of energy, a sense of urgency and a new relationship with our partners at other levels of government.”
Hidalgo added, “Every day that passes is a day in which perhaps we’re not working as quickly as we could be working.”
When asked about the probability of meeting the General Land Office deadline of February 28, 2027, Hidalgo replied,
“Given where we are and given the reports we have so far, I don’t see how they [the DR projects] will be done on time.”
Lina Hidalgo
Referring to other leaders at the federal and state levels who will have to make a decision about granting an extension, Hidalgo said, “If they’re anything like me, they will want to see a change as well. So that’s where I’m coming from.”
“I don’t think she’s the right person to continue to see this through. I don’t think that gives us the best shot at inspiring the confidence that the other levels of government will need to bet on Harris County,” Hidalgo added. “
Ramsey Remains “Extremely Concerned”
Later, back in the meeting, Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey announced that he “remains concerned” about whether Petersen is achieving results and being transparent.
“There have been some delays internally in terms of when we get projects out, when we get projects bid. That’s very clear and we can go through a lot of detail related to that,” said Ramsey. “I think the GLO’s concerned that we’re not doing our job. So that concerns me. I get concerned when they tell me that they’re having trouble getting data.”
Ramsey expressed concerns about how transparent HCFCD was being about the status of projects. In referring to a detailed report (that commissars demanded from Petersen in the previous meeting), he said to her, “I shouldn’t have had to come to Commissioner’s Court to get support from this court to ask you to provide information to the GLO.” Then he added, “Every bit of data that we requested … was specifically needed by the GLO and they were not getting it.”
Speaking to Petersen, he said, “I’m not going to take for granted what you’re telling me. It’ll be verified by Administrator Carter [the country administrator] in great detail in the coming days.”
Ramsey concluded, “Clearly, this is urgent. I’m glad you were able to do a report that we asked for, but I remain extremely concerned.”
Petersen’s Presentation Focused Largely on Need for Deadline Extension
At the end of the meeting, Petersen appeared before commissioners, ostensibly to update them on the status of the projects. She did present a series of one-page information sheets that show a timeline for each CDBG-DR project. However, her presentation veered off extensively into a discussion of how frequently she had requested extensions, dating back years.
It was as though she was trying to make a case for “there was never enough time to do these jobs.” Three of her PR people vehemently denied that was her focus.
But in her half hour at the podium, Petersen mentioned the word “extension” 16 times and the need for more time another dozen or so.
What do you think? Here are:
- The presentation Petersen showed the Court.
- A link to the video on the Harris County Commissioners Court website. Click on Departments (Part 4 of 4). The discussion of Item 390 begins at 3:41:00 into the meeting.
- The transcript of Petersent’s presentation and the discussion on Item 390.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/15/26
3181 Days since Hurricane Harvey
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
