6/5/2026 – Harris County published the agenda for its 6/11/26 Commissioners Court meeting today and Item #483 relates to the employment of Dr. Tina Petersen, PhD, PE. It reads “Request by the Commissioner of Precinct 3 for an Executive Session pursuant to Texas Government Code Section 551.074(a) for discussion and possible action regarding the Executive Director of the Harris County Flood Control District.”
Petersen’s performance has come under increasing scrutiny lately because of the possible loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Petersen press conference in 2023 announcing funding availability for East TC Jester CDBG-DR projectTC Jester East Basin 1B in April 2026 still not under construction.
The potential loss relates to looming deadlines on projects which Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) will miss according to its own schedules. HCFCD’s May 18, 2026, update on the projects showed that 19 of 29 CDBG projects worth $649 million will miss their deadlines:
February 28, 2027 for 6 of 11 CDBG-DR projects valued at $245.8 million
March 31, 2028 for 13 of 18 CDBG-MIT projects valued at $362.7 million.
That raises several questions:
Why will projects miss deadlines?
Who is responsible?
Can anything be done to preserve the funding?
Why Projects Could Miss Deadlines
In recent meetings, as Harris County Commissioners became increasingly concerned about impending deadlines; they forced Petersen to become specific about where projects stood, instead of offering up rosy generalizations.
As alarms started sounding, Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia, who reportedly lobbied to hire Petersen, became her chief apologist. Garcia pointed fingers at the Texas General Land Office, which administers HUD funds in Texas. He complained about undefined problems with the 2018 flood bond. And he constantly wailed about “there was never enough time.”
Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey PE bemoaned the lack of hard data coming from HCFCD that would let commissioners make informed decisions and offer help. He also tried to speed up county processes.
Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis simply warned Petersen about “a day of reckoning.”
Precinct 4 Commissioner Leslie Briones expressed deep concerns.
Judge Lina Hidalgo said bluntly that she had lost all confidence in Petersen.
When Petersen finally submitted two detailed reports on May 1 and May 18, the depth of the problem became apparent.
But even before then, anyone who looked closely at how long it takes to construct these projects and how little time remained could see two trains heading down the tracks toward each other.
The Mercer Stormwater Detention Basin illustrates the problem. While not part of this particular group, it has a similar scope. The project should have taken Petersen a year to build on an expedited basis, but took four years. To put that in context, less than 9 months remain before the 11 CDBG-DR projects reach their deadline of February 28, 2027.
But the slowdown wasn’t just in construction. The Preliminary Engineering Report on the Kingwood Diversion Ditch was supposed to take 300 days and took more than 1400.
These projects hint at causes for delays that go far deeper than Garcia suggests. They are unrelated to the GLO and HUD.
Who is Responsible for Missing Deadlines?
The buck stops with Tina Petersen.
Since announcing the $322 million CDBG Disaster Relief grant for HCFCD in 2023, the GLO has tried to speed things up. GLO even embedded as many as seven people within HCFCD to help accelerate submission of data related to the 11 projects – something they didn’t do with any other county or municipality in Texas.
Can Anything Be Done to Preserve Funding?
Late today, HCFCD published a notice on its press briefing page under the headline: “Harris County agencies are advancing an innovative path forward to protect federal disaster recovery funding, cut through bureaucratic barriers, and keep critical flood risk reduction projects moving for residents.”
The lead paragraph says, “The proposed approach goes beyond standard government processes by coordinating across agencies, funding programs, and project timelines to solve complex federal funding challenges.”
The glowing prose was reminiscent of previous Tina Petersen briefings in Commissioners Court. It also reminded me a bit of the Enron debacle, although the GLO claims the scheme is legal under HUD rules. Today’s statement outlines the plan. It includes:
“Phasing projects across programs so eligible work can move forward under CDBG-DR while remaining project scope is delivered through CDBG-MIT.”
“Moving seven fast-moving subdivision drainage projects into the CDBG-DR program to maximize eligible spending before the federal deadline and free up approximately $125 million in HCD’s CDBG-MIT program for additional mitigation work.
“Continuing to identify eligible opportunities for any remaining CDBG-DR funds, including planning studies, additional subdivision drainage projects, project transfers, and acceleration strategies.”
The statement does not explain how Petersen intends to do more projects for the same dollars. Nor does it explain how she intends to complete those projects without speeding them up. She’s appears to be playing a shell game with more than $800 million tax dollars that will make auditing more difficult. However, in fairness, HCFCD says it will provide more details in a Tuesday press conference.
This scheme/plan will also be considered in commissioners court on 6/11/26 under Item #125.
Related Items for Discussion on 6/11/26
Other related HCFCD items on Thursday’s agenda include two staff augmentation proposals totaling $32 million for outside contractors to provide program management, project management, construction management, and inspection services for the development and implementation of CDBG-DR and CDBG-MIT projects.
#248 Approval of $6 million for Jacobs Engineering
#267 Approval of $10 million for BGE, Inc; $10 million for Quiddity Engineering; and $6 million for WSP USA
One wonders whether those expenditures would have been necessary had HCFCD been getting projects into production faster.
More news to follow on HCFCD’s CDBG plan after the press conference on Tuesday.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/5/2026
3202 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.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20230925-RJR_2415.jpg?fit=1100%2C733&ssl=17331100adminadmin2026-06-05 22:01:262026-06-06 15:47:48Harris County Commissioners to Discuss HCFCD Exec Director’s Employment…Again
6/4/2026 – Tonight, from 5-6:30 PM, Houston City Council Member Fred Flickinger will host an open house at Kingwood Community Center (4102 Rustic Woods Drive, Kingwood TX 77345). The focus will be on utilities in Kingwood.
According to Demari Perez, Houston City Council Member Fred Flickinger’s District E Deputy Chief of Staff, a large percentage of the calls coming into their office concern utility services. This is your chance to speak directly to the people providing those services.
Utility crew working on power lines by front of Kingwood at Kingwood Drive
The utility meeting will have an open-house format (no formal presentations), so that you speak directly with the people providing services.
Other groups, such as Trees for Houston and Trees for Kingwood, will also be available, because trees frequently interrupt utility service and people need to know what they can do to help.
The following groups will have booths set up around the room:
CenterPoint Energy
Comcast
xfinity
UnionPacific
Trees for Houston
Trees for Kingwood
Houston Office of Emergency Management
Emphasis on Practical Safety Information
According to the Council Member Flickinger, the utility meeting will feature practical safety information about resources designed to help you, your family and your neighborhood. For instance:
Safe vegetation practices and the Right Tree, Right Place approach
When and why to call 811 before you dig
How to stay safe around railways and utility equipment
Hurricane preparedness tips and local resources
Flickinger said, “Ask questions, explore helpful information and share what matters most in your neighborhood, so we can better support the community we serve.”
One of the first things people often lose in Kingwood is power when trees fall against overhead lines. And with the loss of power comes loss of communication.
Anyone who lived in Kingwood in 2008 when Hurricane Ike knocked out power for 22 days knows what I am talking about.
UnionPacific
Perez says her office also frequently gets questions about trains stopped on rail tracks. One of the questions I frequently get is about when UP will finish the rail crossings for the new feeder roads at Northpark. They’re delaying work on the bridge over the tracks and Loop 494.
New surface lanes at Northpark
From UP’s perspective, Northpark is reportedly part of a much larger project to coordinate rail crossings at Ford, Knox, Northpark and Royal Crossing. You may want to ask them about that and when it will happen.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/4/2026
3201 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/20240716-DJI_20240716120318_0355_D-2.jpg?fit=1100%2C619&ssl=16191100adminadmin2026-06-04 12:52:472026-06-04 12:56:59Utility Meeting at Kingwood Community Center Tonight
6/3/26 – Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) contractor Brice Construction started moving dirt this week on the Woodridge Village Detention Basin, which is part of a larger project to widen, deepen, and line Taylor Gully.
Harris County Commissioners approved Brice’s $29.4 million contract in their March 31, 2026 meeting.
History of Project
Up to 600 homes in Kingwood’s Elm Grove, Mills Branch, North Kingwood Forest and Woodstream Village subdivisions flooded twice in 2019 during storms in May and September. They flooded from runoff from Woodridge, which had been clearcut for development and sloped toward Taylor Gully.
The flooding resulted in a large, class-action lawsuit against Perry Homes and its subsidiaries. Perry was trying to build a new subdivision just north of the Montgomery County line on approximately 270 acres. Unfortunately, they didn’t get the stormwater detention basins built before heavy rains came.
Subsequently, Harris County and the City of Houston bought the property to a) keep it from being developed and b) use it for flood mitigation. Montgomery County detention requirements at the time were 40% lower than Harris County’s.
In January 2022, HCFCD started an E&R project (Excavation & Removal) on the southern portion of the property. Purpose: to get a “head start” on construction by letting contractors excavate dirt and sell it on the open market at market rates. They simply confine their efforts within the rough outlines of where HCFCD knows they will eventually build a detention basin.
Sprint Sand & Clay removed approximately 100 acre feet (160,000 cubic yards) before the end of 2023. That’s when HCFCD applied for a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) via the Texas General Land Office to finish the project. However, the basin was never fully excavated. Nor was it finished and connected to other drainage on the site.
Construction had to stop during the grant-application process. But now it has finally started again.
Contractors spent several days starting 5/19/26 cleaning up the site. Yesterday, drone footage showed they were finally moving dirt again after a 2.5 year pause. They had also knocked down a small grove of trees near what will become the eastern end of the detention basin. See the before/after photos below.
Photos Taken May 8, 2026, Before Re-start of Construction
Woodridge Village and Taylor Gully before construction restart. Note drain pipe left by previous contractor and small grove of trees in top center.Reverse angle looking west toward Woodland Hills Drive.
Photos Taken June 2, 2026, After Re-start of Construction
Contractors crushed and piled all the storm drain pipe, then began grading the steep, eroded edges of the hole left by Sprint Sand & Clay.They are piling the dirt near the entrance.They also appear to be grading the western boundary.The small grove of trees at the eastern end of where the basin will go has been knocked down but not yet removed.
Construction Schematic and Plans
The trees were at the eastern end of Compartment 1. Compartment 2 is not part of this contract.
Compartment 1 is designed as wet-bottom and expected to provide approximately 412 acre-feet of stormwater storage capacity—that is roughly the equivalent of 412 football fields covered in one foot of water. And that’s more than four times the amount excavated by Sprint. See construction plans below.
Brice’s construction contract is for approximately $29.4 million.
Construction of Compartment 2 will be part of phase 2 and is anticipated to provide an additional 715 acre-feet of stormwater storage capacity. Completion of Compartment 2 is dependent on future funding.
Phase I Project Funding
The grant application for this project was approved to receive up to $41.9 million through the Community Development Block Grant – Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) program, provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and administered by the Texas General Land Office.
The project is receiving $8.35 million in funding from the Environmental Protection Agency and federal Community Project Funding. Congressman Dan Crenshaw secured that.
The project is receiving $10 million in funding from the Texas Water Development Board in partnership with the City of Houston.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/DJI_20260602122156_0322_D.jpg?fit=1100%2C619&ssl=16191100adminadmin2026-06-03 17:50:122026-06-03 17:56:12HCFCD Moving Dirt for Woodridge Village Detention Basin!
Harris County Commissioners to Discuss HCFCD Exec Director’s Employment…Again
6/5/2026 – Harris County published the agenda for its 6/11/26 Commissioners Court meeting today and Item #483 relates to the employment of Dr. Tina Petersen, PhD, PE. It reads “Request by the Commissioner of Precinct 3 for an Executive Session pursuant to Texas Government Code Section 551.074(a) for discussion and possible action regarding the Executive Director of the Harris County Flood Control District.”
Petersen’s performance has come under increasing scrutiny lately because of the possible loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
The potential loss relates to looming deadlines on projects which Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) will miss according to its own schedules. HCFCD’s May 18, 2026, update on the projects showed that 19 of 29 CDBG projects worth $649 million will miss their deadlines:
That raises several questions:
Why Projects Could Miss Deadlines
In recent meetings, as Harris County Commissioners became increasingly concerned about impending deadlines; they forced Petersen to become specific about where projects stood, instead of offering up rosy generalizations.
As alarms started sounding, Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia, who reportedly lobbied to hire Petersen, became her chief apologist. Garcia pointed fingers at the Texas General Land Office, which administers HUD funds in Texas. He complained about undefined problems with the 2018 flood bond. And he constantly wailed about “there was never enough time.”
Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey PE bemoaned the lack of hard data coming from HCFCD that would let commissioners make informed decisions and offer help. He also tried to speed up county processes.
Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis simply warned Petersen about “a day of reckoning.”
Precinct 4 Commissioner Leslie Briones expressed deep concerns.
Judge Lina Hidalgo said bluntly that she had lost all confidence in Petersen.
When Petersen finally submitted two detailed reports on May 1 and May 18, the depth of the problem became apparent.
But even before then, anyone who looked closely at how long it takes to construct these projects and how little time remained could see two trains heading down the tracks toward each other.
The Mercer Stormwater Detention Basin illustrates the problem. While not part of this particular group, it has a similar scope. The project should have taken Petersen a year to build on an expedited basis, but took four years. To put that in context, less than 9 months remain before the 11 CDBG-DR projects reach their deadline of February 28, 2027.
But the slowdown wasn’t just in construction. The Preliminary Engineering Report on the Kingwood Diversion Ditch was supposed to take 300 days and took more than 1400.
These projects hint at causes for delays that go far deeper than Garcia suggests. They are unrelated to the GLO and HUD.
Who is Responsible for Missing Deadlines?
The buck stops with Tina Petersen.
Since announcing the $322 million CDBG Disaster Relief grant for HCFCD in 2023, the GLO has tried to speed things up. GLO even embedded as many as seven people within HCFCD to help accelerate submission of data related to the 11 projects – something they didn’t do with any other county or municipality in Texas.
Can Anything Be Done to Preserve Funding?
Late today, HCFCD published a notice on its press briefing page under the headline: “Harris County agencies are advancing an innovative path forward to protect federal disaster recovery funding, cut through bureaucratic barriers, and keep critical flood risk reduction projects moving for residents.”
The lead paragraph says, “The proposed approach goes beyond standard government processes by coordinating across agencies, funding programs, and project timelines to solve complex federal funding challenges.”
The glowing prose was reminiscent of previous Tina Petersen briefings in Commissioners Court. It also reminded me a bit of the Enron debacle, although the GLO claims the scheme is legal under HUD rules. Today’s statement outlines the plan. It includes:
The statement does not explain how Petersen intends to do more projects for the same dollars. Nor does it explain how she intends to complete those projects without speeding them up. She’s appears to be playing a shell game with more than $800 million tax dollars that will make auditing more difficult. However, in fairness, HCFCD says it will provide more details in a Tuesday press conference.
This scheme/plan will also be considered in commissioners court on 6/11/26 under Item #125.
Related Items for Discussion on 6/11/26
Other related HCFCD items on Thursday’s agenda include two staff augmentation proposals totaling $32 million for outside contractors to provide program management, project management, construction management, and inspection services for the development and implementation of CDBG-DR and CDBG-MIT projects.
One wonders whether those expenditures would have been necessary had HCFCD been getting projects into production faster.
Other related items include:
More news to follow on HCFCD’s CDBG plan after the press conference on Tuesday.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/5/2026
3202 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.
Utility Meeting at Kingwood Community Center Tonight
6/4/2026 – Tonight, from 5-6:30 PM, Houston City Council Member Fred Flickinger will host an open house at Kingwood Community Center (4102 Rustic Woods Drive, Kingwood TX 77345). The focus will be on utilities in Kingwood.
According to Demari Perez, Houston City Council Member Fred Flickinger’s District E Deputy Chief of Staff, a large percentage of the calls coming into their office concern utility services. This is your chance to speak directly to the people providing those services.
The utility meeting will have an open-house format (no formal presentations), so that you speak directly with the people providing services.
Other groups, such as Trees for Houston and Trees for Kingwood, will also be available, because trees frequently interrupt utility service and people need to know what they can do to help.
The following groups will have booths set up around the room:
Emphasis on Practical Safety Information
According to the Council Member Flickinger, the utility meeting will feature practical safety information about resources designed to help you, your family and your neighborhood. For instance:
Flickinger said, “Ask questions, explore helpful information and share what matters most in your neighborhood, so we can better support the community we serve.”
One of the first things people often lose in Kingwood is power when trees fall against overhead lines. And with the loss of power comes loss of communication.
Anyone who lived in Kingwood in 2008 when Hurricane Ike knocked out power for 22 days knows what I am talking about.
UnionPacific
Perez says her office also frequently gets questions about trains stopped on rail tracks. One of the questions I frequently get is about when UP will finish the rail crossings for the new feeder roads at Northpark. They’re delaying work on the bridge over the tracks and Loop 494.
From UP’s perspective, Northpark is reportedly part of a much larger project to coordinate rail crossings at Ford, Knox, Northpark and Royal Crossing. You may want to ask them about that and when it will happen.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/4/2026
3201 Days since Hurricane Harvey
HCFCD Moving Dirt for Woodridge Village Detention Basin!
6/3/26 – Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) contractor Brice Construction started moving dirt this week on the Woodridge Village Detention Basin, which is part of a larger project to widen, deepen, and line Taylor Gully.
Harris County Commissioners approved Brice’s $29.4 million contract in their March 31, 2026 meeting.
History of Project
Up to 600 homes in Kingwood’s Elm Grove, Mills Branch, North Kingwood Forest and Woodstream Village subdivisions flooded twice in 2019 during storms in May and September. They flooded from runoff from Woodridge, which had been clearcut for development and sloped toward Taylor Gully.
The flooding resulted in a large, class-action lawsuit against Perry Homes and its subsidiaries. Perry was trying to build a new subdivision just north of the Montgomery County line on approximately 270 acres. Unfortunately, they didn’t get the stormwater detention basins built before heavy rains came.
Subsequently, Harris County and the City of Houston bought the property to a) keep it from being developed and b) use it for flood mitigation. Montgomery County detention requirements at the time were 40% lower than Harris County’s.
In January 2022, HCFCD started an E&R project (Excavation & Removal) on the southern portion of the property. Purpose: to get a “head start” on construction by letting contractors excavate dirt and sell it on the open market at market rates. They simply confine their efforts within the rough outlines of where HCFCD knows they will eventually build a detention basin.
Sprint Sand & Clay removed approximately 100 acre feet (160,000 cubic yards) before the end of 2023. That’s when HCFCD applied for a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) via the Texas General Land Office to finish the project. However, the basin was never fully excavated. Nor was it finished and connected to other drainage on the site.
Construction had to stop during the grant-application process. But now it has finally started again.
Contractors spent several days starting 5/19/26 cleaning up the site. Yesterday, drone footage showed they were finally moving dirt again after a 2.5 year pause. They had also knocked down a small grove of trees near what will become the eastern end of the detention basin. See the before/after photos below.
Photos Taken May 8, 2026, Before Re-start of Construction
Photos Taken June 2, 2026, After Re-start of Construction
Construction Schematic and Plans
Compartment 1 is designed as wet-bottom and expected to provide approximately 412 acre-feet of stormwater storage capacity—that is roughly the equivalent of 412 football fields covered in one foot of water. And that’s more than four times the amount excavated by Sprint. See construction plans below.
Brice’s construction contract is for approximately $29.4 million.
Construction of Compartment 2 will be part of phase 2 and is anticipated to provide an additional 715 acre-feet of stormwater storage capacity. Completion of Compartment 2 is dependent on future funding.
Phase I Project Funding
The grant application for this project was approved to receive up to $41.9 million through the Community Development Block Grant – Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) program, provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and administered by the Texas General Land Office.
The project is receiving $8.35 million in funding from the Environmental Protection Agency and federal Community Project Funding. Congressman Dan Crenshaw secured that.
The project is receiving $10 million in funding from the Texas Water Development Board in partnership with the City of Houston.
Construction of Compartment 2 will be part of phase 2 and is anticipated to provide an additional 715 acre-feet of stormwater storage capacity. Completion of Compartment 2 is dependent on future funding.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/3/26
3200 Days since Hurricane Harvey