7/10/25 – In today’s Harris County Commissioners Court meeting, the Court clarified its stance on funding flood-bond partnership projects in the face of spending cuts announced in the last meeting.
Commissioners revisited a vote on a motion from their 6/26/25 meeting that cast doubt over completion of 80% of the projects in the 2018 flood bond. Among them were many projects that involved money pledged by partners at the federal, state and local levels.
Today’s meeting clarified that Commissioners do intend to fund partnership projects that fell below the first quartile on Rodney Ellis’ Equity Prioritization Framework. Including more flood gates for Lake Houston.
Revisiting Vote that Potentially Defunded Partnership Projects
Further, the 6/26/25 motion said that future phases of those projects would also be funded – even if they weren’t included in the original bond.
That motion from June was approved 4:1 along party lines. However at the time, Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey warned that it could potentially impact projects that had already received federal, state and local funding commitments. Partners included FEMA, HUD, the Texas Water Development Board, cities, and MUDs.
And, in fact, a scramble occurred among officials at all those levels as well as affected citizens to understand what the impacts were. They wanted to know whether Harris County was still committed to projects it originally had promised to help fund.
Before the debate, Houston District E City Council Member Fred Flickinger spoke to Court about how important the gate project was. He addressed water security as well as flood safety. He also reminded commissioners about damage to the Lake Livingston dam after massive rains in May 2024. Flickinger’s message was clear: jeopardizing the water supply for more than two million people is unthinkable.
Ramsey Presents A Simplified Bond-Spending Analysis
And he arrived at very different conclusions. Ramsey made several key points.
The county needed to send a clear message about its commitment to HUD CDBG projects regardless of which quartile they fell into.
We have enough money left in the bond for many projects below the first quartile, plus contingency funds if we don’t fund future projects not in the original bond.
Decisions about funding should be on a project-by-project basis. But that may take several months to work through.
In the meantime, Ramsey made three motions to help reduce uncertainty re: the county’s commitment to certain projects. He introduced motions to fund:
All current needs of projects with CDBG commitments
Gates for Lake Houston (CI-028) and Buffalo Bayou Storage and Channel Conveyance Improvements (CI-017) for TIRZ 17
All current needs for Quartile 1
None of Ramsey’s motions received a second.
Ramsey Motions Modified by Ellis
Ellis then made a substitute motion which Ramsey agreed to:
“To fund all existing CDBG and other secured partnerships and grants tied to the Harris County 2018 Flood Bond.”
Ellis’ substitute motion carried unanimously. In other news…
Ramsey made a motion to approve all spending requests except that one. However, the other commissioners and the county judge approved the junket.
The voting confused many viewers who initially thought Ramsey’s motion to kill the request was approved. That’s because of an unexplained two-part procedure for such motions.
Ramsey provided this clarification. “If we are pulling expenses out of a list of expenses, the process is for the Court to approve all expenses except the one I targeted. Then someone else makes a motion to approve the one I pulled. And that vote passed 3 to 1.”
Still confused?
All parties involved have confirmed the trip IS still on.
Commissioner Ramsey and HCFCD
The junket includes:
$3500 for three nights in a hotel when rooms could be booked through the convention sponsors for $249 per night.
$1700 for a registration fee listed at $945
$1500 for airfare that could be booked through Expedia for $185.
A HCFCD spokesperson explained that “The amount submitted was a rough estimate and is intended to provide an upper limit for approval and include buffers.”
Then she added, “All actual expenses are paid at reasonable market rates and in line with applicable public-sector pricing policies.”
No wonder we’re debating which projects to cut!
Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/10/2025
2872 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/2025/07/20250710-Ramsey-Cover-Slide.jpg?fit=1100%2C617&ssl=16171100adminadmin2025-07-10 21:01:562025-07-11 09:28:40Commissioners Clarify Stance on Flood-Bond Partnership-Project Funding
7/9/2025 – Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) Executive Director Dr. Tina Petersen has submitted a travel request for approval by Harris County Commissioners on 7/10/25. She wants to attend a three-day Urban Land Institute (ULI) conference in San Franciso. Her request includes $3500 for a hotel room. That works out to $1167 per night.
I called ULI to see what the price range was for hotel rooms they blocked out. High was $349 per night and low $249. Booking.com showed a price of $215 per night at the Mark Hopkins, one of the nicer, top-rated hotels in San Francisco. It’s at the top of Nob Hill with beautiful views of the Bay and a short cab ride (or walk) to the convention center.
Net: Petersen is requesting 3X to 5X more money for a hotel than she might need. See this and other items in the red box below.
Altogether the request comes to $8,120.
From backup to travel items on 7/10/25 Harris County Commissioners Court Agenda.
Almost 2X the Registration Fee Also
The request also lists $1700 for a registration fee. But ULI is charging $945 for people from the public sector if they are members and $1070 if they join ULI.
The pricing for non-members is more than $3000, so Petersen is using at least some modicum of restraint.
Flight Cost 8X Higher
Expedia shows roundtrip flights on all major carriers during the time of the conference ranging from $185 to $310. But Petersen has requested $1500. That’s a significant upgrade!
Astronomical Taxi, Mileage, Parking Estimates
She’s also requested $400 dollars for taxis – $133 per day. The Moscone Center where the conference will be is about three quarters of a mile from the Mark Hopkins. That’s a five minute cab ride. Or a 15 minute walk. And a three-day cable-car visitor pass for an unlimited number of rides costs only $15.
A cab to and from the San Francisco airport to the Mark costs about $130.
Then there’s her $200 reimbursement for mileage on her personal vehicle, i.e., going to/from her home to Houston’s airport. The IRS allows $.70 per mile for business expenses. So that implies she’s estimating 285 miles of travel on the Houston end of this jaunt.
That’s in addition to $200 for three or four days of parking. But parking at Bush Intercontinental is $25 per day.
And no, these costs are NOT for multiple people. Petersen’s request shows they are for one person.
What I really want to know is who signs off on these expenditures? Tina Petersen?
Putting It All in Perspective
Petersen’s taxi costs alone exceed the capital improvement construction costs of all flood-mitigation projects in Kingwood in the history of the Flood Control District; together, they total a whopping $0.00.
No wonder the Flood Control District is running out of money and Commissioners Court voted to defund 80% of the projects in the 2018 flood bond.
For what it’s worth, I’m sure Petersen is not padding her expense reports. She doesn’t need to. She makes $434,000 per year after a $90,000 raise earlier this year.
I look forward to hearing about what was learned at this conference and the benefit to Harris County taxpayers at the November 13th Commissioners Court meeting.
I also look forward to seeing the expense report and associated receipts, which are public information, after the trip so we can see the true cost of this conference.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/9/2025
2871 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/2025/07/Expenses-e1752097423240.png?fit=1100%2C529&ssl=15291100adminadmin2025-07-09 16:44:312025-07-12 20:20:25HCFCD Director Requests Hotel Allowance of Almost $1200 Per Night
7/8/25 – After the rising floodwaters of Hurricane Harvey caught many people by surprise in the middle of the night, I posted about the need for warning sirens. Now, the Hill Country tragedy on the Guadalupe is causing me to sound off again.
During Hurricane Harvey, floodwaters rose in the middle of the night in the Kingwood Area. Many people were surprised as floodwaters rose in their bedrooms. Through a breakdown in communication, people never received a warning to evacuate. Sirens could have given them time. Even at the last minute.
On April 20, 2018, I posted a personal flood-control wish list. I wrote, “Improve communication during power outages. We need a way to warn people when power is knocked out during a storm, cell towers are overloaded, and people are sleeping. Simply publishing information is not enough if people cannot receive it. Perhaps we need sirens linked to back up generators, like those used to warn people of tornadoes throughout most of the Midwest.”
Later that year on September 18, I followed up. I said we needed “Improved Inter-Agency Cooperation and Public Notification Systems – Texas House and Senate hearings held in the wake of Harvey identified these two areas as needing improvement – everywhere, not just in the Lake Houston area,” I wrote. “Evacuation warnings did not reach people in time. Many were caught sleeping as floodwaters rose in their homes.”
How do you wake people up in emergencies, especially when the power is out? “The Internet, cell towers, and power are among the first casualties of a storm,” I wrote. “Whatever happened to good old sirens?”
Many people in the Hill County are asking that same question.
Hill Country Camper’s Plea to Legislators
In the early morning hours of July 4, 2025, a rain bomb hit the area near Kerrville, TX. The Guadalupe River rose 33 feet in 1.5 hours as people were sleeping. More than 80 people died, many of them children, in the ensuing flood. As of this writing, many are still missing.
Yesterday I received a letter from someone who camps frequently in the Hill County. She wrote to state legislators. It read:
Reduce Risk of Future Flash Flooding Catastrophes
“While I appreciate the need to determine accountability for the loss of life in the current Texas floods, we could actually take one immediate action.
I ask that our state legislature appropriate / allocate funds to install flood gage sensors and public alarms in:
1. All state parks. A large number are located next to rivers and lakes. Many also have very poor connectivity.
2. Along all known, populated, flood-prone streams & rivers. Small communities are at most risk as they lack tax revenues for capital projects.
We could also require camps, campgrounds and RV parks to have functioning weather radios and some sort of public broadcast system to facilitate rapid evacuation when needed for any type of weather, fire or civil emergency.
Depending on individuals to own warning radios, listen to them and expect them to act clearly is not effective. We need something that operates like the Tsunami Warning System in the Pacific.
I believe that much of the equipment needed is widely available and not especially expensive… sensors, solar panels & fuel cells, transmitters, tall towers & sirens.
If the state takes action now, we could implement something that will lessen the trauma of the next episode.”
Signed J. Jones
Failsafe Link
I agree 100% with everything she said. Sirens are the last failsafe link in a chain of communication.
You can lose power, a cell phone signal, Internet connectivity, TV reception, etc. You might even sleep through a weather radio alert. But that siren will blast you out of bed. Believe me. I know. I grew up with them.
Those old enough may remember the Civil Defense Alert System we used to have during the Cold War. It was based on sirens designed to warn people of impending nuclear attacks and natural disasters. I am told many states still use them to warn people of threats such as tornadoes.
To show solidarity with all the people who lost loved ones, write your state and county representatives. Urge them to install sirens to warn people of impending natural disasters. Like the flash flood in Kerrville, they can come with little warning. But even five minutes would have allowed people to scramble to higher ground.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/8/25
2870 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/KVE-2017-Flood.jpg?fit=1500%2C968&ssl=19681500adminadmin2025-07-08 17:54:322025-07-08 20:34:43Sounding Off Again about Need for Sirens
Commissioners Clarify Stance on Flood-Bond Partnership-Project Funding
7/10/25 – In today’s Harris County Commissioners Court meeting, the Court clarified its stance on funding flood-bond partnership projects in the face of spending cuts announced in the last meeting.
Commissioners revisited a vote on a motion from their 6/26/25 meeting that cast doubt over completion of 80% of the projects in the 2018 flood bond. Among them were many projects that involved money pledged by partners at the federal, state and local levels.
Today’s meeting clarified that Commissioners do intend to fund partnership projects that fell below the first quartile on Rodney Ellis’ Equity Prioritization Framework. Including more flood gates for Lake Houston.
Revisiting Vote that Potentially Defunded Partnership Projects
Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey kicked off the discussion on Item 277. (Note, however, that the video, which starts at approximately 58 minutes, calls it #177.)
The debate addressed the consequences of the vote in the last meeting to focus all remaining money in the bond on the top quartile of equity projects.
Further, the 6/26/25 motion said that future phases of those projects would also be funded – even if they weren’t included in the original bond.
That motion from June was approved 4:1 along party lines. However at the time, Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey warned that it could potentially impact projects that had already received federal, state and local funding commitments. Partners included FEMA, HUD, the Texas Water Development Board, cities, and MUDs.
And, in fact, a scramble occurred among officials at all those levels as well as affected citizens to understand what the impacts were. They wanted to know whether Harris County was still committed to projects it originally had promised to help fund.
Prominent among those was the project to add more floodgates to the Lake Houston Dam. The County had pledged to donate $20 million to that project to complement more than $100 million pledged by other parties. But the project did not even receive an equity ranking.
Before the debate, Houston District E City Council Member Fred Flickinger spoke to Court about how important the gate project was. He addressed water security as well as flood safety. He also reminded commissioners about damage to the Lake Livingston dam after massive rains in May 2024. Flickinger’s message was clear: jeopardizing the water supply for more than two million people is unthinkable.
Ramsey Presents A Simplified Bond-Spending Analysis
Commissioner Ramsey presented much simpler bond-spending analysis than HCFCD had in the previous meeting.
And he arrived at very different conclusions. Ramsey made several key points.
In the meantime, Ramsey made three motions to help reduce uncertainty re: the county’s commitment to certain projects. He introduced motions to fund:
None of Ramsey’s motions received a second.
Ramsey Motions Modified by Ellis
Ellis then made a substitute motion which Ramsey agreed to:
Ellis’ substitute motion carried unanimously. In other news…
Outrageous Travel Costs Approved
Also on the agenda was an $8,120 Flood Control District request for one person to attend a three day convention in San Francisco.
Ramsey made a motion to approve all spending requests except that one. However, the other commissioners and the county judge approved the junket.
The voting confused many viewers who initially thought Ramsey’s motion to kill the request was approved. That’s because of an unexplained two-part procedure for such motions.
Ramsey provided this clarification. “If we are pulling expenses out of a list of expenses, the process is for the Court to approve all expenses except the one I targeted. Then someone else makes a motion to approve the one I pulled. And that vote passed 3 to 1.”
Still confused?
The junket includes:
A HCFCD spokesperson explained that “The amount submitted was a rough estimate and is intended to provide an upper limit for approval and include buffers.”
Then she added, “All actual expenses are paid at reasonable market rates and in line with applicable public-sector pricing policies.”
No wonder we’re debating which projects to cut!
Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/10/2025
2872 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.
HCFCD Director Requests Hotel Allowance of Almost $1200 Per Night
7/9/2025 – Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) Executive Director Dr. Tina Petersen has submitted a travel request for approval by Harris County Commissioners on 7/10/25. She wants to attend a three-day Urban Land Institute (ULI) conference in San Franciso. Her request includes $3500 for a hotel room. That works out to $1167 per night.
Petersen filed the request just two weeks after she projected a $1.3 billion shortfall in 2018 Flood Bond funding that led commissioners to defund 80% of projects in the bond.
I called ULI to see what the price range was for hotel rooms they blocked out. High was $349 per night and low $249. Booking.com showed a price of $215 per night at the Mark Hopkins, one of the nicer, top-rated hotels in San Francisco. It’s at the top of Nob Hill with beautiful views of the Bay and a short cab ride (or walk) to the convention center.
Net: Petersen is requesting 3X to 5X more money for a hotel than she might need. See this and other items in the red box below.
Altogether the request comes to $8,120.
Almost 2X the Registration Fee Also
The request also lists $1700 for a registration fee. But ULI is charging $945 for people from the public sector if they are members and $1070 if they join ULI.
The pricing for non-members is more than $3000, so Petersen is using at least some modicum of restraint.
Flight Cost 8X Higher
Expedia shows roundtrip flights on all major carriers during the time of the conference ranging from $185 to $310. But Petersen has requested $1500. That’s a significant upgrade!
Astronomical Taxi, Mileage, Parking Estimates
She’s also requested $400 dollars for taxis – $133 per day. The Moscone Center where the conference will be is about three quarters of a mile from the Mark Hopkins. That’s a five minute cab ride. Or a 15 minute walk. And a three-day cable-car visitor pass for an unlimited number of rides costs only $15.
A cab to and from the San Francisco airport to the Mark costs about $130.
Then there’s her $200 reimbursement for mileage on her personal vehicle, i.e., going to/from her home to Houston’s airport. The IRS allows $.70 per mile for business expenses. So that implies she’s estimating 285 miles of travel on the Houston end of this jaunt.
That’s in addition to $200 for three or four days of parking. But parking at Bush Intercontinental is $25 per day.
And no, these costs are NOT for multiple people. Petersen’s request shows they are for one person.
What I really want to know is who signs off on these expenditures? Tina Petersen?
Putting It All in Perspective
Petersen’s taxi costs alone exceed the capital improvement construction costs of all flood-mitigation projects in Kingwood in the history of the Flood Control District; together, they total a whopping $0.00.
No wonder the Flood Control District is running out of money and Commissioners Court voted to defund 80% of the projects in the 2018 flood bond.
For what it’s worth, I’m sure Petersen is not padding her expense reports. She doesn’t need to. She makes $434,000 per year after a $90,000 raise earlier this year.
I look forward to hearing about what was learned at this conference and the benefit to Harris County taxpayers at the November 13th Commissioners Court meeting.
I also look forward to seeing the expense report and associated receipts, which are public information, after the trip so we can see the true cost of this conference.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/9/2025
2871 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.
Sounding Off Again about Need for Sirens
7/8/25 – After the rising floodwaters of Hurricane Harvey caught many people by surprise in the middle of the night, I posted about the need for warning sirens. Now, the Hill Country tragedy on the Guadalupe is causing me to sound off again.
During Hurricane Harvey, floodwaters rose in the middle of the night in the Kingwood Area. Many people were surprised as floodwaters rose in their bedrooms. Through a breakdown in communication, people never received a warning to evacuate. Sirens could have given them time. Even at the last minute.
Instead, a dozen people died at Kingwood Village Estates during Harvey.
Previous Posts About Need for Sirens After Harvey
On April 20, 2018, I posted a personal flood-control wish list. I wrote, “Improve communication during power outages. We need a way to warn people when power is knocked out during a storm, cell towers are overloaded, and people are sleeping. Simply publishing information is not enough if people cannot receive it. Perhaps we need sirens linked to back up generators, like those used to warn people of tornadoes throughout most of the Midwest.”
Later that year on September 18, I followed up. I said we needed “Improved Inter-Agency Cooperation and Public Notification Systems – Texas House and Senate hearings held in the wake of Harvey identified these two areas as needing improvement – everywhere, not just in the Lake Houston area,” I wrote. “Evacuation warnings did not reach people in time. Many were caught sleeping as floodwaters rose in their homes.”
How do you wake people up in emergencies, especially when the power is out? “The Internet, cell towers, and power are among the first casualties of a storm,” I wrote. “Whatever happened to good old sirens?”
Many people in the Hill County are asking that same question.
Hill Country Camper’s Plea to Legislators
In the early morning hours of July 4, 2025, a rain bomb hit the area near Kerrville, TX. The Guadalupe River rose 33 feet in 1.5 hours as people were sleeping. More than 80 people died, many of them children, in the ensuing flood. As of this writing, many are still missing.
Yesterday I received a letter from someone who camps frequently in the Hill County. She wrote to state legislators. It read:
Reduce Risk of Future Flash Flooding Catastrophes
“While I appreciate the need to determine accountability for the loss of life in the current Texas floods, we could actually take one immediate action.
I ask that our state legislature appropriate / allocate funds to install flood gage sensors and public alarms in:
1. All state parks. A large number are located next to rivers and lakes. Many also have very poor connectivity.
2. Along all known, populated, flood-prone streams & rivers. Small communities are at most risk as they lack tax revenues for capital projects.
We could also require camps, campgrounds and RV parks to have functioning weather radios and some sort of public broadcast system to facilitate rapid evacuation when needed for any type of weather, fire or civil emergency.
Depending on individuals to own warning radios, listen to them and expect them to act clearly is not effective. We need something that operates like the Tsunami Warning System in the Pacific.
I believe that much of the equipment needed is widely available and not especially expensive… sensors, solar panels & fuel cells, transmitters, tall towers & sirens.
If the state takes action now, we could implement something that will lessen the trauma of the next episode.”
Signed J. Jones
Failsafe Link
I agree 100% with everything she said. Sirens are the last failsafe link in a chain of communication.
You can lose power, a cell phone signal, Internet connectivity, TV reception, etc. You might even sleep through a weather radio alert. But that siren will blast you out of bed. Believe me. I know. I grew up with them.
Those old enough may remember the Civil Defense Alert System we used to have during the Cold War. It was based on sirens designed to warn people of impending nuclear attacks and natural disasters. I am told many states still use them to warn people of threats such as tornadoes.
However, the generalized nature of sirens led to many being replaced with more specific warnings, such as the broadcast-based Emergency Alert System and the Cell Broadcast-based Wireless Emergency Alerts.
Harris County has a world-class Flood Warning System that lets you sign up for alerts in your area. But if you’re camping in the Hill Country, it won’t do you much good.
To show solidarity with all the people who lost loved ones, write your state and county representatives. Urge them to install sirens to warn people of impending natural disasters. Like the flash flood in Kerrville, they can come with little warning. But even five minutes would have allowed people to scramble to higher ground.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/8/25
2870 Days since Hurricane Harvey