Harris County will receive a one-year improvement to begin long-delayed flood mitigation projects, but Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham’s fresh grace period included a harsh warning that additional delays would cost the state hundreds of millions in national financing.
In a video statement, Buckingham stated,” I also have grave concern over the lack of milestones from the Harris County Flood Control District, despite my joy that some areas will have the extra time needed to finish their jobs.” ” Harris County needs spades, no scapegoats,” I’ve said before.
After Hurricane Harvey damaged homes worth billions of dollars in 2017, Congress authorized Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery ( CDBG-DR) funds for the affected communities. Harris County received$ 32 million in CDBG-DR money and$ 542 million in CDBG-MIT resources in 2022 after no receiving offers in the first competitive round.
Buckingham warned the county in June that more than 11 jobs had not advanced enough to meet a February 2027 date to receive federal money, despite the state’s say that jobs were” shovel ready.”
In response to a request from Buckingham, U.S. Housing and Urban Development ( HUD) has now extended the CDBG-DR deadline to February 2028.
In a letter dated June 8, Buckingham noted Harris County’s “observed failures,” including high turnover in HCFD, repeated reprioritization of projects, and “incomplete or inaccurate documentation that failed to adhere to federal grant regulations.” She also provided images of the 11 CDBG-DR projects that GLO investigators had taken that showed that three of the projects had only just begun construction.
Days later, Engineer Marcus Stuckett was hired to replace her with HCFCD Director Tina Petersen after she submitted her resignation.
Prior to resigning, Petersen had proposed a strategy to combine projects funded by CDBG-DR and CDBG-MIT funds. Buckingham has since rejected the proposal as” complicated and administratively burdensome” and ordered the county to use the framework that GLO approved in 2022.
The GLO has done everything in its power to implement this strategy. Sadly, Harris County hasn’t provided the information needed for HUD’s approval more than four months later, and “abandonment of progress has not been made on these time-sensitive projects,” she said.
Commissioner Tom Ramsey (R-Pct. ) resigned prior to Petersen’s resignation. 3 ) questioned HCFCD’s handling of the federal funds, which were supposed to be in line with some of the$ 2.5 billion bond package approved by voters in 2018 for post-Harvey flood control.
” This extension confirms how fortunate we are to have Marcus Stuckett as our Flood Control District’s leader.” His expertise and knowledge of the CDBG-DR program are crucial when delivering projects for our community in terms of disaster recovery and mitigation, Ramsey said in a statement to The Texan.
Adrian Garcia, the commissioner (D-Pct. 2 ), who had defended Petersen’s work as HCFCD director, responded to Buckingham’s statement by saying that he expects the flood control district to “ensure effective communication with all members of commissioners court and the GLO is frequent and clear, and that consistent updates are brought to commissioners court.”
After Democrats won the 2018 elections to control the Harris County Commissioners Court, commissioners made a framework for flood project prioritization that gave a” social vulnerability index” ( SVI ) a higher priority over a project’s area that took into account the racial and economic status of residents.
Commissioners later revised the framework several times, which had an impact on some projects.
GLO noted in early June that “roughly 84 % of the time” for Harris County’s CDBG-DR projects “has elapsed with less than 4 % of their budgets spent.”
Garcia is vying for a third term, but he will face Republican Richard Vega on the November ballot. Garcia, along with Lesley Briones, a commissioner from the district of Phoenix. 4 ) has faced a lot of public outcry for casting a ballot with Commissioner Rodney Ellis (D-Pct ). 1 ) for a historic tax increase and budget that will increase county spending by$ 327 million.
The commissioners court has been repeatedly criticized by Vega and former commissioner Steve Radack, who is running as a Republican against Briones, for administrative bloat and a focus on social services and initiatives that fall under the county’s main responsibility to protect public safety and infrastructure, including flood mitigation.
We should have never reached this point, Vega told The Texan,” We’re grateful to Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham and the Texas General Land Office for granting Harris County this final extension.” Commissioners Court shouldn’t need another extension to finish significant flood-control projects nearly ten years after Hurricane Harvey. This is about due process. There can be no more excuses for Harris County having had one last chance to get the job done.
County Judge Lina Hidalgo, who is not running for reelection, called the extension “especially good news for Harris County” and stated in a statement that Stuckett will be providing an update on October 15.
Former Harris County Treasurer Orlando Sanchez, the Republican candidate running for Hidalgo, praised Buckingham for getting the extension, but lashed out at the county for handling flood control improperly.
The people of Harris County have witnessed year after year as crucial flood mitigation projects have been stalled by bureaucratic delays, arbitrary procedures, missed expenditure targets, and a persistent lack of urgency from the Commissioners Court, Sanchez said in a statement to The Texan. Families who have experienced Harvey’s floodwater trauma have been forced to wait while neighborhood leaders offered justifications rather than shovels in the ground.
” Harris County residents deserve better than chronic inefficiency,” he continued.
Letitia Plummer, the Democratic nominee for county judge, did not respond to a request for comment right away.
During a candidate forum on Monday, Plummer and Sanchez reportedly claimed that the county would likely need to approve additional bonds for upcoming flood control projects.
