2023
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Seafood City brings heart and sole to Sugar Land - Page 3
281.690.4200 WEDNESDAY • JANUARY 24, 2024
Sugar Land council votes to apply for funding for Brazos River flood mitigation projects Staff Reports The Sugar Land City Council at its December 20 meeting voted unanimously to authorize city staff to submit a grant application to the Texas General Land Office for funds to two erosion mitigation projects in order to reduce flooding along the Brazos River.
Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 49 • No. 04 • $1.00
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Green addresses package delivery problems at Missouri City facility By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Addressing a problem that has been festering in the greater Houston area for weeks, U.S. Rep. Al Green (D-Houston) said he is working to address delayed package deliveries from a recently opened U.S. Postal Service processing center in Missouri City at a Monday press conference. Green, whose Texas 9th Congressional District encompasses parts of southwest Fort Bend County, including Missouri City, said he was distressed not only by the
delays in delivery, but by the Postal Service’s reluctance to speak openly to the media about the reasons for those delays. The press conference was held at Green’s main district office in southwest Houston as well as broadcast over his office’s Facebook account. Green stressed that as a member of Congress he is not a spokesperson for the Postal Service, a quasi-governmental entity over which that body has oversight. “I believe the United States Postal Service should be making these statements today or should be addressing the
press. I don’t think written communiqués are enough,” he said. Green said that the service should have customer service representatives at the Missouri City facility to assist people who are seeking packages, and that the phones at the facility should be answered promptly. “It is my opinion that when you have few facts, who have rampant speculation, and there is speculation now about what is going on at the facility,” he said.
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U.S. Rep. Al Green (D-Houston) speaks about package delivery problems at a Postal Service facility in Missouri City on Monday. He was accompanied by Irene Ramirez, left, and Brenda Weindrich, who described their problems with the delays. Screenshot of U.S. Rep. Al Green press conference
Smith lays out plan for taking reins of Fort Bend ISD
Erosion along the Brazos River banks in Memorial Park is one of the areas to be addressed by a $28 million grant application to the Texas Water Development Board. City Council recently voted to approve the grant application. File photo by Ken Fountain
After the major flooding events of 2015 and 2016 and Hurricane Harvey in 2016, the city and Fort Bend commissioned two erosion studies for 13 critical areas of the Brazos River, which concluded that in less than 30 years erosion could threaten homes, city and county infrastructure, parks and highway bridges along evacuation routes, senior engineering manager Jorge Alba reminded Council members. The city and county responded by creating Project Brazos, a multi-jurisdictional effort to address the causes of erosion along the Brazos’s riverbanks. Two of the critical areas identified in Sugar Land were at Memorial Park and the U.S. 59/IH 69 evacuation corridor, Alba said. As part of the the Texas Community Development Bloc Grant Mitigation Action Plan, Sugar Land received $4 million and the county received $56 million for mitigation projects. Under the resolution, the two entities would combine their funding for projects at the two locations, Alba said. In October, City Council approved contracts with consulting firm HuittZollars, Inc. and Pubic Management, Inc. to support city staff with their application for the block grant funding. The application is due January 9, with an anticipated contract award by June 1, 2023. Mayor Joe Zimmerman noted that Sugar Land originally initiated the project as lead agency in 2014, before the later flooding events.
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New Fort Bend ISD Superintendent Marc Smith, back row center, and members of the school board pose with Girl Scouts at the beginning of Monday’s meeting. The scouts had presented the board with Girl Scout cookies. Screenshot from Fort Bend ISD website
By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Saying he had “hit in the ground running,” newly appointed Fort Bend ISD Superintendent Marc Jones made his first official comments as the head of Texas’s sixth-largest school district in a board meeting on Monday. Smith, formerly the head of the Duncanville school district in the Dallas area, was named as the sole finalist for the superintendent’s role on December 15 following the sudden departure of former superintendent Christie Whitbeck earlier that month. After a state-mandated wait, he signed his contract in a specially called board meeting on January 8. His base annual salary is s $410,000.
After the board gave a series of presentations to student groups from several schools for various achievements, Smith said in his first superintendent’s report that he had earlier met with students and teachers at the James Reese Career and Technical Center. “It’s such an awesome facility, and I had such a great day visiting all the classrooms and academic programs there,” Smith told the board members. Smith said he also spent part of the day meeting with the district’s leadership team. “We simply talked about the vision we have moving forward to work together a team. It was opportunity to get to know one another, it was an opportunity for me
to set expectations, he said. Smith said he also shared with the team what he called his “90-day plan” as he takes over the reins of the district, focused on five key priorities. These include “building relationships in a collaborative way with our school board, and really have a focus on mutual respect and open communication and a shared vision,” Smith said. Tensions between Whitbeck, the former superintendent, and some board members came to light in the midst of her exit, which was publicly framed as a voluntary retirement. The second priority, he said, is to gain an understanding of the perspectives of all of the district’s stakeholders, both internal and external. “This is a people
business, and you’re only as good as the people you put around you who you work with and work through. So I want to make sure I make it a priority to make those connections a priority early in my tenure in the district,” he said. Smith said his third priority was analyzing and evaluating the district staff with an eye toward identifying, attracting and retaining high-quality educators. With the district’s season for drawing up a 2024-2025 budget already at hand, Smith said his fourth priority was to meet regularly with the leadership team in order to understand what’s already been done and what will be done moving forward, focusing on transparency with the board and the public.
Smith said his fifth priority was centered on understanding the district’s academic programs and identifying areas that need improvement. He said his plan was a “fluid document” that would be amended based on data he receives on a continuing basis. “I’m excited, and I want you to know I’m coming in hitting the ground running, and have a very focused approach to getting off on a great start,” he told the board members. Board president Judy Dae welcomed “home” Smith, who previously served in executive roles in Fort Bend ISD from 2007-2012. “I think we’re all looking forward to working with you and moving this district forward,” she said.