Top Photos by D. Cooper
06-23-26
News Article and Commentary by Diana Olvedo-Karau
On Monday, July 22nd, the Uvalde County Commissioners met in regular session with a full
agenda. All commissioners were present, and the County Attorney made a rare appearance.
After the prayer and pledge, the meeting began with three residents addressing the
Commissioners Court (Court). Two residents spoke about low water crossing washouts on CR 428 and CR 429.
Aide Escamilla, the Democratic Party nominee for Uvalde County Commissioner, Precinct 4,
read a prepared statement addressing the recent low water crossing washouts. Escamilla’s comments were well written but stopped short of blaming the Court for the failure of the low water crossings on CR 428. Escamilla stated, “Today, I am not here to assign blame. My concern is, what happens next?” Escamilla asked the Court to pause the low water crossing projects “…until a qualified engineer can evaluate the design and provide recommendations for moving forward.”
Wayne Everett, the Republican Party nominee for Uvalde County Commissioner, Precinct 4, also addressed the Court. Everett has regularly attended Commissioners Court meetings and repeatedly questioned the road and bridge work being conducted in Uvalde County. He has raised concerns about the need for the low water crossing project, how the project specifications were prepared, and whether the specifications were engineered—concerns that have repeatedly fallen on deaf ears. Everett stated, “We talked about these things, these
crossings before they ever started construction. We told you that these things would not work. You cannot dam a river up. So why did we put them in?”
Commissioner Ronnie Garza, the seated commissioner for Precinct 4, responded to the citizen remarks by saying that when Judge Bill Mitchell was alive, they had discussed the project and what Garza described as an antiquated Great Depression-era mentality about road washouts: putting up with the inconvenience of water over the road because there was no money in the
budget to fix the problem. Garza explained why the work was done and why residents should not have to deal with water over the road if the problem can be fixed. Garza stated, “We are not going to walk away from this because we owe it to the good people of Rancho Encino and Deer Valley to go out there and rectify this issue.”
Commentary: Why the Court’s Response Deserves Scrutiny
Commissioner Garza’s remarks sounded rational and pragmatic on the surface, but they
deserve closer scrutiny. His repeated use of the phrase “antiquated mentality” seemed to
discount relevant local experience, even when that experience comes from people who
understand local roads and crossings.
Wayne Everett knows roads. Before managing local roads in Texas, Wayne Everett oversaw massive federal water and agricultural infrastructure projects. While the Montell bridge was his primary civil engineering project for Uvalde County, his broader career included two massive
undertakings in the American Southwest: The Pueblo Dam and Reservoir and Navajo Nation
Agricultural Infrastructure.
The washouts on CR 428 would not need to be rectified if the Court had seriously considered
Everett’s concerns before awarding the bids and approving the first change order for the
project.
If Uvalde County tax dollars mattered as much as officials claim, the projects would have been
engineered, not eyeballed.
