Dear residents,

With a new year comes new opportunities, I am happy to announce that after about two years with the District E Office, Mark Mitchell our Director of Constituent Outreach and South Sector, is leaving our office to join the ranks of those at the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership. Mark’s last day in the District E Office will be Thursday, February 16. Mark has done a tremendous job engaging the residents of the Edgebrook, Southbelt, Ellington, North Shore, and Clear Lake areas of our District, joining our team right in the middle of the pandemic in 2020.

In addition, he has mentored many of our office interns wearing many hats within the community and our office. Mark completed the Leadership Clear Lake program upon graduation serving as the chair for government day and organizing a Women in Government panel featuring District E’s very own Chief of Staff, Jessica Beemer, as the moderator. Mark leaves our south sector in great shape, and we look forward to bringing on a new team member to follow in his footsteps.

Continuing the celebration, I’d also like to announce the promotion of Dustin Hodges as the District E Deputy Chief of Staff. Dustin has been an asset to our office with his keen analytical skills he has proven himself in more ways than one. Dustin will continue to manage the North Sector of District E including Kingwood, Huffman, and Lake Houston communities, while also assisting in tasks associated with the more day-to-day operation of the office as well as the inner workings of City Council. Congratulations to these outstanding men as they continue to grow serving District E.

January proved to be a demanding month testing our office with inclement weather that impacted both sectors of District E with a tornado in the south as well as flash flooding in the north. Utilizing boots-on-the-ground canvassing in the south the District E office was successful in identifying damaged structures in the Gulf Palms neighborhood securing storm debris pickup within 72 hours of the F3 Tornado. Additionally, the District E Office worked with Houston Public Works professionals to monitor river and lake levels allowing us to avoid structural flooding while also providing us an opportunity to continue to educate residents on the dangers of flash flooding.

Throughout the City of Houston, streets are designed to serve as secondary drainage channels, meaning they could flood by design when rain amounts exceed 2 inches in one hour. Once rain slows to less than 2 inches an hour, the drainage system will recover and move the water through the stormwater system. It is important to monitor local news during storms as forecasts can change in an instant and understand that it only takes six inches of rain to knock a person off their feet and only a foot of water to move a small vehicle. Areas near the floodplain in District E did see high water, which is to be expected to their proximity to the floodplain. Harris County Flood Control District is still working to complete the updated floodplain mapping that started a couple of years ago, utilizing dollars from the 2018 Bond.

Once this mapping is complete residents will have a better understanding of how to manage their risk. Lake Houston gates continue to be open while the level returns to normal pool, which should occur this weekend. Currently lake level on Lake Houston is 42.79 ft and normal pool is 42.4 ft. Our office will continue to monitor and operate Lake Houston alongside Coastal Water Authority and Houston Public Works during each threat for inclement weather utilizing both pre-release and active storm management protocols.

Please don’t forget every time you come across issues in the community (flashing traffic signal, pothole, downed tree, etc.) to contact Houston 3-1-1 by calling (713) 837-0311, writing down your service request number, and follow up by emailing your service request number to DistrictE@houstontx.gov. This is important because it establishes and supports a history for the problem which allows us to work towards bigger repairs and higher priority. I look forward to continuing to serve you all as your Mayor Pro Tem and District E Council Member through the end of this year.


Sincerely,