PRESIDIO COUNTY — The Big Bend Sentinel had requested all work notes, emails and texts to or from Presidio County Road and Bridge Director Rueben Carrasco for a story reported last week on Redford resident Barbara Baskin’s lawsuit against the county.
Baskin had outlined the unusual timing of what she calls unfinished work on drainage around her property to prevent another flooding event like the one that damaged her property and home in the spring of 2023. Baskin had little contact with any county officials and no county workers had come to her property for 14 months after the flood. However, county workers arrived on Tuesday, July 27 — the day a district judge dismissed Baskin’s lawsuit — and began building a berm above her property. Workers then left and picked up the equipment on Thursday, July 29, without completing the berm and leaving a clear path for floodwater to flow to her house, Baskin said.
The Sentinel open records request included Carrasco’s communications from the week that included that county work — July 26 to 30. The county missed its 10-day deadline, required by Texas law, in responding to the open records request, but then on August 27 released several emails from Carrasco to county officials as well as his log book that he uses to document his work. However, the county did not release any of Carrasco’s text messages.
After several requests to the county asking about the texts, County Attorney Rod Ponton responded on Tuesday that there were no work-related texts to or from Carrasco during that week.