Former Harris County engineer poised to lead flood control district
Marcus Stuckett is poised to lead Harris County’s flood district as six bond projects near a 2027 deadline and more than $245 million remains at risk.
Marcus Stuckett is poised to take over the Harris County Flood Control District just as six flood-mitigation projects tied to the county’s $2.5 billion 2018 bond face an early-2027 deadline and more than $245 million in grant funds remains at risk. The move would put a former county engineer with deep floodplain experience at the center of Harris County’s next round of storm-readiness decisions.
Stuckett, a licensed professional engineer and certified floodplain manager, spent years inside the county’s flood bureaucracy before leaving in 2022. County employment records and his LinkedIn profile show he joined the Flood Control District in 2015, rose through several posts including engineering division director and watershed management department manager, and later took a job with Pape-Dawson Engineers as associate vice president.
The vacancy opened after Dr. Tina Petersen resigned on June 11, following weeks of criticism over missed deadlines and concerns that the district might not finish post-Hurricane Harvey projects before outside funding ran out. Harris County officials had been warning that some flood projects faced deadlines from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Texas General Land Office in 2027 and 2028. Houston Public Media reported on May 6 that delays had jeopardized more than $245 million in grant funds.
Commissioner Tom Ramsey’s office said Stuckett had been under consideration for the flood district job five years ago but was passed over. That history gives the possible appointment an added layer of continuity at a moment when Harris County leaders are trying to steady an agency under pressure to deliver on promises made after Harvey.
The stakes extend beyond one personnel change. Houston Chronicle reporting on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s draft flood maps said about 170,000 more Harris County properties could be placed in the 100-year floodplain, along with 386 schools and 455 industrial facilities. For residents already living with flood anxiety, that means the district’s next leader will inherit not just overdue projects but a wider map of risk.
If commissioners approve Stuckett, the clearest benchmarks over the next 6 to 12 months will be whether the district keeps the six bond projects on schedule, whether it narrows the risk of losing state and federal funding, and whether it can rebuild confidence in an agency that shapes how Harris County prepares for the next heavy rain.
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