If they seceded I'm sure the federal government would make the argument that they are on federal land, even if it's within the Texas borders. Since it wasn't state land, their secession wouldn't apply so it would remain the USA. If Texas wanted to refuse the US Federal government access to them, they'd learn a swift lesson. Texas has a lot of guns, but the army has more.
Oh, I know they won't close. That's just their threat. They keep saying "oh woe is us, if we have to pay living wages then we won't be able to keep the staff hours or we'll go out of business and look at all the employees that would lose their jobs."
But it's a thinly veiled threat and always has been. What they are saying is "if you do this, I'll hurt all these people in response."
If your business closes because you can't manage your costs, then another business will fill the void that can. Isn't that how they always describe capitalism and the "free" market? They have money to pay for all this media and "reporters" to repeat their propaganda. They'd rather pay that then spend the same on their employees.
I just picked up a 4u supermicro chassis that holds 36 3.5" disks and 2 2.5" disks.
Unixsurplus.com has some pre built ones for truenas (I'll be running unraid.) I'm moving from a 12 bay dell with 200tb useable. Once I max out this new chassis, then I'll be adding a jbod shelf. Those can basically double my storage without having to do much.
I’d be pretty adamant that insects are entering the property and they need to come out and spray and seal it. It’s his problem to fix.
You could get some duct tape and thick plastic sheeting like people use to seal broken windows. Just make sure it doesn’t melt from the hot water pipe.