2009-11-19

Water board 5-3 vote – back to ‘square one’

By Julie Whitmore

In a dramatic turn of events on Friday, Nov.13, the Bandera Country River Authority and Groundwater District (BCRAGD), with a single vote, cancelled all 19 substantive items on its agenda. Additionally, the meeting was adjourned within 10 minutes of completing the Pledge of Allegiance.

Board ‘held captive’
BCRAGD Secretary and Precinct 3 Director Jerry Sides moved to “cancel the agenda” as the assembled group reseated themselves, declaring, “I don’t intend to be held captive by Mr. Kneupper,” referring to Precinct 4 Director Lee Kneupper.

Almost instantly Director at Large Andy Lautzenheiser seconded the motion, adding, “All these agenda items are one board member’s list. If this motion is passed we kill all these items. I’m sick of being captive to one board member.” Sides has been absent at recent meetings due to illness.

Kneupper, for once, appeared nearly speechless.
Precinct I Director Don Kruckemeyer attempted to start a discussion by noting, “There are issues on this agenda that need to be addressed,” and “To address them is what we signed up for.”

Additionally, District 1 Director Richard Connors and Kneupper both attempted to speak, but President Jim Chastain, with no acknowledgement of Kruckemeyer’s comment, called for a vote. The motion passed 5-3 with Sides, Chastain, Sloan, Lautzenheiser, and Wehmeyer voting in favor, and Connors, Kruckemeyer and Kneupper voting against. Precinct 2 Director Karen Ripley was absent.

Sides next moved to adjourn, and the motion passed. In response to a question, Chastain said that the next meeting would be held the first Thursday in January.

No public comment
Before commenting on a question from a member of the audience as to why no public comment time had been scheduled, Chastain motioned for the official tape recorder to be turned off. Then he ventured these same items had appeared twice previously on the agenda, and although not addressed previously, were thus not required to be subject to public comment.

These items included complying with the Open Meetings Act, discussing and acting on the three scientific modeling studies by LBG Guyton previously commissioned by the board; updating the drought management plan;revising the board bylaws; discussing the use of the Mansfield appraisal in consideration of purchase of the Pawvlik property;reported well interferences at Purple Sage, Flying L Resort and Medina Hay Fields; considering the Groundwater Management Plan and BCRAGD Well Database and taking action on water availability studies for new subdivisions.

Kneupper said that he had been expecting some attempt to short-circuit the agenda once Sides returned, but was surprised by the speed of his action and the intensity of the animosity evident in the room.

Landowners object
Meanwhile, on Nov. 11, the board received a four-page letter from attorney Edmond R. McCarthy Jr., of Jackson, Sjoberg, McCarthy & Wilson, LLP, in Austin, on behalf of the Flying L Public Utility District. He expressed concerns about the proposed rule-making, approved for attorney review by the board at its day-long meeting Oct. 30.

The letter, calls for “opening a dialogue” between the board, Flying L District and other stakeholders in the county. Mainly it reminds the BCRAGD of its obligation to protect property rights and the groundwater resource. Specifically, McCarthy points out several specific issues where the proposed new rules fall short, such as the proposed one acre-foot pumping per acre per year rule, lack of a drought management plan, lack of application of pumping limits on permitted wells and lack of enforcement of pumping limits with metering and reporting.

Enter Cow Creek
Also, the letter suggests that the water board directors would be well advised to look at rules as adopted by other districts, particularly the 2008 rules adopted by the Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation District in neighboring Kendall County.

“The Cow Creek District’s more detailed rules related to well spacing and production limits, and other issues that provide for protections to both the groundwater resource as a whole as well as individual existing permitted well owners, are in the opinion of the Flying L District … the type of effective rule making strategy the BCRAGD ought to be developing,” McCarthy wrote.

The letter gives no hint of what the Flying L District might or would do if BCRAGD continues to neglect its duties.

Several directors, former directors and followers of the rule-making saga suggested after the meeting that a lawsuit challenging the rules might be the only recourse available, but no one was able to provide names of possible litigants or objectives.

On Friday, Nov. 19, the Water Conservation Plan Committee will hold a two-hour meeting beginning at 10 am, at the board offices to discuss the committee’s charter, establish strategic objectives, and establish action items.

Public comment and attendance is welcome.