2009-10-29

Conflicts of interest without expertise

I thought the reason that Bandera voters compromised their commonsense to elect land speculators, realtors, water well diggers – with very lucky offspring – and others who profit from Hill Country over-development was because of the basic business savvy they might bring to the office. Well, last Thursday’s BCRAGD meeting blew that argument out of the water!

From eliciting muted, groans of pained agony from ever-present Flying L attorneys to bringing everyone with fundamental bookkeeping knowledge to virtual tears, this body of ethically-challenged Banderans proved that they bring nothing resembling basic business practices to their positions. In fact, when one director advised the Board to adopt “Standard Accounting Practices,” you would have thought that he was speaking Old World French. It was such a foreign, unwanted suggestion.

Eventually, however, the director successfully conveyed his point, and the board approved by a 6-2 decision asking the auditor to bring the water board’s balance in line with accepted business practices. Directors preferring “seat-of-your-pants,” Good Ole Boy accounting were Andy Lautzenheizer and Don Sloan – the only director gnashing his gum, squeaking his chair by nervous rocking, rolling his eyes and other body language screaming that he doesn’t think he needs to be there.

Facts are, Director Sloan is the only one contributing nothing to these meetings, except for bragging that he throws Director Lee Kneupper’s emails in the trash without even bothering to glance at them.

Keep in mind that Texas law is what makes our water future vulnerable and that any rule with teeth in it could infringe on it. So, the only way to aggressively move forward to protect our water is to take a gander at rules that groundwater districts have already adopted – there is safety in numbers.

At last Thursday’s meeting, Director Kneupper presented many hours worth of research regarding rules already approved by our neighbors. If that’s the kind of material that Sloan willfully discarded, then maybe Sloan should discard his position on the board as well and keep his land speculation at home.

Also, one citizen informed us that the USDA Extension Agent says that local interest in brush control is extremely high, which is the exact opposite of what Director Karen Ripley claimed when she said that the board would be moving funds from its brush control fund – and, no doubt, toward the money pit.

When confronted with this clear, bold public misrepresentation of fact, Director Ripley shocked us all by further claiming, “I’m not a liar!”

Essie Stewart
Bandera County