Letters to the Dolphin : Dolphin Talk | Port O'Connor

Letters to the Dolphin

Archived in the category: General Info, Letters to the Dolphin

Posted by Joyce Rhyne on 15 Oct 15 - 4 Comments

Port O’Connor Municipal Utility District
In 1974 Preston Stofer was successful in getting the legislators to pass legislation creating the Port O’Connor Municipal Utility District. A board of directors was appointed but they had no money to get anything done, so the district lay dormant. In 1984 Preston Stofer again went to the legislators to get the district reinstated. The district had to hold elections. A five member board was elected. They received a grant to do a study on a sewer system. The study came back that it was not economically feasible to do. In 1992 the board looked into getting the water system from GBRA and a more economical and feasible sewer system. The board also looked for grants. The board decided to go with a vacuum sewer system which was about one-fifth of the cost of a gravity system. The board was also successful in getting a loan and grant for over 9 million dollars. The grant was about 52% of that which made it feasible to get water and sewer to Port O’Connor.
I hope that I don’t leave anyone who served on the board out, but these are the names that I remember and not in the order that they served. Past board members were Allan Berger, Joe Bright, Bill Loden, Mike Overton, Kenneth Clark, Johnny Hawes, John Taylor, Calvin Ragusin, Henry Anderson, Paul Hawes, Bob Allen, Edward Lambright, Don Ragin, John “Red” Childers, Wanda Redding, Tom Ekstrom, Doyle Adams, and Teddy Hawes. These people were asked to give of their time to get water and sewer to the people of Port O’Connor. It took a while, but they succeeded. Contrary to what a few people think, they did a very good job.

Teddy Hawes

An Open Letter to Mr. Leon Brown and Mr. Marshall Bradford

As a concerned citizen of Port O’Connor, I find it troubling that in less than a year as Directors on the Port O’Connor Improvement District Board, you have created so much controversy and division in what is a wonderful and special community. You have had TWO different Boards to work with and still are unable to work together and conduct district business.
Maybe, You are the Problem and Not the Solution.

Mr. Brown in reference to obtaining District emails and documents as stated in your letter in the Sept. 18 Dolphin Talk, these are public documents available at the district office for Anyone who wishes to see them. It seems like a lot of attorney fees are being spent to obtain information that is so ready available.

Mr. Brown, you have also stated that YOU dropped the rate hearing petition, when it was Actually dismissed by the Administrated Judge due to your FAILURE to Provide Evidence to the Court by the designated deadline. By your action, I can only assume you had no evidence to present and had NO objection to the dismissal.

For the public’s information, the document I’m referring is Document #473-15-145W.S. dated 5-15-2015 by Judge Kerrie Qualtrough for anyone who wishes to read it.

The district spent funds for attorneys to represent it at the hearing as anyone would seek counsel in a like situation.

Another wasted Expense, when the Watchdog group did nothing to fight the Dismissal.

REMEMBER This is YOUR MONEY PEOPLE.

I believe the Transparency to which you referenced should Work BOTH WAYS.

If you are unable to stop being a dividing force and start conducting business for the Good of the district, the Community and ALL its citizens, then Maybe the next resignations from the Board Should Be Yours.

A Concerned Citizen

The Dolphin welcomes letters from our readers on any subject that is of general interest to our audience. Letters should be 300 words or less (with exceptions at the Dolphin’s discretion). Letters reflect the opinion of the writer, and not that of Dolphin Talk staff, and we retain the right to determine suitability for publication. It is the policy of this newspaper to promote area interests: therefore, complaints against local businesses should be directed elsewhere. Letters must be signed and include day and evening phone numbers, which will not be published. Your name will be withheld upon request, but anonymous material will not be considered for publication.

Letters to the Dolphin
P.O. Box 777
Port O’Connor, TX 77982
dolphin1@tisd.net

4 comments for “Letters to the Dolphin”

S Raybon

To “Concerned Citizen”:
Since you weren’t brave enough to sign your name, I have no idea who you are, but I wonder how many meetings you have attended and where you are getting your information in order to make your assumption that the new “elected” MUD Directors are the problem as opposed to the “government appointed” Directors.
As to your statement about “public documents available in the District office”, I have requested several documents that were mentioned in Board meetings. A few I received, but on others I was told that “The District office does not have possession of the Exhibits referred to in the letter.” Those documents are kept by Special Counsel, Walker Keeling. As of 10/09/15, I have not received the requested information (and I’m sure the District will probably receive a bill from Walker Keeling for their “review time”). According to a 7 page letter from the District Attorney’s office dated 9/10/2015,addressed to Walker Keeling, LLP, public information is NOT always public. There are some documents that are not subject to the Public Information Act and there are some documents that the District MAY choose to withhold. Apparently this is why many documents are kept in the District Counsel’s office and why the District must confer and pay Counsel for document release. In other words, they are attorney protected. It is our utility payments, our taxes, and our dollars being spent so WHY the SECRETS?
Please check your facts before stating information that is not true.

October 17th, 2015 at 1:26 pm

S Raybon

To Concerned Citizen,
I would like to read the Document #473-151W.S. dated 5/15/2015 by Judge Kerrie Qualtrough. Where can I find it?

October 17th, 2015 at 1:34 pm

S Raybon

To Concerned Citizen: I did receive your anonymous envelope with copy of Judge Q.’s Motion to Dismiss dated 5/15/15. Thank you. Again, I wonder, as adults, why you feel the need to be anonymous and why we can’t discuss this openly rather than secretively. I see the highlighted parts you are referring to, but you are skipping over other parts of the motion. I carefully read the Motion and it states that “According to the Watchdog Group, IT MADE ITS DECISION not to prefile its direct case because of the potential for rate-case expenses and the inability to address members of the District’s Board of Directors because of their resignations. The Watchdog Group acknowledged that it understood that the case may be dismissed and had no objections to dismissal.” To refresh your memory, all 3 Past Directors resigned 2/13/15 leaving the town in a bind with no quorum. TCEQ appointed fill in Directors who were sworn in 4/28/15.) The TCEQ fill in Directors will remain in office until the next general election November 2016 at which time the town’s citizens will choose Directors. The Motion to Dismiss has been brought up in a Board meeting and discussed. You really should come to a few meetings and get the whole story.

October 21st, 2015 at 12:18 pm

Marilyn Miller

reply to Concerned Citizen, a little post-note. The reason the three newest members of the board were appointed by the board, according to TCEQ, was because their applications were first in. As a matter of fact, their applications were in before anyone else even knew there were openings. I explained this to tceq, but it didn’t seem to matter. How were they privy to this information before anyone else? I suppose the new people hired to give transparency to the people of Port O’Connor at $3,000 a month (Imagination Monkey) will explain this also…

October 28th, 2015 at 8:08 am

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