Is Our Water Safe?
Is our water safe to drink, who knows it seems like some people were not notified to boil your water since el president did away with Code Red and put in place his own version of how to notify the people. There is a lot wrong with our water system.
Legal fees have gone way up. The old legal fees before this board ran about $3,800.00 to $4.500.00 a month. The new legal fees run around $7,800.00 and up.
Meeting notices are not being posted correctly according to the open meetings act. USWUG has left at the end of January. They could not continue to work in a hostile environment. Here is part of the reason they left from their termination letter.
1. POCID has refused to fund the M&R (maintenance and repair) fund as required.
2. POCID has engaged and continues to engage in conduct that violates the agreement.
3. Under Texas law the agreement contains an implied covenant by each party that it will not hinder prevent or interfere with the other party’s performance of its contracted duties.
POCID has breached such covenants repeatedly and in numerous respects. By way of example:
The agreement includes a carefully crafted reporting framework designed to avoid costly inefficiency, to ensure that important information is properly channeled to everyone who needs it, and to enable POCID to operate consistently with open government and other legal requirements.
By contrast, certain POCID officials continue to insist that district information be discussed only with select board members, and often in response to rambling, sometimes incoherent and abusive late night e-mails directed to USWUG personnel other than those responsible for this agreement.
This problem was called to POCID attention more than a year ago, yet the situation has only gotten worse.
While the agreement places upon USWUG full responsibilities for its staffing and personnel decisions it also vests USWUG with full discretion concerning those decisions. Nevertheless certain POCID officials have repeatedly inserted themselves into matters involving USW employees. By way of example: Director Brown demanded that USW terminate employee Kim Stafford, that she be fired and threatened that POCID would terminate the agreement if she was not. As you may know Mrs. Stafford has threatened to take legal action against USW as a result of Director Brown’s conduct. Director Brown has also interfered with USW hiring of District Manager and while repeatedly insisting that he was not trying to tell USW how to do their job.
Following Hurricane Harvey Director Raybon inserted himself into USW inspection of the vacuum pits and attempted to take charge of directing USW personnel conducting these inspections.
There is so much more wrong with our water system and it is getting worse. Three directors have resigned because no one can work with director Brown and his two cohorts. They have no idea what it takes to run a water and sewer district. They are the ones that should have resigned.
After USW left I understand that there were not enough licensed personnel to operate the system according to TECQ rules. IS OUR WATER SAFE????
Teddy Hawes
To All POC,
Enclosed is a letter I submitted to the Port O’Connor Improvement District. A lot has happened leading up to this letter. This letter is for all of you that have expressed your concerns to me. People have said the POCID is in the worst position that it has ever been in. You might be right. I have no hidden agendas, I wanted to be straight forward. The POCID lost its only operator, leaving us in a serious violation. I wanted to help by using any licenses I had, but I had concerns of its legality. Unfortunately TCEQ informed me it is NOT legal for me to be on the board AND act as an operator. The majority of the board tried to force this on me in a meeting where the topic was not allowed any discussion. I have many concerns about actions that have been taken by certain board members. I definitely do NOT like the drama! It doesn’t matter if you want to see POC grow or if you want it to stay small. My actions are for you. Right is right, and wrong is wrong. This isn’t a complicated fix. Companies WANT to work for us and with us, just not for or with certain board members. Please know I do this for you and your district.
March 2, 2018
To whom it may concern:
I want to address the Board’s decision made yesterday to use my license and appoint me as the operator of the District’s water system. First of all I DID NOT and DO NOT give POCID permission to use MY license in any shape or form. At yesterday’s meeting, I was not allowed discussion or any input on Agenda item B1 of the Emergency Meeting March 1st 2018, “Leon’s meeting”, concerning this issue. I had questions for legal counsel. I got notice of the meeting at 1307 of the emergency meeting. At 1328 I tried to contact legal counsel with no success. This would have been in the best interest of the Board as well. I believe that there are issues with the Board’s actions under TAC 30 Rule 293.32A7. My understanding is that it is illegal for a board member to be an operator per Texas Administrative Code TAC 30 293.32A7. I could not voice this concern since I was told that it was “not open for discussion” during the meeting. I am sending a copy of this e-mail to Blas Rizzo with TCEQ to give TCEQ notice that I DO NOT and DID NOT give POCID permission to use MY license to operate its water system. I have concerns regarding the District’s inability to keep operators and keep out of violations because of the actions of certain Board members. These members have run off every operator the District has had in recent past. Many of the decisions made by these Board members have put the District in violation. These members have shown in the last year that they are incapable of properly overseeing the District. The actions that were taken during Hurricane Harvey were another indication of their inability to run the District properly. The District is behind in services, taking money from customers without providing service because of the dismissal of US Water. It was recently brought to my attention that the District may be collecting taxes to repay a bond that was never issued. It was also recently brought to my attention that past meeting agendas may not have been posted correctly. I demand the IMMEDIATE resignation of Leon Brown and Marshall Bradford. If Leon and Marshall resign, there is a good probability that the District’s violations caused by these Board members could be resolved today. I am only asking this for the good of the community.
Thank you,
Nathan O’Neill
Trash!
The trash all over town and in the ditches etc is getting out of hand. Take a drive around town and look. If you own a business and your ditch is full of trash, how can you drive by it every day and not pick it up! How bout the people who just mow around or over the trash?!! Really??!! Lot of out of town people put the cans out on Sunday only to have the wind or whatever dump the can over and then the trash gets blown all over the ditches etc. They come back days or weeks later and pick the can up but leave trash all over the roads and ditches! And its not just the out of towners.. Full bags of trash along the highway??!! How bout along Coloma Creek bridge where everyone fishes? Totally trashed… well done morons! Pick your trash up and keep POC a nice clean town
Disgusted POC Resident
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