PROPOSED WATER AGENCY WANTS TO GET IN THE FLOW
A new water agency that five Texarkana area cities tried to form in February is trying to recreate itself, startng over and adding three new city members. But it's still not a group participants want to talk much about, even those not bound by a judicial gag order in a civil case involving some of the cities and Texarkana, Texas, and Texarkana Water Utilities.
In the Sunday [April 4] Texarkana Gazette, both Wake Village and Nash placed legal notices stating their city councils' intentions to consider adopting a "resolution to create the Wright Patman Regional Water Supply Agency" at 7 p.m. April 22 at their city halls. Legal notices published the same day in the Bowie County Citizens Tribune show Redwater, plus New Boston, De Kalb, Hooks and Maud state their intent to consider adopting the same resolution at the same time and on the same date as Nash and Wake Village.
A spokeswoman for the Clarksville Times confirmed Tuesday that Clarksville, Annona and Avery published legal notices April 1 stating their intent to consider adopting the same resolution at the same time and date as the seven cities in Bowie County. This makes a total of at least 10 cities seeking to set up the water agency, with Clarksville, Redwater and Nash as the newest participants.
Nash City Administrator Elizabeth Lea said that the new effort on the part of her city and the others is to re-create the initial water agency. As of Tuesday afternoon, Lea said she didn't have a copy of the proposed resolution establishing the agency because it is still being drafted by the city group's attorney in Austin. Leo declined to comment much about the new effort, except to say that Nash is now participating in order to see that its residents have a better alternative on water rates.
"The only reason Nash is considering this is to ensure reasonably priced water rates for our citizens," Lea said. "We aren't committing to anything other than to just joining the agency to see what will happen in the future." Leo added that the city's decision has nothing to do with the current lawsuit most of the other cities have against the Texas side and TWU. "We aren't part of the lawsuit, we have nothing against TWU and nothing to do with the lawsuit," she said. "We just want to ensure our citizens have reasonably priced water rates."
Redwater Mayor Chuck Bradford said he has not seen a copy of the new resolution and declined to comment much on why his city has decided to consider joining to create the water agency. "I got my reasons, but I don't want to reveal them right now," he said.
[COMMENT: Why would these cities decide to join a group without even seeing the resolution in advance? Are they just sheep being led to the slaughter by Wake Villainy's Comrade Chairman? Will this mysterious mayor ever reveal his secret reasons to the public? What is he trying to hide? And Region D -- didn't anybody think about consulting Region D? So many questions! Read on. R.]
New Boston, De Kalb, Hooks, Avery and Annona, Texas, voted Feb. 5 to create the Wright Patman Regional Water Supply Agency. One of its stated main purposes includes supplying drinking water to the residents of these five small cities. Maud and Wake Village canceled their early February meetings to endorse creation of the agency because of a technicality in the law regarding the time frame between public notice of the meeting and the meeting itself. Their dates did not comply with the law.
The resolution the five cities voted on in February gave the agency "the power and authority to investigate, negotiate and obtain permits and/or contracts for water resources in the state of Texas or with any state, any Indian Nation or tribe and/or any other entity, lawfully created, for the acquisition and transportation of water supplies, to meet existing or future needs of the agency and its members."
Because those same five cities and Wake Village and Maud are involved in a lawsuit with Texarkana, Texas, and TWU, 76th District State Judge Jim White of Mount Pleasant, Texas, placed a gag order on all the parties involved earlier this year. Officials of the seven cities have declined comment on the formation of the agency, citing the gag order and saying the formation of the water agency involves issues that overlap in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit dates back to March 21, 2002, when these seven cities sued the Texas side and TWU, claiming they all had been overcharged for water in recent years. Efforts to negotiate a settlement have since failed.