Maud voters ask for municipal referendum on water agency

MAUD, Texas -- Even though the Maud City Council voted last week to join 10 other Texarkana area cities in re-creating the Wright Patman Regional Water Supply Agency, petitioners are still waiting their day at the polls.

During the special meeting Thursday, city council members voted unanimously in favor of re-creating the agency.

However, two days before the vote, a group of residents presented a petition signed by 130 registered voters to Maud City Hall, asking city officials to hold a municipal referendum on the matter.

On Friday, Maud Mayor Robert E. Wells said he was speaking to an attorney about holding the referendum, but he declined to name any specific dates or immediate courses of action.

The request is provided for under the same Texas Local Government Code, Chapter 422 that provides for the agency's creation. It allows for a referendum petition that contains the signatures of at least "10 percent of the registered voters of a public entity." For Maud, the 130 signatures represent more than 20 percent of the city's roughly 500 registered voters.

Five cities initially voted Feb. 5 to establish the agency. They were New Boston, De Kalb, Hooks, Avery and Annona. Six other cities, including Maud, Wake Village, Nash, Redwater, Clarksville and Atlanta, joined them for last week's vote.

A group of five petitioners also presented a similar petition with 20 registered voters' signatures to the Annona city secretary last week. Annona Mayor George H. English couldn't be reached at his home for comment Saturday regarding his plans on the referendum request.