SRBA to slate workshop, discuss grant application

The board of directors for the Sulphur River Basin Authority will consider a strategic planning workshop and approving a Clean Water grant application with the Texas Water Resources Institute at its meeting today in Mount Pleasant.
"We need to have a plan," SRBA Board President Mike Sandefur said of creating the strategic plan. "Every organization has to have a plan that's written down so that it can be measured."
Members have been considering creating the document to help SRBA identify clear goals for the board, which has recently come under fire by the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission for lack of transparency with stakeholders, the press and the community.
In June, board members testified in Austin at a Sunset Commission hearing on the changes they had made in response to the commission's Staff Report, which recommended a full sweep of the board.
"Sunset is giving us the opportunity to do some drastic and quick changes for the better," Sandefur said.
Those changes have included electing Sandefur as president of the board just prior to the June 22 meeting in Austin and assigning board members as vice presidents to address sedimentation and open meetings issues.
In other business, Dr. Lucas Gregory, a research scientist with TWRI, will give information about SRBA applying for a Watershed Pollutant Loading Characterization grant for Wright Patman Lake. The $5,416 grant will provide funds to study the reservoir and also provide education workshops and outreach programs.
The meeting will be held at 1 p.m. at the Mount Pleasant Civic Center, 1800 N. Jefferson St., Mount Pleasant, Texas.