Melinda Fisher, environmental lead for the Army Corps of Engineers, will give a mitigation presentation during Tuesday's meeting of the Sulphur River Basin Authority.
Letting the public know exactly what mitigation is and helping them understand what's involved with the process is a good next step in the board's transparency, said newly-elected Board President Mike Sandefur.
"I am eager and anxious to try my first meeting as president (and) to continue to implement some of the changes that have been suggested," he said. "I have arranged for a mitigation presentation Part 1 and would encourage everybody to come see what we're doing and get some firsthand information about mitigation. It's not the final answer."
Wright Patman Lake's water rights-holders have known for years of the need to address the sedimentation issue. Projection numbers from the Texas Water Development Board's 2017 State Water Plan show the possibility of Wright Patman not being able to hold the amount of water in 2070 that water rights-holders now own.
Sandefur said SRBA must address mitigation and sedimentation and is proposing that it reallocate funds during Tuesday's meeting for a sedimentation project to be conducted by Texarkana College Chemistry Professor Mike Buttram, who heads the Clean Rivers Program.
These issues are related to the board's Enabling Act, which includes "the control, storage preservation and distribution of the state's water." That act will be reviewed during the meeting so members can decide which parts they'd like to focus on, Sandefur said.
During the June 21 Sunset Advisory Commission public hearing in Austin, the Enabling Act was just one issue the committee addressed. Others included the lack of transparency, a sense of distrust among stakeholders in the basin and a lack of local investment in water development projects.
During the board's June meeting, two days before the Sunset hearing, the board took steps to address the Sunset Review's damaging report. Sandefur told of the actions taken during that meeting, which addressed half of the Sunset Report's suggestions.
"Today, I can testify we added nine agenda items to our meeting last Tuesday that were from the organization plan that we had embraced," he told the Sunset Commission.
Comments from the public hearing will be discussed Tuesday, including written statements submitted to the commission by SRBA Board Member Bret McCoy (statements on his own behalf); Riverbend Board Member Marshall Wood; Linda Price, Region D water planning group chairwoman; Steve Mayo, water liaison for the city of Texarkana; and George Frost, Region D vice chairman. These are available at sunset.texas.gov.
Another criticism was the lack of timely updates and information on the feasibility study being conducted by RPS Group of Austin. An update will also be given during Tuesday's meeting, along with updates on Region D and developing a grant application for a Clean Water Act Nonpoint Source Grant from the Texas Water Resources Institute.
Board training will also be conducted Tuesday, with members discussing how closed sessions work and a possible board workshop to be held in the future.
The yearly budget will be presented for review, with action to be taken during the August meeting, along with a report on SRBA's cash positions and expenditures.
SRBA will meet at 1 p.m. at the Mount Pleasant Civic Center, 1800 N. Jefferson St. in Mount Pleasant, Texas.