AUSTIN-Three board members of the Sulfur River Basin Authority testified at a public meeting of the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission Thursday in Austin, telling the 12-member panel of lawmakers exactly what steps they've taken to address deficiencies outlined in the Sunset Staff Report.
Mike Sandefur, SRBA's president-elect, told the commission of the actions taken by the board during their Tuesday meeting to tackle the extremely critical Staff Report the agency released in April. Among the many suggestions, it called for a full sweep of the board, cited a lack of openness and transparency, and recommended hiring an executive director to replace consultant John Jarvis.
The report also addressed SRBA's funding, as it comes primarily from the Joint Commission for Program Development. The JCPD includes the city of Dallas, the city of Irving, North Texas Municipal Water District, Tarrant Regional Water District and the Upper Trinity Water District-all entities seeking water for their growing populations.
"The Sunset Report also accurately suggests we receive no public funding and have no taxing authority, thus fueling the perception that we are controlled by special interests," Sandefur said. "A comprehensive change to balance public interest will require some level of public funding."
Sandefur said the board could not adequately refute the staff's concerns and criticisms and outlined board actions taken during Tuesday's meeting to begin a strategic reorganization of the board.
"Today I can testify we added nine agenda items to our meeting last Tuesday that were from the organization plan that we had embraced," Sandefur said, adding the entire agenda was adopted unanimously and that half the Sunset's suggestions had been acted upon.
"That is only a beginning. That is only a start. And there's going to be a lot more to come," he said.
Sunset was created to review state agencies to determine their effectiveness and necessity. The commission has the authority to abolish many state agencies, but House Bill 3123, passed in May 2015, excludes SRBA from being abolished.
Following Sandefur's statement, Sunset Chairman Larry Gonzales said, "You are moving forward. Are you turning the corner on this thing? Do you feel you are in a place now you can turn a corner?"
Sandefur said, "Yes, we are turning the corner."
Later in the hearing, Gonzales said SRBA taking action is exactly what the Sunset Commission is designed to prompt within government agencies. He said this was still the very beginning of a truly long process.
"Often times what you see in the Sunset Review process is what I still consider a win. The process is that when agencies are aware of, and they see it in writing for the first time, it can be shocking at first," he said. "But what happens is when that contention is brought to the entity changes are already being made and entities are already instituting rules to address what's in there I'm not sure you'll get there by Aug. 22. But what happens is, by the time we start filing bills in January, some of this may be already taken care of."
The lack of oversight for both the consultant and multiple engineering studies were addressed by Vice Chairman Van Taylor, who stated there is a special services procurement act in place for agencies to follow when contracting for services.
"Did you follow through with that?" Taylor asked. "Did that not work out for you? Take us through and how it didn't work out."
The question was directed to Sandefur, who said he wasn't on the board at that time and did not know the answer. Taylor then directed the question to Mike Russell, who served as SRBA president for seven years.
Russel said Jarvis, a former Texarkana, Texas, mayor, was highly recommended by JCPD since he was also the former executive director of Riverbend Water Resources District.
"I don't recall exactly how we set that procurement up," Russell said. "It's been quite awhile since we did it. I do know that the people who do fund the studies-JCPD, Region C, who fund SRBA-felt like our current contractor was an excellent choice to be a contract manager to move forward things that had completely slowed down since then, we've probably had six major studies completed."
Russell concluded his statement with, "No, I don't."
SRBA Board Member Bret McCoy sat at the dais in unison with Sandefur and Russell but chose to give a personal statement during the public hearing portion of the meeting.
He addressed the need for additional funding other than JCPD and addressed conflicts of interest associated with not only the funding, but also the studies being done with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and engineering firm Freese and Nichols Inc.
"With exclusive funding from the metroplex over the last decade, few local entities trust any work attached to SRBA," McCoy said. "This is obvious in their decisions to use engineering firms with close ties to projects that are going to be costly both socially and economically to our region while benefiting the metroplex it is a conflict of interest that feasibility studies are being done by the same firm that will profit if Marvin Nichols is built."
Texarkana, Texas, City Councilman Josh Davis also addressed a lack of transparency and the level of secrecy surrounding the studies. He told the commission that in his six-and-a-half years on the City Council, SRBA has never made a presentation to the council and that the council was not initially notified of the basinwide study.
"In 2015, Texarkana, Texas, was made aware of SRBA's possible intent to pursue water rights in Wright Patman Lake for any new water development through reallocation," Davis said. "This was certainly news to us.
The city passed a resolution in November 2015 that stated they had no confidence in SRBA as currently constituted.
"We did not want there to be any questions of our opposition of their handling the basin-wide study and their complete lack of regard of local communities and historic water right holders in the basin," Davis said. He, along with Riverbend Board Members Fred Milton and Marshall Wood, said they support Sunset's recommendations of sweeping the board of older appointments and giving Gov. Gregg Abbott the power to elect the board president.
Linda Price, chairwoman of the Region D Planning Group, and George Frost, Region D vice chairman, both told of SRBA's lack of regard for stakeholders in the basin, citing instances where the group made decisions without peer consultation. Price said she supported adding the requirement they obtain approval from the local stakeholders before sponsoring water projects that would be used primarily outside the basin.
"They sought wholesale water status from Region C and not from Region D, which is where the basin is at," Price said. "SRBA's consultant and engineers provide routine updates to the Region C Planning group and have never once provided Region D Planning with an update presentation on the basin water studies being conducted in our own basin."
Public comments on SRBA will be accepted until 5 p.m. Tuesday. The online public input form is available at sunset.texas.gov.