MOUNT PLEASANT, Texas-The Sulphur River Basin Authority's Board of Directors tabled several items, including the approval of their annual funding agreement, during their meeting Tuesday.
Chairman Chris Spencer said the items were tabled because Board Members Brad Drake and Kelly Mitchell were not at the meeting.
On Friday, the city of Texarkana, Texas, passed a resolution during a special meeting asking SRBA to table the items. The resolution, which also questioned Spencer's effectiveness to lead the SRBA board, was in direct response to a July 30 email the chairman accidentally sent to Mitchell that allegedly was intended for someone else. Mitchell had previously suggested amendments to the funding agreement, and in the email, Spencer stated his opinion that SRBA keep the existing funding agreement for another year but that the board had to acknowledge Mitchell's suggestions and "placate him."
The letter Riverbend Water Resources District sent to SRBA, after a special meeting to address the email, also questioned Spencer's opinion that Riverbend not manage SRBA and that Northeast Texas Municipal Water District serve in that role, even though requests for such proposals had not yet been received.
SRBA's funding agreement is with the Joint Commission for Program Development, a group of five water districts in the Dallas Metroplex, which has fully funded the organization for the past few years. SRBA was created in 1985 by the Texas Legislature to protect resources within the basin but was not given a source of funding. That SRBA is funded by an organization outside of the basin has long been a point of mistrust with area citizens and stakeholders. The funding issue was addressed in House Bill 2180, passed in 2017 by the Texas Legislature. It addressed several other deficiencies in the organization, including a lack of transparency and not having an executive director. It also called for a full sweep of the board.
Gov. Greg Abbott reappointed the board in February, adding Spencer, Mitchell and Gary Cheatwood.
SRBA, the city of Texarkana, Texas, and Riverbend held a joint meeting on July 17, the first time all three groups had sat down together.
Steve Mayo, Texarkana's water liaison and former mayor, thanked SRBA Tuesday for tabling the items until they had a full board present and invited the board to another meeting to get clarification the funding agreement and re-establish the trust that had been threatened by Spencer's email.
"I appreciate y'all coming to Texarkana a few weeks ago," Mayo said. "We want to work with y'all and we want to build a healthy relationship and trust. That being said, you've all seen the resolution from Texarkana. Trust takes a while to earn and it can go away in a heartbeat or an email. I want us to continue to work together and we want to invite you to Texarkana."
Mayo said the city's council members, some of whom attended Tuesday's meeting along with Judge James Carlow and county commissioners, were actively engaged in preserving the area's water rights.
"We want to talk about a problem y'all have had in the past, that you are fully funded by one entity that's not in our basin," Mayo said. "We are the only water rights holder in (Wright Patman Lake) and we want your support for future water rights. We want your support in keeping the lake healthy and we also want to discuss your funding.
He added that the city wants to participate in funding SRBA.
"We know that in order for us to have a seat at the table or meaningful participation like we had at the last meeting, then we need to have skin in the game," he said.
The city of Texarkana holds water rights in the lake through a 1968 contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Wright Patman is operated at an interim rule curve of 220 feet. If the lake were raised to the Ultimate Rule Curve of 228.64 feet, as outlined in the contract, additional water rights would become available. Riverbend's 16 member entities have all passed resolutions supporting the water district's pursuing any additional water rights.
SRBA has funded in-kind studies with the corps to determine if the lake can be raised and the impacts of doing so. Their contract with JCPD states that if a water project is developed in the basin, that JCPD gets 20 percent of the water at no additional cost.
The next meeting will be held at 1 p.m. on Sept. 18.