The Sulphur River Basin Authority's board of directors will hold a board training workshop at 1 p.m. Tuesday at the Mount Pleasant Convention Center, Mount Pleasant, Texas.
It is the first meeting the board has held since Gov. Greg Abbott made appointments to the board Feb. 7. Board member Wally Kraft of Paris, who was reappointed to the board, said they will not conduct business and that the meeting will simply be board training for all members.
The training is a requirement of HB 2180, passed during the last session of the Texas Legislature, which addressed issues the Sunset Commission found when examining SRBA. The commission has the authority to abolish state agencies but cannot abolish SRBA due to the passage of HB 3123, passed in May 2015.
The Sunset Report outlined deficiencies with the organization, which was created in 1985 to conserve and develop natural resources within the basin which covers 11 counties. One of those deficiencies was the lack of transparency and knowledge of the Texas Open Meetings Act. Kraft said they would address those issues in Tuesday's workshop, which is scheduled to last until 5 p.m.
Other recently-appointed board members include Christ Spencer of Hughes Springs, who Abbott appointed as chairman, Kelly Mitchell of Texarkana and Gary Cheatwood of Bogota. Their terms will expire Feb. 1, 2023. Terms will expire for Kraft and re-appointee Brad Drake of Paris will expire Feb. 1, 2019. Terms for re-appointees Bret McCoy of Omaha and Katie Stedman of Mount Pleasant will expire Feb. 1, 2021.