New SRBA members sworn in, take part in training workshop

MOUNT PLEASANT, Texas-Sen. Bryan Hughes swore in the recently appointed board members of the Sulphur River Basin Authority during the group's board workshop Tuesday.

Re-appointees Wally Kraft, Brad Drake, Katie Stedman and Bret McCoy took the oath, along with new members Gary Cheatwood, Kelly Mitchell and Chris Spencer, who Gov. Greg Abbott appointed as chairman of the organization.

The workshop was part of the new members' board training, which is required by House Bill 2180. It was passed during the last legislative session and includes several directives on how the organization should address deficiencies the Texas Sunset Commission reported to lawmakers.

Kraft, who's been on the board for five years, outlined their budgeting, agenda and meetings procedures for the new members and also reminded them of SRBA's mission.

"I think the main thing we have to do, our objective, is to take care of the Sulphur River Basin," he said.

SRBA was created in in 1985 to conserve and develop natural resources in the 11-county basin. The group came under fire in 2015, when the Sunset Commission, which has the power to abolish state agencies, issued a report stating SRBA showed a lack of transparency with stakeholders and the public and was also not following Texas Open Meetings Act requirements.

HB 2180 addressed these issues, and each board member has now received the required meeting training. It also mandated that SRBA hire an executive director by Oct. 1.

Spencer said he spoke with a representative in the governor's office last week, and was told if they didn't have one by the time the next legislative session convenes in January 2019, that "it wouldn't be pretty."

The board then discussed how they would outline a job description for an executive director and how they would pay them. SRBA is funded by the Joint Commission for Program Development, comprised of water districts in the Dallas Metroplex which are seeking additional supplies for their growing populations. JCPD gives SRBA $225,000 annually for routine business and also funds studies with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to study the basin and if additional water supplies could be made available. The lack of other funding was also addressed in HB 2180, and the board discussed what role an executive director could play in seeking that money to not only pay that position's salary, but to possibly fund additional studies.

"From inception, SRBA was not set up with a steady stream of income," McCoy said.

Toward the end of the meeting, the board discussed the JCPD and other possible revenue streams.

"It boils down to the fact that we have the water and they want it," Kraft said. "To me, we're about water, not about economic fallout. If we develop it, we should get some of it."

The next meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 20 at the Mount Pleasant Civic Center.

Upcoming Events