Executive session, not so much

The real newspaper in town blows the whistle.

Again.

Read about the Fort Worth School District tape of the executive session in the FW Weekly.

Stuff is changing in Cowtown, quick.  Keep up, you know what they say about stuff running downstream.

TRWD putting the IF in TIF

Woodard tells you all about it in the Fort Worth Business Press.

The only noise from Fort Worth Star-Telegram this week is crickets chirping.

Not to worry, we're sure they'll have a TRV promoting article soon.  It's been at least a week, right?

Heads will roll...

A letter to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram puts the $6 million dollar taxpayer loss by Tarrant Regional Water District into perspective.

The letter writer asks a good question of the TRWD - WHO do you think YOU are?

Water poaching

Let’s say a grocery agrees to give to a local food bank the food that isn’t sold before the expiration date. A few years later the food bank sues because the grocery won’t allow the food bank to pick fresh product from the shelves as soon as they are stocked.

How about allowing your dog to eat everything that falls off a picnic plate? What if he decided to eat directly off the plate with you because he was picking up a little dirt with the food off the ground?

Well, that’s what some bright folks at the Tarrant Regional Water District were trying to do — move upstream from the Red River, where we have water rights, to inland Oklahoma rivers and lakes full of fresh water where we don’t have rights. 

Who do we think we are? Where do we make up the $6 million? Heads should roll.

— John T. Johnson III, Arlington

If you don't learn from history

You're an idiot.

Well, that and you're doomed to repeat it.

An article from last year in the Fort Worth Business Press points out a very costly, catastrophic mistake.  Sounds eerily similar to the very costly, catastrophic mistake the Trinity River Vision will create when it tries to redirect the river....

Just for fun, what will be in the path of the Trinity River?  Oh yes, a billion of your dollars worth of development and a couple million people. Genius.

The problem – and perhaps the solution – goes back to 1928. Fed up with flooding from North Sulphur River, Fannin County farmers decided to tame the river that was ruining their crops. Redirecting the meandering river into a 16-foot wide, 10-foot channel may have kept the river away from the cotton crops.

But it created a much worse problem, said Tom Taylor, executive director of the UTRWD.

The straightened river was twice as steep and ran twice as fast, Taylor said. Over 80 years, the river barreled downstream during heavy rains, wiping out everything in its path including trees and countless bridges, he said.

“It’s now 300 feet wide and 60 feet deep,” Taylor said. “It’s probably the only river in North America that never leaves its banks. It looks like it’s intended to be that way but it’s a catastrophic example of man-made erosion.”

Bad Boys, Bad Boys

What you gonna do when she comes for you?

KERA gives their take on what went down in the TRWD board meeting Tuesday.

Whichever side you're on, you have to admit, the woman has a point.

And by the way, "balked" can be translated into was rude as hell.

From the KERA article.....

Board member Jim Lane balked.

“Why would we want to spend taxpayer funds on another lawyer if we have lawyers already hired by the taxpayers?” questioned Lane.

To which Kelleher pointed out, the district had just lost a legal battle with Oklahoma over water rights that cost the district more than $6 million.

“No offense to our current council but we just lost a huge suit, quite embarrassing. If that was the opinion of our legal counseling I would like an outside one,” responded Kelleher. 

Then some rolled their eyes as Kelleher asked why the engineering firm of Freese and Nichols seemed to be awarded an abundance of work on a new pipeline and other projects.

“When you look at the agendas all you see is Freese and Nichols. Are they the only engineering firm?” Kelleher asked.

Star-Telegram no show, no surprise

While the Fort Worth Star-Telegram had plenty to say during the Tarrant Regional Water Board election (not all of it accurate), they were noticably absent from yesterday's standing room only TRWD board meeting.

The Fort Worth Weekly and the Fort Worth Business Press were there. (While the Biz Press got a few things wrong, at least they took the time to show up and actually REPORT on the meeting.)

KERA was also among the news outlets in attendance.

We are told a FWST columnist linked to the FW Weekly article on his Facebook page.  We were then asked why his own paper didn't cover it?  Good question.  ASK.

Kudos to Mary Kelleher for not backing down from the smirking bullies at the table.  And reminding them that almost 9,000 citizens put her there and she planned on doing right by them, not the board.  What other board member has received that many votes?  That's right, none.  Ever.

There weren’t enough parking spaces for the cars outside, and there weren’t enough chairs for the people inside.

A big turnout is rare at a Tarrant Regional Water District board of directors meetings. The water board isn’t known for transparency and doesn’t exactly embrace outsiders (aka taxpaying citizens) who poke their noses into the board’s business, even though much of it is supposed to be public information.

Board members appeared a bit surprised to see a full house at this morning’s meeting.

The big draw was Mary Kelleher, the only challenger during last month’s citywide election to oust an incumbent and get elected to a board that hadn’t seen a fresh face in a few years.

Following Kelleher’s statement, Jim Lane, another TRWD board director,asked: “What would be total compliance? You either comply or you don’t. You can’t halfway comply.”

Board President Victor Henderson noted that the board was “here in an open session.”

“Correct,” Kelleher replied, “but I want a legal opinion from the outside firm that can assure us that all of the things that we need to exactly have, including the executive sessions, are in compliance with the Texas Open Meetings Act – period.

“We’ve spent so many millions of dollars in legal fees. We have another lawsuit pending that’s alleging that we’re in violation of the open meetings act. I don’t have any idea why the board would not want an outside, independent [opinion], an additional one just to make sure that we’re not [in violation of the act],” she said. “We have a lot to lose; we just lost a lot. I think we serve the community well by getting an additional one, and I don’t understand why my fellow directors wouldn’t be in agreement with me.”

What does Clyde say?

You knew he wouldn't stay silent on the lawsuit everyone but TRWD knew they'd lose.

Read his comments and others in the Fort Worth Business Press.