(Press Statement June 15, 2006)
The Blanco County citizen’s organization, Preserve Our Water, Inc., announced that it has filed an Open Meeting complaint against the Blanco Pedernales Groundwater Conservation District in Blanco County District Court. General Manager Ron Fieseler received notification of the action.
The complaint relates to the March 16th public hearing held by the Groundwater District in the matter of a pumping permit for the Rockin’ J development. Preserve Our Water contends that the deliberations and decision processes of the District’s Board were in violation of the Texas Open Meetings law and asks the Court to direct the District to cease such illegal activity and also asks that the Court set aside the permit granted by the District to Rockin’ J.
The Texas legislature enacted the Open Meeting Law in 1967 to provide assurance that public bodies conducted the public’s business in full access of the citizens. In 1987 the legislature amended the law, establishing very specific requirements to balance the public right to know and the occasional need for a public body to hold confidential deliberations.
Commenting on behalf of Preserve Our Water, Board member Marcia Lucas said, "We regret having been compelled to take this action. We have tried to get the District to correct what we believe to be numerous errors in the granting of this permit. However, they have demonstrated by their actions a lack of responsiveness to citizen concerns. The District has ignored the concerns of citizens throughout the permit process, including during the hearing in March. Shortly after the hearing we asked District to provide 'Findings and Conclusions', a document required by Texas law, that sets forth the reasons for its decision but the District’s Board refused. We filed an administrative request for a rehearing and they have ignored it. We felt we had no choice but to take the matter before a judge."
The Texas Open Meeting law sets out specific requirements for conducting a closed meeting, also known as an Executive Session. The complaint filed by Preserve Our Water argues the District conducted an unlawful Executive Session at the March 16th meeting. During that closed meeting they consulted privately with representatives of the Rockin’ J development but not with any of the many citizens that had spoken against the permit. When the presiding Board member, Vice Chairman Mr. Bobby Wilson re-opened the meeting to the public he told the citizens that the Board had made its decision about the permit application. Preserve Our Water contends these private deliberations violated the law regulating closed meetings in several important ways, denying the citizens attending the meeting of their rights to full participation and access.
"Legal actions like this are expensive," observed Board member John Watson. "The costs are borne by the citizens of Blanco County; the many who have contributed in support of Preserve Our Water and all those of us whose taxes support the Groundwater District", he continued. "Perhaps if the District had consulted its attorney at any time before issuing the largest pumping permit in the District’s history, it would have avoided the numerous errors that led to this action."
