Sunday's Internet Edition, July 20, 2008.
Commissioners hear from pair charged with finding water district for Coryell County
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| Mary Shipley, left, John Torres, and Tammy Duncan were recipients of this years Lamar Awards from the Mount Hiram Lodge 595 chapter. Shipley is a math teacher at Copperas Cove Junior High School. Torres and Duncan, 2004 Copperas Cove High School graduates, each received $1,000 scholarships for their high school achievements. – Courtesy Photo |
Leader-Press correspondent - GATESVILLE – In not too many years ground water in Texas may be as valuable as was oil in the 1940s, Coryell County Commissioners learned on Monday.
That fear, plus wanting to remain in control of the water beneath our feet, prompted commissioners some time ago to direct two county residents to begin a study of how best to contain and control ground water in Coryell County and on Monday the court learned the efforts so far have been less than fruitful.
“I’ve been working on the ground water issue for (the court) for three years come next month,” said David Freeman of Evant, a self-studied expert on Texas ground water law and issues. Freeman and Wyllis Ament, a Gatesville businessman and former mayor, agreed three years ago to help the court find a way to either organize or merge with a ground water conservation district.
The two had been looking at merging with the Fox Crossing Water District in neighboring Mills County because the district has been in existence for many years and is “blessed with the best possible charter. It’s more flexible than any other district in the state,” Freeman told the court: then the bad news.
“We’ve been in negotiation with them for some time and quite a bit of opposition to the merger has surfaced from some of their members and it has not subsided. We feel like now is the time to back off and let that board try to settle some other issues that are confronting them,” Freeman said.
He suggested the board and members might be more agreeable to the merger after the next legislative session. “Nobody ever knows what will happen in the legislature, but of out of the next session comes a series of mandates that effect all districts, they might feel better the benefits of being a multi-county district,” Freeman said.
Ament told the court what is expected out of the legislature is anybody’s guess, “but the county does need to pursue a water district. We don’t have any answers for you now except to say that areas that have local control of water districts are a lot better off. If water is not controlled locally, sooner or later the state will step in and control it.”
Coryell County Judge John Hull thanked the pair for their service and asked them to continue to try to find a solution to the issue. “There are other districts around and I believe this is an issue we need to look after,” he said.
Commissioner Jack Wall, who first brought the issue to the court some time ago, made a motion that the court contact the Fox Crossing district by mail and say the county no longer will pursue the merger right now, but would revisit the issue at a later time. The motion passed unopposed.
Commissioner Cliff Price suggested perhaps the county would benefit from forming it’s own district. Freeman said there are single county districts in the state but the legislature must approve each one and the body is no longer in favor of letting single county district commissions.
“It can be pursued, though,” Freeman said.
“If you want us to pursue the formation of a single county district then I must ask the court for assistance in contacting our state representative and state senator because a single district will require an act of the legislature,” Ament said. “We’re going to need your help because this is a legislative process.”
Both Ament and Freeman said they would continue to pursue the issue and try to find a viable solution.
In other business, County Clerk Barbara Simpson reported she had an asbestos survey done in the clerk’s office prior to doing some minor remodeling. The report, she said, indicated there was no asbestos problem within the office, save in the old floor tiles, and if there was no plan to disturb the floor covering then there would be no asbestos abatement issue.
She presented the report for file with the court minutes.
Commissioners also approved utility easements on County Road 108, also known as Weaver Chapel Road, for Sprint Telephone Co., and on CR 354, near The Grove, for water lines.