By By Marty Kufus
Wilson County News

PLEASANTON - Their attorney telling them to "bite the bullet and reschedule," officials at the rural aquifer district cancelled the Feb. 2 annexational election in southern Bexar County, and stated an intention to hold one May 4.

Another round of published notices and public hearings - these with a bilingual emphasis - will precede the election, which probably will need more than one polling place, the officials decided Jan. 22.

The board of the Evergreen Underground Water Conserv-ation District told its staff to do whatever was necessary to avoid future allegations of racial disenfranchisement in an annexational vote.

A U.S. district judge in San Antonio Jan. 14 issued a temporary restraining order preventing early voting in the Feb. 2 election.

Since then, Evergreen officials saw no point in fighting the lawsuit brought by the Thelma Area Neighborhood Corporation.

The Evergreen's attorney, Doug Caroom of Austin, urged board members to "state [their] intent to fully comply with the [U.S.] Voting Rights Act and work closely with the Department of Justice in obtaining pre-clearance of the election."

He also explained how bioterrorism apparently had an unexpected role in the Evergreen's failure to receive election pre-clearance: A crucial piece of mail never made it out of a post office in Washington, D.C.

Anthrax

The Evergreen staff had "overnight" mailed an application with supporting documents Nov. 29. That should have been enough time.

"Unfortunately, many submissions made during this time frame to DOJ [Department of Justice] were lost or destroyed due to the anthrax incidents in the Washington, D.C., post office - and, presumably, the district's submission was one of these," Caroom said.

"The district did not learn that DOJ had not received its submission until after the suit was filed," he added.

The Evergreen's staff hurriedly faxed the documents; even so, the Justice Department had not made a decision as of Jan. 14 and the federal judge's injunction.

Start over

The board decided last week to repeat pre-election public hearings, tentatively beginning Feb. 19, at 7 p.m., at the Sandy Oaks Volunteer Fire Department in southern Bexar County.

The second hearing will be held Feb. 26 at the Evergreen board's regular meeting in Pleasanton, officials decided.

To avoid any future legal challenges, a translator should be hired for each hearing, Caroom said.

"All right," board Vice President Paul Bordovsky replied jokingly - but with some frustration. "Are you speaking about a Spanish translator or Polish translator?"

In the preparation of the Feb. 2 election, Evergreen General Manager Mahoney said, he and his staff followed the requirements of chapter 36 of the Texas Water Code - which says nothing about bilingualism.

Caroom also reported that his opposite in recent federal litigation would bill the district for legal fees.

Under the federal voting-rights act, Caroom said, "a successful plaintiff is entitled to recovery of attorneys' fees from the defendant."

Since attorney Rolando Rios and his San Antonio law firm successfully sued for a federal-court injunction against the election, Rios probably is legally entitled to the money, according to discussion.

"In this case," Caroom said, "plaintiff's attorneys have advised us that they have invested over 80 hours of attorneys' time in the case and have incurred fees in excess of $22,000."

Any further litigation would only drive up that amount, according to discussion.

The board authorized Mahoney and Caroom to negotiate a settlement of opposing attorneys' fees in order to head off future litigation.

Caroom added that his law firm's bill of about $11,000 was coming.

On the map

Rios' initial client in the lawsuit, filed Dec. 28, was the predominantly Mexican-American Thelma Area Neighborhood Corporation; the suit soon was amended to also name President Jim Lopez.

Among other things, the suit challenged the planned use of only one polling place (at the Waterwood Park subdivision) as inconvenient for some voters - and pointed to the lack of pre-clearance by the Department of Justice.

The Evergreen district comprises Wilson, Karnes, Atascosa and Frio counties. The area proposed for annexation is formed on the south by the Atascosa and Wilson county lines, S.H. 16 on the west, Loop 1604 on the north, and U.S. 181 on the east.

The unincorporated community of Thelma is located on Loop 1604 between S.H. 16 and U.S. 281.

Plaintiff Lopez also is a member of the board of the Bexar Metropolitan Water District, but he has emphasized the lawsuit was over some voters' possible disenfranchisement - not BexarMet and water (Jan. 16 Wilson County News).

With the Edwards Aquifer Authority gradually reducing permits for that water source, BexarMet and the San Antonio Water System each has interest in pumping a small portion of the Carrizo Aquifer in southern Bexar County.

Some neighboring landowners fear that could "draw down" levels in their wells. That fear led to a summer petition drive for Evergreen annexation.

SAWS owns about 3,000 acres in the southern-most tip of the area proposed for annexation. It is building a dual-use facility for aquifer storage and recovery and "short term" production pumping.

The Evergreen's annexation - and imposition of rules and pumping limits - would be an impediment to any metro-area purveyors.

Money

Bordovsky, of Karnes County, conducted the meeting last week in the absence of board President Ken Stephens of Atascosa County. Board members William Ruple of Atascosa, Clifton Stacy of Frio, Fabian Jendrusch of Karnes, and Mark Mitchell of Wilson County attended.

Darrell Brownlow, of Wilson County, was sworn in as the board's governor-appointed member, succeeding his father, Doug Brownlow.

The junior Brownlow wondered aloud about the total cost of preparation for an (aborted) election, payment of legal fees on both sides of a federal lawsuit, then preparation for a later election.

"It could be worse, Darrell," Mitchell said from across the boardroom. "We could be the city of Poth." (He was referring to a 1998 federal lawsuit, settled in 2001, over the conditions of roads in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood in that town.)

Brownlow tallied the current and likely future costs. "We could be looking, potentially, at $50- to $60,000," he said.

Nobody disagreed.

The Evergreen's budget had allowed for increasing legal costs this year, Mitchell said, although not that much.

"It's realpolitik, Darrell," he said: the reality of public policy. "You've got to pick the best of the alternatives."

"I've been on this board for a long time, and we all knew this fight was coming," Ruple said. "I'm personally looking forward to this fight, and I don't care what it costs."

'Debt ridden'?

Auditor Fred Timmons, of San Antonio, gave the Evergreen "a clean opinion on the financial statement."

"Your general fund is in a real strong position," he added.

The Evergreen district's primary source of revenue is its property tax; now, the rate is 1.74 cents per $100 valuation. For the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2001, that brought in $426,659 total from the four rural counties.

Brownlow asked Timmons if the term "debt ridden" accurately described the Evergreen.

No, the auditor said. "The Evergreen is in a very strong financial position."

Most of what is reported as "general long-term debt" - $444,830 - is what the Evergreen is paying back to the state under the "Agricultural Water Conservation Loan Program," according to discussion.

The state loans money to the Evergreen - as much as $600,000 in one year - which then is loaned to district farmers for their purchases of high-efficiency irrigational equipment.

The Evergreen repays the state according to a seven-year schedule for each loan, the audit said. It makes a small amount of money off the farmers' low-interest loans.

"So, in a sense, that debt is the Evergreen doing its job" conserving aquifer water, Brownlow suggested.

Timmons agreed.

There had been partisan "innuendoes" recently in southern Bexar County that suggested the Evergreen is financially weak, according to discussion.
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