By By Marty Kufus
Wilson County News

PLEASANTON — Rather than press ahead, on a tight schedule, with preparation for another election in southern Bexar County, the Evergreen ground-water district’s board July 9 tabled the issue of annexation for a month.

This means there will be no election in September as proposed last month, officials with the Evergreen Underground Water Conservation District confirmed.

During the 30-day pause, district officials will hear the San Antonio Water System’s latest offer of an interlocal agreement on the pumping of, and monitoring of water levels in, the Carrizo Aquifer in southern Bexar.

SAWS proposed a 10-point "cooperative management" agreement in October. The Evergreen’s board, however, disliked parts of that proposal and took no action on it.

Board members agreed last week to listen to SAWS’ latest proposal and then decide whether to press on with a southern-Bexar election.

"If they [SAWS] want to operate in good faith, we will give them a short period of time to exemplify that," board member Darrell Brownlow said.

Evergreen President Ken Stephens of Atascosa County presided over members Clifton Stacy of Frio County and Steve Snider, Mark Mitchell, and Brownlow of Wilson County.

The first action in the regular meeting was an approximately 50-minute executive session. The board and General Manager Mike Mahoney had a conference call with their attorney in Austin.

Eugene Habiger, president and chief executive officer of SAWS, appealed last week to the board for cooperation — and also warned of possible legal action (which could snarl an election in southern Bexar).

Accompanied by members of SAWS’ staff and legal counsel, Habiger was one of five speakers during a public hearing held before the Evergreen board’s regular meeting.

Other speakers included members of the Wilson County Water Action Project. They support Evergreen annexation into southern Bexar as a way of preventing a feared "draw down" of neighboring wells by SAWS’ future pumping.

SAWS officials oppose the idea of annexation, and have all along.

"I urge that we all take the simpler approach," Habiger said, which would not be the annexation into Bexar by the Evergreen.

The state-created Evergreen district, which has jurisdiction in Wilson, Atascosa, Karnes and Frio counties, has its own set of rules and pumping limits. SAWS has a significant investment in southern Bexar, for aquifer storage and recovery and some water production.

Its "Twin Oaks" site occupies some 3,000 acres in the very southern tip of the county — fully within the area proposed for annexation.

Habiger said that while SAWS supports residents’ right to vote on issues affecting them, not all southern-Bexar residents would have a voice in another Evergreen election.

Annexation failed there, 348 votes to 322, in May. The area currently proposed for annexation is significantly smaller.

It now is bounded by I-37 on the west; the Atascosa and Wilson county lines on the south; U.S. 181 on the east; and, Loop 1604 on the north. A few subdivisions served by the Bexar Metropolitan Water District would be excluded from annexation, according to a map submitted by a pro-annexation group.

"Because we are concerned, we have engaged legal counsel to ensure that no individual in southern Bexar County would be disenfranchised," Habiger warned.

In later discussion, some board members expressed displeasure at what they seemed to regard as a threat by SAWS (first voiced in a public hearing the night before in southern Bexar County).

Habiger’s reference to possible legal action was "outrageous," Stacy said, particularly since southern-Bexar residents have a right to petition for another election if they want one.

"I thought you knew better than that," Stacy said, looking at Habiger.

Despite mutual suspicions, the board agreed to let SAWS submit a draft of a new interlocal agreement for the Evergreen officials’ consideration.

"We’re looking forward to developing a lasting relationship" with the ground-water district, Habiger said as he, resources-development Director Susan Butler, and their attorneys were leaving. "We’re going into a full-court press today."
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