By Marty Kufus

PLEASANTON — An annexational election will be held May 4 in southern Bexar County, with early voting beginning April 17, the board of the Evergreen Underground Water Conservation District ordered last week.

The officials — once again — unanimously accepted petitions for district annexation that were circulated and signed last summer by landowners in southern Bexar County.

Also during their Feb. 26 meeting, the board voted to pay a fee settlement of $20,269 to San Antonio attorney Rolando Rios.

"My recommendation is we pay it and be done with it, as bitter as it may be," General Manager Mike Mahoney told the board.

Representing clients in the Thelma community on Loop 1604, Rios got a federal injunction in January against the Evergreen election originally scheduled for Feb. 2.

Owing to a paperwork snafu, that election failed to receive pre-clearance from the U.S. Department of Justice. Rios, in his lawsuit, also alleged the election as planned would have disenfranchised some Hispanic voters.

The Evergreen’s proposed annexation of the area (see map) is opposed by the San Antonio Water System, Bexar Metropolitan Water District — each of which has water-development interests in the rural area — and the Bexar County Commissioners’ Court.

They maintain that a management partnership (including a mitigative program) would protect local water-well owners better than a district’s regulations and taxation.

The Evergreen’s current property-tax rate is 1.74 cents per $100 valuation, with a cap of 3 cents. The district comprises Wilson, Karnes, Atascosa, and Frio counties.

Created by the state in 1965, the district has rules, pumping and spacing limits, and an "export fee" that — if applied in southern Bexar — would pose a serious impediment to metro purveyors’ plans to use a small portion of the Carrizo Aquifer.

Evergreen President Ken Stephens of Atascosa County, Vice President Paul Bordovsky of Karnes, and directors Clifton Stacy and Blaine Schorp of Frio, and Steve Snider, Mark Mitchell, and Darrell Brownlow of Wilson County attended last week’s public hearing and meeting.

This time around, there will be no procedural or legal errors in preparation of the election, the board emphasized to Mahoney and his staff.

Election judges and observers will take special care to ensure everybody who wants to vote actually resides in the area proposed for annexation, according to discussion.

Early voting will be held weekdays April 17-30, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., in the Waterwood Park subdivision’s clubhouse at 4451 Hickory Haven.

The Evergreen’s office in Pleasanton also is accepting applications for mail-in ballots. That deadline is 5 p.m., April 26, the election order said.

Election-day voting, Saturday, May 4, will be held at Waterwood Park and at least one other location, the Evergreen board and staff agreed.

Even though it is outside the proposed annexational area, the Southside Independent School District’s campus legally could be used as a polling location on the same day (May 4) it is holding a school-board election, according to discussion.

SAWS’ director of water-resources development, Susan Butler, and attorney Russell Johnson attended the Evergreen meeting last week.

Although silent during the meeting, Butler and Johnson said during a break that the board never has properly considered SAWS’ offer of cooperative management and its proposed mitigative program for southern Bexar County.

The ballot for the May 4 election likely will have two parts, as did the ballot of the abortive election in February.

A proposition would ask voters’ permission for annexation and the levying of a property tax not to exceed 3 cents per $100 valuation. Part two would list candidates for two seats on the Evergreen board.

As of Thursday, three southern-Bexar residents had filed as candidates: Craig Knapp, Esther San Miguel, and Robert Stapleton.

The deadline for candidates’ filing is 5 p.m., March 20, at the Evergreen’s office in Pleasanton, secretary Melissa Royal said.