Maverick County Water Control and Improvement District No. 1 Finally Elects Officers More Than One Month After November 3rd Election
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2020
The Maverick County Water Control and Improvement District No. 1 Board of Directors finally held its election of Board Officers more than one month after the November 3rd election at its Tuesday, December 8, 2020 regular Board meeting.
Like the old saying goes, the third time is a charm. It took 35 days and three Board meetings for the Maverick County Water Control and Improvement District No. 1 to finally elect its 2020-2022 Board Officers. Holdover Board President Beyer Junfin opened up the nominations for President at the December 8th meeting.
Board member Juan Perez made a motion to have holdover Board President Beyer Junfin be re-elected as President, but the motion died for a lack of a second.
Then Board member Javier Mancha made a motion that newly-elected Board member Randy Edwards be President and Board member Gabriel De La Cerda seconded the motion, which passed on a 3-2 vote with Mancha, De La Cerda, and Edwards in favor and Perez and Junfin against.
Following the election of Randy Edwards as President, Board member Juan Perez nominated Beyer Junfin as Vice-President and Gabriel De La Cerda seconded the motion, which was approved unanimously.
Board member Beyer Junfin then nominated Juan Perez for Secretary-Treasurer and the motion was seconded by Gabriel De La Cerda, which was approved unanimously.
Following the election of Board Officers, the Board proceeded to tackle the December 8th meeting agenda in a marathon four and one-half hours long meeting.
Also approved at the December 8th meeting was the 2021 Fiscal Year Budget after a contentious and lively debate on what rate should be charged for an acre foot of water, fees and assessment, and surcharges to District members. MCWCID No. 1 General Manager Brenda Gonzalez recommended to the Board that the price for acre foot of water be raised from $11 to $16 in order to raise more revenues to pay for upgrades being made at the District.
Board member Beyer Junfin recommended the rate of acre foot of water be raised from $11 to $16, concurring with General Manager Brenda Gonzalez. Meanwhile, Board member Javier Mancha stated that the District had lost $300,000 last year when the Board raised the acre foot of water to $16 due to District farmers and ranchers canceling water orders as a result of the high rate for water and recommended that the rate for 2021 be set at $12 per acre foot of water. Board member Junfin disagreed with the $12 suggested price and noted that the District had a $160,000 surplus in the budget as a result of the water rate increase last year to $16 per acre foot of water.
After a contentious debate, Board member Javier Mancha made the motion to set the rate of $12 per acre foot of water, that is $24 per year, and surcharges at $4 and Board President Randy Edwards seconded the motion, which was approved on a 3-2 vote with Mancha, Edwards, and Perez in favor and Junfin and De La Cerda opposed.
Another highlight of the December 8th meeting was the hefty pay raise approved for General Manager Brenda Gonzalez to $80,000 per year with Board member Beyer Junfin making the motion and seconded by Board member Juan Perez, which was approved on a 4-1 vote with Junfin, Perez, De La Cerda and Edwards in favor and Mancha opposed.
MCWCID No. 1 Engineer Jaime Kypuros of Tetra Tech made a presentation to the Board regarding his findings on the District’s water measuring protocols and stated that the District was actually underestimating slightly the water measuring, but overall its water measuring protocols were appropriate.
The Board addressed other District agenda items in the marathon meeting.
