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DUBLIN -- If Bosque County petitions
the Middle Trinity Groundwater Conservation District to be
admitted as a member county, they would likely be welcomed.
That was the clear indication from
each of the six MTGCD directors as individually expressed last
Thursday.
The six member board of directors of
the Middle Trinity GCD, the taxing district that governs the
use, conservation and protection of the groundwater aquifer that
underlies much of the area, known as the middle segment of the
Trinity aquifer, met in regular session on Thursday afternoon,
June 5, in the Dublin city council meeting room.
The district currently includes two
member counties, Comanche and Erath, with three directors from
each county serving on the board.
All six members were eventually
present for the meeting, including chairman Rodney Stephens,
vice chairman George Bingham, secretary/treasurer Fred Parker
and directors Jerry Hinshaw, Jerry Fronterhouse and Ed Dittfurth.
General manager Joe Cooper,
administrative assistant Sharon Mainord and field technician Wes
Burris were also present and participating.
The first portion of the meeting was
devoted to a public hearing on five applications for well
operating permits.
All five were located in Erath county
and recommended for approval by Joe Cooper as having complied
with the District's rules. They were unanimously approved.
Wes Biglun of Dublin addressed the
Board in the public comments section of the meeting. He
expressed concerns regarding permit applications for injection
wells, and in particular the fact that saltwater from other
counties can be brought into the Middle Trinity area.
Joe Cooper explained that under Texas
law incorporated cities such as Fort Worth can pass ordinances
that prohibit injection wells, whereas neither counties nor
groundwater conservation districts have the power to prohibit
them.
Following the approval of the minutes
of two prior meetings, the financial reports for the five months
ending in May were presented.
The reports showed total tax revenues
of $269,000, three quarters of which were from Erath County and
one quarter from Comanche County, and additional fee and
interest income revenues bringing the total to more than
$281,000. No revenue budget was shown. Expenditures for the five
months totaled $114,800, 28% of the annual budget of $401,000.
The next agenda item concerned
comments from the Bosque County Farm Bureau regarding potential
annexation by the MTGCD. President Alan Day addressed the board.
He noted that his organization had 1,664 members who,
collectively, owned around 50% of the land in the county.
Day explained the reason for his
request to speak to the board arose from the fact that the Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality had commissioned a study
which indicated that the 15 subject central Texas counties,
Bosque County included, should be placed in a priority
groundwater management area.
Day said he fully expected the TCEQ
to approve that recommended designation, which would have the
effect of giving the subject counties a deadline for forming
their own groundwater conservation district, joining an existing
district, or to do nothing and allow the TCEQ to set up a
groundwater management agency for the affected counties.
The Bosque County Farm Bureau is very
interested in being in a rural groundwater conservation
district, rather than joining with, or being forced into a
district that is dominated by urban interests, even though
Bosque County voters had earlier rejected the opportunity to
join in the Middle Trinity GCD when it was originally formed in
2002.
Now the Bosque County Farm Bureau
believes that joining with the Middle Trinity GCD is their best
option, and further that the county's voters can be educated
that this is the best choice of the entire county.
Day noted that their State Senator, Kip Averitt, favored a plan
that grouped Bosque County with a four county group that
included McLennan County, including the City of Waco, and that
the new district would be financed by user fees.
Day stated, "We want no part of being
with McLennan County. We have written a letter requesting the
Bosque County Commissioners Court to petition the Middle Trinity
for annexation."
He added that similar requests were
being prepared by the various cities and water supply
corporations in Bosque County.
Day then asked the MTGCD board if
they looked favorably upon annexing Bosque County, adding his
hope that the board would favor an annexation request.
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