Members of Dripping Water Supply turn their scrutiny to board president

For many, the Employee and Board Code of Conduct rushed through at the end of this past Monday night’s board meeting appear to be a concerted effort by Harris and Haag to sweep the employee harassment complaint under the rug

Send your comments and news tips to roundup.editor@gmail.com, to Mr. O'Dell at codell@austin.rr.com, call the DSWSC at 512-858-7897 or click on the "comments" button at the bottom of the story


RoundUp Story Spurs Member Action

By Charles O'Dell
Contributing Editor

Members of the Dripping Springs Water Supply Corp. (DSWSC), a member-owned public water supply serving over 1,300 connections in and around the City of Dripping Springs, have seen enough and are moving to oust their board president, Steve Harris.

The September 18 RoundUp article describing eighteen months of costly and disruptive antics by Harris, and his more recent effort to fire the General Manager, apparently has stirred members into action. Firing the GM would have plunged DSWSC into chaos.

It was learning about that near disaster that caused members to begin collecting signatures to oust Harris. Reports indicate that more than the 10% of member signatures required in the by-laws have been collected and charges will be filed against Harris in an attempt to remove him from the DSWSC board.

At this past Monday night’s special meeting, the board went through the 2009 financial audit in tedious detail and signed a consulting letter with a CPA. The final business was to adopt a one page Employee Code of Conduct and a two page Board of Directors Code of Conduct drawn up and sponsored by the DSWSC outside attorney Phil Haag of McGinnis, Lochridge & Kilgore. This was apparently in response to an investigation of an employee harassment complaint filed against Harris. The investigation report has not been made public by Haag or Harris.

Steve Harris

Betrayal of Stewardship Responsibility

Based on observations at board meetings, public documents obtained through open record requests and claims of harassment by DSWSC personnel, Harris also had the previous CPA dismissed after the CPA identified serious breaches in internal financial controls, and Harris has clearly interfered in public water supply operations management decisions which are outside his authority as a board member.

In the first nine months of 2010, legal costs for DSWSC already exceed $115,000.

Other observed and documented actions led by Harris include stopping employees from recording board meetings for accurate minutes, directing the outside attorney to attend all board meetings and to review meeting minutes, directing all open records requests to the outside attorney, and spending $80,000, without board approval, for Haag to produce an employee hand book and to review an employment contract that Harris wrote – and to otherwise act as Harris’ attorney at $200.00 an hour.

Whose Running DSWSC?

Harris’ increasing reliance on outside attorney Haag appears to have created what some have called a “Rasputin” (a person who exercises great but insidious influence) in DSWSC affairs. Others explain it as attorney Haag having a “bird nest on the ground” so long as Harris and Haag are attached at the hip, and thereby making DSWSC a money train for McGinnis, Lochridge & Kilgore. In question are both the quantity and quality of counsel for which DSWSC members are paying a hefty price.

Based on open record documents and interviews with DSWSC employees, it appears that attorney Haag represented both sides of the General Manager employment contract (in violation of the legal professional code of ethics). Haag also has shown a repeated willingness to assist the disruptive efforts of Harris that are causing extreme stress among operating personnel at great financial cost to DSWSC members.

Playing Loose with the Open Meetings Act

Typically, DSWSC board meetings are held on the first Monday night of each month. The first Monday this past September fell on the 6th. When Harris changed the meeting date to September 7 without board approval, the local government watchdog group HaysCAN provided notice that such an unauthorized meeting would constitute an open meeting violation.

At least one board member had asked attorney Haag for a legal opinion prior to the meeting, which Haag refused to render. When Harris convened the meeting on the 7th, one board member, concerned that the meeting might be violating the Open Meetings Act, got up and left, prompting Harris to ask attorney Haag if they should continue holding the meeting. Haag advised Harris that it would be safer not to meet that night. According to DSWSC employees, Haag was aware that Harris had planned to ask the board that night to fire the General Manager and two office employees.

Records also show that Harris had discussed with Haag how to style the August 2, 2010 board meeting agenda language regarding the employee harassment complaint against Harris that had been ignored by Harris and Haag for over a year.

According to the 2010 Open Meetings Act Handbook issued by the Texas Attorney General: “The notice (agenda) must be sufficient to apprise the general public of the subjects to be considered during the meeting.”

The August 2, 2010 board meeting agenda item stated:

“Review of and possible action regarding employee report.”

During that August 2 meeting the board went into executive session to discuss the employee “report.” There clearly wasn’t any way the general public could have known that the employee “report” was actually an employee harassment “complaint” against the board president, or that the board would go into closed session to discuss the employee “report” to hide any discussion of the complaint from the public.

At the October 4, 2010 board meeting that same agenda item was styled:

“Report on and Disposition of Employee Complaint – Phil Haag”

The Rule of By-Laws

For many, the Employee and Board Code of Conduct rushed through at the end of this past Monday night’s board meeting appear to be a concerted effort by Harris and Haag to sweep the employee harassment complaint under the rug. Only time will tell if appearance is fact and the effort was successful. The investigation was surely expensive.

The fates of DSWSC operations, the General Manager and other key employees are now in the hands of its members. They will decide if their board president is really the good steward he often claims to be, or whether relying at every turn on an attorney who has a big financial stake in keeping Harris in control of disrupting DSWSC operations is unacceptable.

As co-founder of Hays Community Action Network (HaysCAN) in 2003, Mr. O'Dell strives to carry out the mission of ensuring open, accessible and accountable government. He is a long time and close observer of the workings of the Hays County County Commissioners Court and other local governmental entities. He earned a degree in Agricultural Education and a Masters in Ag Economics at Texas Tech, and, later a Ph.D. at The University of Maryland while employed as a Research Economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Washington, D.C. Texas born and raised on a family farm, O'Dell is a Hays County Master Naturalist and is a past president of the board of the Ethical Society of Austin.