Tarrant water district in legal discussions over $300K revoked payment to former GM
Attorneys for the Tarrant Regional Water District have wrapped up an inquiry into the former board president’s arrangement to pay two executives an extra $360,000, according to board president Leah King.
But the attorneys and the board are still in the midst of legal discussions about the revoked payment to one executive, who’s contending that he deserves the $300,000 that had been heading his way.
“No decision will be made today and additional legal briefings are anticipated,” King said at a Thursday board meeting. “We will keep you all informed on our decision-making process.”
The board is sorting through what King described as “highly technical legal matters” stemming from an arrangement made earlier this year by former board president Jack Stevens. In two separate memos to water district staff, Stevens unilaterally directed extra paid leave into the accounts of two executives — now-retired general manager Jim Oliver and Panther Island executive director J.D. Granger.
When converted to dollar amounts based on the executives’ salaries, the extra paid leave amounted to $300,000 for Oliver and $60,000 for Granger.
Stevens made the arrangements through a clause in the district’s paid leave policy, which allows for exceptions to be made by executive staff “or Board Members at any time.” (The Star-Telegram previously reported that similar clauses appear in 16 other board policies.)
The water district’s board then revoked the two exceptions in June, after Stevens had left the board and King had taken over as president. King has said repeatedly that no extra payments were actually made to Oliver or Granger.
After learning of the exceptions, the board hired attorneys from Thompson & Horton to look into the situation and determine if there were any other exceptions made. That legal inquiry is now complete, King said after Thursday’s meeting, and the board is confident that there were no other exceptions made.
“There’s really not been any indication that there’s anything else afoot,” King said.
Oliver has hired a lawyer, Fort Worth-based Jason Smith, who’s pushing for the former general manager to receive the extra money allotted for him under Stevens’ arrangement.
The water district’s board on Thursday received its first briefing on the legal matter with Oliver. That briefing was held in private session, but King said afterward that she expects there will be more briefings to come.
The board has not made a decision on how to proceed, but any vote on the matter is required to take place in a public meeting. King said it’s not clear how long the process could take. She declined to comment on how the board might handle the situation.
“I really don’t think that it’s wise for me to get into what we may or may not do. What we’re focused on is doing what is right and what is fair for our taxpayers as well as for this district,” King said.
The legal discussion is limited to the exception made for Oliver, King said, and does not include the exception made for Granger. The Panther Island Executive director told the Star-Telegram earlier this week that he has not retained a lawyer in the matter, and that he has no plans to do so.
As the lawyers sort through the complexities, the board also plans to revise its policies to close any loopholes and more clearly delineate “what is acceptable and what is not acceptable,” King said Thursday.
“Our policies are a little broader than what the rest of the board would prefer and we will have the opportunity to make it far clearer to staff, to [the] board, to the public as a whole,” she said.
