Taxpayers will pay former Tarrant water district leader to go away, and it’s maddening

Surely by now we should be free of the stench left by former Tarrant Regional Water District board president Jack Stevens and his sweetheart deal for retired general manager Jim Oliver.

But there sat the district’s board Thursday, struggling to explain why directors were authorizing a settlement with Oliver even after they voted to cancel the roughly $300,000 in unpaid leave he was set to cash in on with Stevens’ unilateral approval.

Board President Leah King noted repeatedly that the settlement, discussed in a closed session, was not about the leave money but related to a separate employment discrimination claim, apparently on the issue of age. The board even took the rare step of having its outside lawyers explain in the open forum afterward that it could not yet legally disclose the amount of Oliver’s payment. We question that advice and believe that while the law may allow the board to keep the details secret, it does not prevent disclosure.

The board acted because of the “risk of incurring extensive legal fees and expenses, compounded by the loss of time and productivity that would have to be devoted” to a discrimination lawsuit brought by Oliver, King said in a written statement.

But let’s face it — one way or another, the board is paying Oliver to go away. And taxpayers are again left with limited information to decide whether the board’s decision was merited.

Trustee James Hill said the board was in a “no-win situation.”

“It shouldn’t be this hard to do the right thing,” he said. “We’re listening to our attorneys, but sometimes doing the right thing doesn’t feel like the right thing.”

Such is the ongoing legacy of Stevens’ outrageous decision in March to approve more than 2,000 hours of extra paid leave that Oliver could cash in as, in effect, a retirement bonus. Oliver’s attorney has said his client is entitled to the money.

Stevens apparently had the authority to grant the extra hours without consulting other board members, let alone putting it to a vote, because of a loose district policy. He did the same for J.D. Granger, who has led the district’s Panther Island project, to the tune of about $60,000.

Board members voted to revoke the payments, but they need to clean up the policy that allowed them in the first place. They’re considering a sweeping set of improvements to their written rules.

Stevens, then the longest-serving board member, lost his re-election bid in May. He came in dead last after he pushed for the crucial hire of Oliver’s replacement to be made by the lame-duck board. With Stevens’ departure, King, who along with Hill has pushed for greater transparency and accountability on the board, became the new president.

They’ve got years of sloppy governance to clean up. The leave payments became an immediate, crystalline example, but many voters have long been concerned over Panther Island, the two-decade effort to reroute the Trinity River, improve flood protection and create an economic and entertainment district.

Stevens’ defeat makes it possible, and the board has taken steps in the right direction since his departure. It’s too bad the public can’t know how much of its money is at stake until the deal with Oliver is done. We’re left to trust the board’s judgment that it’s ultimately better to limit the distraction and move on.

It’s a lot to ask, given the board’s recent history. This settlement payment, even if it’s ultimately the best of bad options, is another mark against a governing agency that should be an afterthought in most voters’ lives.

The best that can happen now is to finish it quickly, approve the policy overhauls and implement the transparency and accountability that board members have promised and that, more importantly, Tarrant County residents deserve.

Editor’s note: Updated Monday evening to correct the name of J.D. Granger, who was called J.D. Oliver in a previous version.

This story was originally published October 1, 2021 at 5:03 AM.