After three previous votes, which killed an amendment, two members returned the item to the agenda, only for it to be passed.

The amendment, sponsored by Jesse Coffey of Denton County and Johnny Harris of Lake Cities Municipal Utilities Authority, asked the board to recover legal cost incurred on behalf of the district from other member entities.

“This is nothing more than an attempt to intimidate smaller members,” said Chris Torley, Flower Mound’s UTRWD board representative.

The issue concerns the town of Double Oak specifically and the cost the board said was acquired as a result of the brief submitted by its attorney to the Texas Attorney General October 2005.

Flower Mound, Copper Canyon and Double Oak asked state senator Christopher Harris to inquire into the legality of the board’s decision to not allow members to work in one municipality, but represent the district they live in. When that resolution was passed August 2005, Flower Mound Fire Chief Eric Metzger and Tracy Knierim, Executive Director of Administration for Flower Mound, were relieved of their seats on the board. Metzger represented Copper Canyon and Knierim represented Krum. Both said at the time that they might work for a town, but represent the interests of their own hometowns.

The attorney general allowed all parties questioning the bylaw passed by the board to submit a brief. Double Oak and Flower Mound submitted briefs, as well as the district. The attorney general ruled that he was not making a decision because a 2000 case ruled that the district had the right to create its own bylaws.

After the attorney general’s decision, the board sent a bill to Double Oak for the cost the cost of sending the brief to the AG’s office. The cost is still unknown, but was preliminarily set between $18,000-20,000.

If Double Oak does not pay the amount, the town will not be in good standing with the district. The repercussions will deal specifically with another topic at Thursday’s meeting, the reevaluation of contract with the UTRWD.

The discussion related to an entities’ ability to adjust its water needs with the district, but only if it’s in good standing with the district. Torley said that Double Oak is not in good standing with the district because of an unpaid bill of $5.7 million the district tried to impose. The town refused to pay the bill because it felt the costs were for services not rendered.

The heavy dialogue yielded no decision, but Executive Director of UTRWD Thomas Taylor said that not one entity has declared a surplus and there is no reason to open contracts for negotiations. Torley said that Flower Mound needs only 30 million gallons of water a day, but is paying for about 41 million gallons, in part because the town has the capacity for 70 million. The officers will continue to grapple with the issue and concerns before presenting anything to the general board.

Also, the district approved the paperwork to move forward to get state participation in the Lake Ralph Hall project. UTRWD will submit plans and work ups about the project Sept. 1 to the state. If UTRWD gets state participation for the project, it will receive up to $10 million for developing and planning costs only in the form of a deferred loan. Only the interest will be paid on the loan. Torley said this is the board’s way of “passing the buck to the kids.” Torley called the board to stop incurring amortized debt and asked to start paying on the outstanding debt all ready have.