Flower Mound officials are dissenting with a proposed Upper Trinity Water District bylaw amendment that would prevent members from publicly disagreeing with the water district’s board decisions.

They say the proposal is aimed directly at silencing representatives of Flower Mound, which has been embroiled in legal and financial disputes with the district for the past few years.

A free speech advocate said it could limit free speech, stifle productive debate and quash dissent.

But Thomas Taylor, executive director of the district, said the amendment is intended to provide board members with a code of conduct.

Flower Mound is the largest of the 26 member communities of the district, which will vote on the amendment Thursday in Lewisville.

“This is the most outrageous thing I have ever seen come before any board,” said Chris Torley of Flower Mound, a member of the water district board who said he plans to vote against it. “This is squarely aimed against Flower Mound, me and a few others. They want to shut us up.”

The amendment directs board members to govern with the goal of supporting the entire district, not the community the member represents. If a board member cannot do so, he or she should consider resigning, the proposal says.

And, if a board member or community “engages in matters of ethics or conduct that could adversely affect the District,” that person or municipality could be censured or disciplined financially.

A censured board member could vote on agenda items but could not place an item on the agenda, second a motion or work on a committee, under the amendment. Financial discipline could include a community being charged for work that it requested but that the district deems unnecessary.

The town of Flower Mound and the district have butted heads over the amount of debt carried by the district, the proposed Lake Ralph Hall in Fannin County and other issues. In January, the district presented the town with a bill for more than $5 million, saying that Flower Mound racked up the bulk of the charges by delaying a water district project with requests for more information. Flower Mound disputes that bill.

Taylor said the measure could help keep district business from becoming controversial.

“During the last couple of years, the district has been engaged in several controversies. The board would like to improve the situation and make it easier to do business together,” Taylor said. “What has become a problem is that once everyone has been heard and a decision made, then some members have tried to undermine that decision.”

Taylor said the amendment is an attempt to clarify a member’s role with the district.

“People ask me, ‘Is it my job to do what my town needs, or what the district needs done?’ ” he said. “They take an oath to advance this district. That’s been a point of confusion.”

That’s not the way Flower Mound City Councilman Paul Stone sees it.

“As a Flower Mound official, I am not willing to empower the board of directors with the ability to decide what is good for my community,” said Stone, who is not on the board. “If we don’t have the opportunity to speak freely and develop good policy, then we don’t need a board of directors. Let’s just call Tom Taylor the boss.”

A free speech expert said the measure could be harmful to public discourse.

“Stifling debate, not creating a code of ethics, appears to be the aim of the amendment,” said Houston media attorney Joe Larsen, a Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas member. He said the bylaw amendment violates the constitution’s First Amendment guarantee of the right to free speech.

“This bylaw is obviously geared toward suppressing any type of dissent,” Larsen said. “It is the reaction of a government body that is trying to control the voices of its members.”

Ellena Fortner, (817) 685-3888
emorrison@star-telegram.com