WE HAVE A MUD PROBLEM
Developer clings to power after 31 years
Director Lots still the rage
45% of elected positions still appointed
A 2008 Texas Senate publication at least tried to shine some light on all “Special Purpose Districts like MUDs with a promising report titled Invisible Government : Special Purpose Districts in Texas which explains ~ Local governments were developed within the states to encourage education and political participation on a smaller scale and to provide certain basic services according to local needs, but does little else than provide a catalog of the various types of districts that exist.
At least one Montgomery County MUD itself stands as a source of “education in political participation” and should be cause for closer examination by taxpayers of MUDs across the county and state. Discussed below is Montgomery County MUD #60, part of the Woodlands Joint Powers Agency. But first lets review.
RUD election contest of 2010
In 2010 a group of ordinary citizens took steps to expose how the Woodlands Road Utility District remained under improper developer control through to use of gerrymandering, skipping elections or resorting to plain old cronyism. We told how the developer tore down the last remaining residence so there were no voters and then when the time came, dispensed “exclusive” permission to a favored millionaire to defend their privately run government agency. All the while, denying the presence of voters claiming residence for voting purposes at various commercial buildings including two Residence Inns.
RENT-A-VOTER
More recently the county has been treated to a vivid example of how developers really operate, with the formation of three separate MC MUDS in the November election. In order to absolutely secure voter approval for creation of the districts, election of board members and passing of bond initiatives exceeding one billion dollars developers along with their attorneys and agents recruited and funded RENT-A-VOTERS for that sole purpose. In one case a recruit pointed to below market rent as the prime incentive to register to vote for all the ballot propositions in the about to be formed district .
Qualifications to be a MUD director are defined by Texas Law,
QUALIFICATIONS FOR DIRECTORS. To be qualified to serve as a director, a person shall be at least 18 years old, a resident citizen of the State of Texas, and either own land subject to taxation in the district or be a qualified voter within the district. Texas Water Code Sec. 54.102.
Similar to the invention of on demand RENT-A-VOTERS the developer can create qualified MUD directors on demand. In the November MC MUD elections, the founding board members are qualified to their appointed position through the sale and transfer of a “Directors Lot” from the developer at a token price, e.g. $10.00. This process is accepted because the developer appointees are installed merely as temporary directors who can be replaced in future elections by the voters.
MC MUD 60
Now we can reveal how a developer worked to maintain control of a community long after the first confirmation election.
We wanted to confirm all directors Montgomery County Utility District #60 are fully qualified to serve. We began by checking the director names against current “qualified voters” for MUD 60. This produced one director, Sandra George, who was not a resident of the district. Sandra George is a qualified voter in MUD #67. Next we searched MCAD records for “land subject to taxation in the district” this produced one single property that matched George’s voter address and Homestead.
We then contacted the MUD management ( WJPA.org )to obtain contact information to allow us to go directly to the elected official to quickly resolve the question of which taxable property Director George owned in MUD #60.
The people are revolting
If one seeks elected office most surfs assume at least a modicum of accessibility to their rulers.
A simple step became an obstacle in the first phone call to WJPA, staff there advise that Sandra George had signed a nondisclosure form upon assuming her office as director and staff were prohibited from releasing her address or phone number, SSN, the existence of family members or even emergency contact information, ( one wondered for a moment if they were confusing George with Hillary Clinton or some potentate ) furthermore, all directors have signed a similar ELECTION NOT TO DISCLOSE CERTAIN INFORMATION.
They were willing to furnish the directors personal email address, to which was sent a simple email on early Monday morning. There was no reply. By Wednesday afternoon a call was placed asking if there was any word from the director. Nothing.
Staff then offered to relay a message via phone with a request to contact us instead.
The next day we learned the director was reached by phone and was engaged in the pursuit of contract bridge, but would “get back to them”.
A similar request for a call back relayed to the Board President Albert T. Tomchesson remains unanswered.
We then resorted to County Tax Assessor records. However, this search only produced a single record for the MUD #67 George residence. Finally we searched County Clerk records and discovered a Special Warranty Deed from the Woodlands Land Development Company to Sandra George.
4472 square feet. MUD #60 Directors Lot #4 Signed by Tim Welbes.
MC MUD #60 was formed on September 19th 1984 – THIRTY ONE YEARS AGO!
This directors lot was transferred to Sandra George in year 2011. The developer is clinging to power in this old MUD after 25 or 30 years, What is going on?
MUD #60 is part of the Eleven MUD management organization called Woodlands Joint Powers Agency, which pretentious name even raises the question of just who’s power are they referring to here.
The developers’ power of course.
They never cease to seek out pliable dependable tools to populate the boards that make up their power base even after 30 years. Give them a title, a position, some status, $2 – $4 thousand a year in directors fees and you get your cooperative rubber stamp and a continued consolidation of power. What a disgrace. A disgrace for someone who allows themselves to be used that way and shame on us for not getting involved.
We mentioned that MUD #60 itself stands as a source of “education in political participation”, and it does but more than that consider that among the eleven MUDs that are the WJPA a full 45% of the 55 director seats are still held by developer appointees after more than 30 years. Don’t let this happen to you.
We are still not satisfied that the director in question is paying taxes on taxable property in the district and so have requested supporting tax records from the district which, at added expense to taxpayers exceeding $200,000 per year, serves as its own tax assessor-collector.
Revolting people, please check you MUD.
We will follow-up with more info as it surfaces.
For an example of open government in a MUD go to FAR HILLS UTILITY DISTRICT This outfit appears to take transparency seriously. The only things lacking are check registers , salaries and board book details.
