RPMUD August Meeting Update

The meeting lasted two hours and forty minutes. So, I will give you the highlights and some other information I discovered. It was quite a vocal meeting. Residents are not happy, but we haven't been happy for months.

As many of you have requested, Dick made the motion to start the meetings at 7:00 pm. It will start in January for a three-month trial. If residents do not show up at that hour, the meeting time will revert to 4:00 p.m. All directors voted for it, except Max Mahaffey.

On 8/1/08 I requested the most current Income & Expense report for this year. Richard Ramirez referred me back to the one the directors were given at the July meeting. That was only a two-line report, so I again requested one with the breakdown of expenses and income. I received the report at the 8/11 meeting, as did all of the directors.

I could not figure it out. I & E are divided into two reports: Maintenance and General Operating Fund. On 8/12 I requested a list of RPMUD employees, giving their job title(s), whether full- or part-time, salary or wages, benefits, vacation time and any other perks, incentives or additional income received. On 8/18 I received a list showing General Manager - Richard Ramirez, Salary - $31.83/hr., Office Manager - Ginger Seyfang, Salary - $24.75/hr., Maintenance Supervisor - David Ramirez, Salary - $18.04/hr., Sewer Treatment Plant Operator - David Bailey, Salary - $22.61/hr. The office assistant and three laborers round out the group with hourly rates from $10.00 to $14.58. Well, I still could not match this information to the budget, so I requested the total compensation in 2007 for those listed. On 8/26 the reply came back as $273,742. I guess I was not very clear. I then requested the total compensation for each employee.

On 8/12 I also requested a copy of the resume of Richard Ramirez. For some reason, we thought he came directly from Del Lago. However, his resume shows that he was the maintenance man at Autumnwood Apartments for over two years before he started working at RPMUD. Autumnwood is located in back of the shopping center that includes the theater and Hobby Lobby, at the southeast area of I-45 and North Loop 336.

Back to the meeting. When it was asked why RPMUD is building this plant, Bob Harvill expounded on the need for this plant for fire protection. As noted earlier, the Volunteer Fire Department uses from 250 gallons to 5,000 gallons to put out a fire, and needs hydrants not a tank. A 500,000-gallon tank can handle from 100 to 2,000 home fires. I think if we have that many fires, we may not have enough people to handle the hoses. When the home burned in Mosswood a few weeks ago, it did not affect the water pressure, even though some water was taken from the hydrant. I wonder why there was no one from the Volunteer Fire Department to give credence to the meeting in January, when the engineer gave the presentation showing that we needed this tank for fire protection. Apparently, the VFD was not told about the meeting. Ramirez also said we are using more water in the summer, so we need this tank. Duh! (I hate that word, but it fits this situation.) Conservation was again mentioned by a resident. It has been brought up at numerous meetings, and it is met with disdain. Ramirez figures it would only cut consumption by 10%. Well, 10% is 10%.

I will ask Reed Watson, who runs our blog - riverplantationforum.blogspot.com - to add Conservation Tips. We'll update this section with links to water conservation sites. Received the following tips from Kathy Jones, Manager of the Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District: Turn off water while brushing teeth - save 6 gallons a day; cut 5 minutes off your shower - save 12 gallons a day; avoid sprinkler runoff - save thousands of gallons a year; water early or late - save 25 gallons a day; water an inch a week - all your lawn really needs.

Tink Strzinek, newly elected president of the RP Garden Club, will check with the Club's Master Gardeners and supply us with names of native plants. In case you are thinking of adding anything to your landscape, you might want to consider native plants. They require less care and less water. If anyone has any conservation ideas that they would like to add, please let me know, and we'll post them to the blog.

Dippel's 7-17-08 letter regarding Posting of Notices was discussed. This old group still doesn't get it. Robert Smith thanked Jack and Dick for bringing this to the board's attention, "even if not required." Dick showed a list of 52 MUDs that post outside their offices. EPUD is one of them. Ramirez still insists they don't have to post outside. Dick gave out the phone numbers of the Attorney General's office -877/673-6839, and also the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas - foift.org - 800/580-6651. Bob Harvill was the only one who took down the phone numbers.

In response to a complaint about the large openings in drainage collection boxes, large enough for a child to fall through, Dick requested that the MUD manager look into the situation and report back at the next meeting.

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Don't forget the CROW trip to Austin on Wednesday, 9/24. Call Jennifer Real to reserve a seat. The info is on the blog - riverplantationforum.blogspot.com.

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Next RPMUD board meeting is Thursday, 9/25.