Despite critical report, LCRA chair re-appointed

Months after a state report criticized the Central Texas water and electricity utility they oversee, citing a lack of transparency, the chairman and a couple of other board members were reappointed Wednesday by Gov. Greg Abbott to the Lower Colorado River Authority.

In November, Sunset Advisory Commission staff investigators said the LCRA — which oversees water operations of the Colorado River and doles out water from Lakes Travis and Buchanan for the use of more than a million Central Texans — lacks transparency in its actions and should hire more women and people of color.

As the LCRA seeks new water supplies to satisfy the thirst of a booming region, the Sunset Advisory Commission staff report said the river authority’s “approach to public engagement is inconsistent and often reactive,” frequently leading to mistrust around the already sensitive issue of regional water sharing.

While the Sunset staff report called the LCRA a “sophisticated, well-functioning organization,” it singled out efforts to pump groundwater from beneath Bastrop County as heavy-handed.

After the report, which echoed complaints by landowners in counties east of Austin, the LCRA went into damage-control mode.

The board, led by Chairman Tim Timmerman, one of the people Abbott reappointed Wednesday, voted to relax restrictions on public comment at board meetings. And the river authority took out a full-page advertisement in the American-Statesman that sought to offer context for its groundwater pumping designs in Bastrop County.

Timmerman, an Austin real estate developer, then appeared before the Sunset Commission.

Tall, thin, genial and white-haired, he cuts a patrician figure. But appearing before the Sunset Commission in December, he appeared chastened.

“We never lose sight that we’re accountable to the governor, the Legislature and a broader public constituency, the people of Texas,” he told the commission.

Timmerman and two other board members were reappointed to terms that expire in 2025. Also reappointed were Tom Martine, head of an Austin commercial real estate company, and Elgin veterinarian Bobby Lewis.

Abbott also appointed Austin attorney Meg Voelter and Kerrville rancher and real estate investor Mike Allen to the 15-member board on Wednesday. Their terms also expire in 2025.

Under Timmerman’s chairmanship, the river authority has navigated record-breaking droughts and floods and overseen construction of a reservoir in Wharton County. Tensions between lakeside communities and downriver rice farmers have, for the moment, subsided. Instead, that tension has been replaced by friction between the river authority and property owners east of Austin, who are worried about the pumping and export of their groundwater.

Michele G. Gangnes, a Lee County lawyer who is a board member of the Simsboro Aquifer Water Defense Fund, which counsels landowners about how to protect their groundwater, said she was “disappointed” Timmerman was reappointed.

“His tenure has been marked by a sort of arrogance and avoidance of contact with constituents,” she said.

Jo Karr Tedder, president of the Central Texas Water Coalition, which represents communities around the Highland Lakes, said that Timmerman "runs a tight meeting."

She said that in her experience, there's "very little local input of any kind into who is appointed."

For years, lawmakers did not subject the LCRA to sunset review, a process that would have required the utility to further open its operations to legislative investigators; the river authority already is periodically examined by the state environmental agency, state auditors and financial accounting checks. But, in 2015, citing problems with transparency and accountability, lawmakers passed legislation calling for the periodic review of about 20 river authorities across the state.

The LCRA, which also operates coal and natural gas plants, derives about 93 percent of its roughly $1 billion in annual revenue from its electric generation and transmission businesses and has an operational presence in more than 70 counties. It also generates revenue from the sale of raw water and fees at its parks, among other things.

Established by the Legislature in 1934 to develop, conserve and protect the water of the river basin, the LCRA receives no state appropriations and is not authorized to assess taxes. In fiscal 2017, the LCRA, which has about 1,850 employees, reported $928 million in expenses — including $234 million in employee compensation and benefits.

Timmerman "is honored to have been chosen by Gov. Abbott to continue in his role as chairman of the LCRA board of directors," LCRA spokeswoman Clara Tuma said.