gooden request

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

LANCE GOODENDISTRICT 4

RECEIVED

APR 212014

April 17, 2014

Victor 1-lenderson, PresidentTarrant Regional Water District800 East Northside DriveFort Worth, TX 76102

Marty Leonard, SecretaryTarrant Regional Water District800 East Northside DriveFort Worth, TX 76102

Jim Oliver, General ManagerTarrant Regional Water District800 East Northside DriveFort Worth, TX 76102

Jack Stevens, Vice PresidentTarrant Regional Water District800 East Northside DriveFort Worth, TX 76102

Jim Lane, Secretary Pro-TernTarrant Regional Water District800 East Northside DriveFort Worth, TX 76102

Re: Texas Public Information Act Request; Texas Government Code Section 552.008

Gentlemen,

It has come to my attention that you, acting in your role as elected officials to the TarrantRegional Water District (“TRWD”) and as general manager of the district, have repeatedlyreftised to allow access to TRWD books and records to Mary Kelleher, a member of the Board ofDirectors of TRWD duly elected by the same constituency that elected you other directors toyour current positions. Given that TRWD provides water to more than 1.7 million people in theNorth Central Texas area with operations that span an 11-county area, including my district, thislack of disclosure to a member of your own Board is gravely concerning.

As you are aware, TRWD has hired multiple lobbyists with taxpayer dollars and submittednumerous special requests to the Texas Legislature over the years regarding various issues,including the request to move the dates of the TRWD election, and to broaden TRWD’s powerof eminent domain for “economic development.” As an elected Texas State Representative,these special requests, coupled with your refusal to permit access to TRWD books and recordsrequested in writing by a member of your own Board of Directors, create concern that theTRWD is not being operated in compliance with the laws of the State of Texas.

As an elected Texas State Representative, I took an oath that I will to the best of my abilitypreserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States and of Texas as I

CoMnTTEEs: PIloNr.: (312) 463-0458F; (512) 463-2040

UnccGuudcn@Iiuusc,catc. tx_usPU [lox 29As,TIN. lISA, 78768-2950 APPROPRIATIONS • COUNTY AFFAIRS • HOUSE ADMINISTRATION

TPIA RequestApril 17, 2014

serve the citizens of Henderson and Kaufiuian Counties, through which your operations extend.As such, I believe strongly in the importance of governmental bodies such as yours conductingthemselves in an appropriate and ethical manner.

This letter (“Document Request”) shall serve as a public information request under the TexasPublic Information Act. This Document Request is being submitted pursuant to the legislativepurpose special right of access of Section 552.008 of the Texas Government Code which statesthe following: “A governmental body on request by an individual member, agency, or committeeof the legislature shall provide public information, including confidential information, to therequesting member, agency, or committee for inspection or duplication in accordance with thischapter f the requesting member, agency, or committee states that the public information isrequested under this chapterfor legislative purposes.”

As an individual member of the legislature, pursuant to Section 552.008 of the TexasGovernment Code, I hereby request the Requested Information, as defined below, in both adigital and hard copy form for legislative purposes. The Requested Information is substantiallysimilar to the information requested by Mary Kelleher in her email to Jim Oliver on November 5,2013 requesting certain information related to the operations of TRWD over the last 10 years. Iam aware of my responsibility to keep confidential information confidential, and I am aware thatunder Section 552.264 of the Texas Government Code, you shall be providing the RequestedInformation to me without charge.

You are hereby instructed to preserve all evidence and information, including electronicmessages or information, that is, or could be, responsive to this Document Request.

In providing your responses to this Document Request, please use the following definitions andinstructions:

DEFINITIONS

For purposes of this Document Request, the following definitions shall apply unless otherwisespecifically indicated:

1. “And” and “or” shall be construed disjunctively or conjunctively as necessary in order tobring within the scope of each request all documents which might otherwise be construedto be outside its scope.

2. The term “and/or” is to be read in both the conjunctive and disjunctive and shall serve asa request for information which would be responsive under a conjunctive reading inaddition to all information which would be responsive under a disjunctive reading.

3. “Communication” or “communications” includes, without limitation, in-person ortelephone conversations, facsimiles, letters, electronic mail, telegrams, telexes, tapes orother sound recordings, or other means of transmitting information from one source toanother.

4. “Document” means any written, recorded, or graphic material of any kind, whetherprepared by you or by any other person, which is in your possession, custody, or control.


The term includes, but is not limited to: agreements; contracts; letters; faxes; emails;inter-office communications; memoranda; reports; records; instructions; specifications;notes; notebooks; plans; drawings; blueprints; diagrams; photographs; photocopies;charts; graphs; descriptions; drafts, whether or not they resulted in a final document;minutes of meetings, conferences, and telephone or other conversations orcommunications; invoices; purchase orders; bills of lading; recordings; published orunpublished speeches or articles; publications; transcripts of telephone conversations;phone mail; ledgers; financial statements; microfilm; microfiche; tape or disc recordings;and computer print-outs. The term ‘document” also includes electronically stored datafrom which information can be obtained either directly or by translation throughdetection devices or readers; any such document is to be produced in a reasonably legibleand usable form. The term “document” includes all drafts of a document and all copiesthat differ in any respect from the original, including any notation, underlining, marking,or information not on the original. The term also includes information stored in, oraccessible through, computer or other information retrieval systems (including anycomputer archives or back-up systems), together with instructions and all other materialsnecessary to use or interpret such data compilations.

5. “Each” includes both each’ and “every.”6. “Family Member” is defined as the named individual’s spouse, ex-spouse, parents in law,

ex-parents in law, children, siblings, parents, nephews, nieces, whether by blood ormarriage or step or natural, or to entities (corporations, LLCs, Partnerships, etc.) ownedin whole or part ultimately up through the ownership chain by the named individual orhis/her Family Members or their trusts.

7. “Person” means any natural person or any legal entity, including, but not limited to, acorporation, partnership and unincorporated association, and any officer, director,employee, agent or other person acting or purporting to act on its behalf.

8. “Relating to” and “relates to” mean, without limitation, relating to, concerning,constituting, mentioning, referring to, describing, summarizing, evidencing, listing,relevant to, demonstrating, tending to prove or disprove, or explain.

9. “TRy” means Trinity River Vision.10. “You” and “your” shall mean yourself and all other persons acting or purporting to act onyour behalf.

11. The singular and masculine gender shall, respectively, include the plural and femininegender, and vice versa.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In producing documents requested herein, you shall produce documents in full, withoutabridgment, abbreviation, redaction or expurgation of any sort.

2. All documents shall be segregated in accordance with the numbered and letteredparagraphs and subparagraphs herein.

3. These document requests cover the period of time from April 1, 2004 up to the date ofyour response. In gathering documents, start with the year 2014 and move sequentiallybackward. In the event that any information or any documents come to your attention,possession, custody, or control subsequent to the date of your responses to this Document


Request, which materials or information are responsive to any document request, butwhich were not included in your initial response thereto, please furnish said additionalinformation materials to my office as soon as possible.

REQUESTED INFORMATION

1. Any and all records, correspondence, notes, communications, and other documentsconceming or relating to that portion of the General Ledger(s) from the TRWD, TRy,andlor their subsidiaries and affiliates reflecting payments or reimbursements to JimOliver or his Family Members; e.g. if the TRWD were to pay Jim Oliver’s mortgage, hiscredit card bills, his utility bills, his car payments, vacation expenses, etc., suchdocuments would be included. Also included are payments to any savings or similar planon behalf of these individuals, entities, and trusts, e.g. a pension plan, 401(k), IRA, andthe like. This request is placed first in order to ensure the applicable portions of theledgers are provided quickly. The backup information is not included in this DocumentRequest 1 but is instead requested in Document Request 11 so it may be provided afterthe other documents requested in this letter.

2. Any and all records, correspondence, notes, communications, and other documentsconcerning or relating to that portion of the General Ledger(s) from the TRWD, TRy,and/or their subsidiaries and affiliates reflecting payments or reimbursements to J.D.Granger or his Family Members, under the same terms as Document Request 1.

3. Any and all records, correspondence, notes, communications, and other documentsconcerning or relating to that portion of the General Ledger(s) from the TRWD, TRy,and/or their subsidiaries and affiliates reflecting payments or reimbursements to AlanThomas or his Family Members, under the same terms as Document Request 1.

4. Any and all records, correspondence, notes, communications, and other documentsconcerning or relating to that portion of the General Ledger(s) from the TRWD, TRy,and/or their subsidiaries and affiliates reflecting payments or reimbursements to WayneOwens or his Family Members, under the same terms as Document Request 1.

5. Any and all records, correspondence, notes, communications, and other documentsconcerning or relating to that portion of the General Ledger(s) from the TRWD, TRy,andlor their subsidiaries and affiliates reflecting payments or reimbursements to VicHenderson or his Family Members, under the same terms as Document Request 1.

6. Any and all records, correspondence, notes, communications, and other documentsconcerning or relating to that portion of the General Ledger(s) from the TRWD, TRy,and/or their subsidiaries and affiliates reflecting payments or reimbursements to HalSparks or his Family Members, under the same terms as Document Request 1.

7. Any and all records, correspondence, notes, communications, and other documentsconcerning or relating to that portion of the General Ledger(s) from the TRWD, TRy,and/or their subsidiaries and affiliates reflecting payments or reimbursements to JackStevens or his Family Members, under the same terms as Document Request 1.

8. Copies of all documents related to contracts with and payments to each lobbyist,consultant, lobbyist firm, or consulting firm (specifically including, but not limited to,Bryan Eppstein and Mindy Elmer) from or with the TRWD, TRy, and/or any of theirsubsidiaries and/or affiliates. For the avoidance of doubt, this Document Request should


include any and all legislative consultants, public affairs consultants, and individuals orfirms with a similar scope and purpose.

9. Emails and any other correspondence documents from or to TRWD, TRy, or any of theirsubsidiaries and affiliates with lobbyists or employees with lobbyist firms.

10. All appraisals, transaction documents, and environmental studies related to the purchaseby the TRWD and/or TRy, and/or their subsidiaries and/or affiliates of any parcels ofland from Carl Bell or his affiliated entities.

11. All backup documents for Document Rcquests 1 — 10 above.12. Expense reports for the months of February and March 2013 for Jim Oliver, J.D.

Granger, Alan Thomas, Wayne Owens, Vic Henderson, Hal Sparks, and Jack Stevens.

By this letter, I hereby request that this information be promptly produced. I shall attend inperson or I shall send my representative to your offices on Friday, May 2’” to pick up theRequested Information. I appreciate your prompt attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Lance GoodenState RepresentativeDistrict 4

cc: Bryan W. Shaw, PhD, Chairman, Texas Commission on Environmental QualityToby Baker, Commissioner, Texas Commission on Environmental QualityZak Covar, Commissioner, Texas Commission on Environmental QualityRichard A. Hyde, P.E., Executive Director, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

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