Dissolution Petition Valid

GRAND SALINE—The somewhat cloudy history of the Van Zandt County Emergency Services District No. 2 will soon take another turn.

A hearing before the ESD’s board of directors has been set for Sept. 8, at which time attorneys for a group of citizens will present an argument that the district allowed non-eligible votes in its formation election in 2006.

That hearing has been set for 6 p.m. at the Grand Saline Chamber of Commerce Pavilion, ESD board president John Teague said.

Wills Point attorneys Bruce Monning and Morgan Elliott are representing signers of a petition calling for a dissolution election for the ESD.

Elliott said they were awaiting an official registered voters total for the district from the Van Zandt County Clerk’s office and that information arrived in time for Monday’s regular meeting of the ESD board.

"We found that we had at least 10 percent (of the registered voters) on the petition signature list and the ESD board will give us a hearing on Sept. 8," she said.

Elliott said an enlargement of a map of the ESD No. 2 boundaries shows the issues at hand.

A large north-south strip of property to the west of the ESD boundary line includes residents who allegedly were allowed to vote in the 2006 formation election despite living outside the district. The map also indicates a small area southeast of the district where the same alleged impropriety took place.

In addition, the map indicates other areas that are within the district boundaries to the south and southwest of Grand Saline where residents are paying ESD taxes but allegedly were turned away from voting.

Elliott said the petition signers are not exclusive against the ESD’s existence.

"We are not seeking dissolution of the ESD. The people we are representing are simply asking to have another election, and we represent both people who are pro-ESD and those who are anti-ESD," she said.

Whether there will be an election set to decide the ESD’s continuance or dissolution is up to the board of directors at the Sept. 8 hearing.

Board president John Teague said he is glad the issue of the petition has finally been resolved.

"The reason for the delay was in determining the total number of voters," Teague said. "We were not sure how many were in the district.

"Once that was determined, we also determined the petition did have the proper number of signatures," he added. "I hate that it took so long to get to this point. It has been on our agenda for several months, but the law says we can’t do anything until that petition is certified,"

Teague said board vice president Harry Clifford, Grand Saline City Administrator Stephen Ashley and members of the Grand Saline Volunteer Fire Department did a great amount of work in helping determine the voter count for the district.

"They even went out to count houses and people…It was a big undertaking for us," Teague said.

The hearing was scheduled for the chamber pavilion to hold what is expected to be a large crowd in attendance, he added.

The hearing will take place from 6-7 p.m. that evening. After a short recess, the board of directors will reconvene at 7:10 p.m. to determine a course of action, Teague said.