CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — The Nueces River Authority issued a statement Friday saying the Texas Open Meetings Act does not apply to its internal committees. The statement comes one week after Board President Eric Burnett told KRIS 6 News the agency would comply with its bylaws and hold all committee meetings in accordance with the act.
Questions arose after the NRA posted a notice announcing it had rescheduled its May 15 board meeting to May 21. That notice stated the board would use the additional time to review information related to the selection of a project developer for the Harbor Island Seawater Desalination Plant, and that it would also review findings from a special purpose committee appointed at the May 8 board meeting to investigate allegations raised by an NRA employee. The notice did not identify who was appointed to the committee or whether it has met. Under the NRA's own bylaws, committee meetings are required to be publicly noticed and open.
"Our legal counsel has advised us that the Texas Open Meetings Act, including its notice requirements, do not apply to NRA committees," the statement reads. "The notice provision for committee meetings is an internal requirement adopted by a previous board of directors that is inconsistent with current state law."
Burnett made his earlier commitment following a May 8 special session in which the board spent nearly three hours in closed session before adjourning without taking action.
The NRA said it plans to update its bylaws "in the near future" but did not say when that update would be brought before the board.
The role of the NRA's bylaws
The NRA's board of directors has authority to adopt bylaws to govern the organization under Texas Water Code. Once adopted, bylaws serve as the board's governing rules.
The NRA's own authorizing statute does not merely permit the board to adopt bylaws. It requires it. The statute states the board "shall adopt necessary bylaws for the conduct of the authority's business."
When the NRA previously identified a conflict between its bylaws and state law — a quorum shortfall at its February 2025 board meeting — it acknowledged the problem and held a special meeting to correct it. In that instance, the NRA stated its authorizing statute was silent on the matter but that the bylaws addressed it directly.
The NRA has never voted to amend or repeal the committee notice provisions it now describes as unenforceable.
KRIS 6 News submitted the following questions to the NRA: Whether Burnett was aware at the time of his commitment that the NRA's legal counsel considered the committee notice bylaw provision unenforceable or inconsistent with state law; and whether, given that the bylaws have not been amended and the provision requiring TOMA compliance for committees remains in place, it is the NRA's position that it will not follow its own bylaws. The NRA has not yet responded to those questions.
Background: Allegations and a former employee's arrest
In March 2026, NRA Chief Operating Officer Travis Pruski submitted a letter to the board alleging that Executive Director John Byrum presented inaccurate water sales figures to the NRA board and to Corpus Christi City Council, directed staff not to speak with board members, and jeopardized a $30 million flood mitigation grant through repeated delays. Pruski has served the NRA for more than twelve years, first as a board member and later as its chief operations officer.
Pruski alleged that at the August 8, 2025, board meeting, Byrum told the board that 36 million gallons per day of desalination capacity at the planned Harbor Island plant had been sold and that the corresponding revenue was already in the bank. Pruski wrote that internal tracking records showed only 21 MGD was committed and paid for at that time — a threshold not reached until November 4, nearly three months after that board meeting.
Pruski also wrote that on March 19, 2026, he received a phone call from Burnett directing him to stop raising questions and defer to Byrum's direction.
Gov. Greg Abbott called for a thorough investigation. Corpus Christi Mayor Paulette Guajardo also called for answers. The NRA board subsequently voted to hire attorney Kelli Cubeta to investigate the allegations.
A former NRA employee, Marisa Juarez, was separately indicted on 10 felony counts of tampering with government records after a state investigation found irregularities in official water sampling documents submitted on behalf of multiple South Texas communities. A KRIS 6 News analysis of microbial reporting forms obtained through open records requests found that 41 of 103 water sampling forms submitted by the NRA in 2024 were problematic — either signed by unlicensed individuals, former employees who had already left the agency, or people who records indicate did not actually collect the samples. That represents approximately 40 percent of all forms submitted that year.
A follow-up investigation found that Byrum's name appeared as the sampler on 25 forms between June and August 2024. Byrum previously told KRIS 6 News he does not collect water samples in his role at the NRA and declined to answer when asked directly whether he personally signed the forms.
