ROBSTOWN, Tx — The Nueces River Authority board met in special session Friday, spending nearly three hours behind closed doors before adjourning without taking any action.
Friday's closed session was called to discuss allegations made by NRA Chief Operating Officer Travis Pruski, who submitted a letter to the board in late March accusing Executive Director John Byrum of presenting inaccurate water sales figures to the board and to Corpus Christi City Council, directing staff not to communicate with board members, and jeopardizing a $30 million flood mitigation grant through repeated delays. Gov. Greg Abbott has called for a thorough investigation. The board has hired outside attorney Kelli Cubeta to review Pruski's allegations.
The Pruski allegations are not the only legal trouble facing the agency. Earlier this week, a former NRA employee, Marisa Juarez, was indicted on 10 felony counts of tampering with government records after a state investigation found irregularities in water sampling documents submitted on behalf of multiple South Texas communities.
The meeting also came one month after KRIS 6 News raised questions with the board about whether its executive and finance committees have been meeting without public notice — a potential violation of the agency's own bylaws and the Texas Open Meetings Act, which require all committee meetings to be open to the public and posted in advance.
Following Friday's meeting, Board President Eric Burnett told KRIS 6 News the agency would comply with its bylaws and hold all committee meetings in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act.
Port Aransas resident Cathy Fulton had pushed the issue directly during public comment, telling the board she had attended meetings for two years without ever seeing executive or finance committee agendas posted publicly.
"You have not posted any executive meetings or finance meetings in the last two years that I've been coming," Fulton said. "It's right here in your own bylaws. Nobody's adhering to open meetings. This has got to stop."
Fulton also told the board she could not find past agendas on the NRA website and said budgets had not been made available to the public during board meetings. She announced she intends to file a complaint with the Texas Attorney General's Office.
The board is scheduled to hold another special meeting next Friday.
