Lake Wood members ask for new legislation

AUSTIN — Members of the Friends of Lake Wood (FOLW) Association traveled to Austin last Thursday to testify in front of the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission.

They were there to once again protest the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority’s lack of effort in replacing the H-5 dam, the GBRA’s decision to build a new office building in New Braunfels instead of making the needed repairs to the dam, and Gonzales County’s lack of representation on the GBRA board.

Joe Solansky, head of the FOLW, addressed the board.

“In my opinion, this Sunset Review came at a critical time for property owners in Gonzales County,” Solansky’s statement read.

“I agree with the (Sunset) staff recommendations concerning GBRA’s Aging Infrastructure and inadequate planning. It is concerning to me that in GBRA’s self-evaluation report …stated ‘There are no major issues GBRA has identified requiring statutory changes that affect the ability to operate our facilities or carry out the authority’s mission.’ GBRA has stated publicly that they are prohibited by statute from using revenues from other divisions of the Authority to fund repairs and restoration of Lake Wood. Yet, they are in the planning stages of building a new office complex in New Braunfels,” said Solansky, before adding, “It has been 2 ½ years since the dam failure and just last week GBRA announced their recommendation for the type of replacement gate they intend to install…of course that is IF they can secure funding.

“Gonzales County has not had representation on the GBRA board in over two years….So I come to you today, asking for you to consider our request to create new legislation that would allow GBRA to utilize funds from other divisions to be used for our repairs, and in addition, add a requirement that in the event of a vacancy on the GBRA Board of Directors an appointment must be made within one year of the vacancy.”

The Sunset Commission thanked Mr. Solansky for his comments and took them under advisement.