A bid to rein in the Public Service Board failed Tuesday as the City Council
rejected Northeast city Rep. John Cook's proposal to let the city have a say
in future sales of land held by the water board.
Cook gained the support of only South-West city Rep. Anthony Cobos in his
effort to essentially rewrite the city ordinance by which the Public Service
Board was created in 1952 to take politics out of city water policy. The
vote was 2-6.
"Why rush it through? Why ram it through?" El Paso Water Utilities
General Manager Ed Archuleta asked the council during the debate on $89.7
million in water bonds. "All we're asking is that you sell the bonds the way
you've done before, and then we'll sit down with you to see if we can find
some language that's acceptable to the PSB and the council."
Cobos said the change would be important to keep a single ! person from
using the water board to bottle up land to st! op development in areas where
the city needs to grow. Cobos was referring to former Mayor Ray Caballero's
actions while on the board.
The city's mayor is automatically a member of the five-member water
board.
East Side city Rep. Dan Power said he agreed with the spirit of the
resolution but believed there were better ways to increase the city's role
in overseeing water board land.
"The Public Service Board has control of a huge portion of the buildable
land in El Paso," Power said, "but ... I really think the most prudent thing
to do would be to sit down with the Public Service Board and come up with
something that would satisfy them and satisfy the city."
The council later approved the bonds, which will be used for construction
($66 million) and refinancing ($32 million). The re-funding is expected to
save $1 million in debt service.
