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STATEMENT
by Frank Kokesh
Clear Creek Basin Authority
Regular Meeting of March 6, 1975, as continued to March 9, 1975 (on which latter date this statement was made)
Mr. Chairman, Directors, Counsel, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I think we all owe a debt of gratitude to Director Rema Lou Brown for bringing up matters which certainly deserve immediate attention. She has helped greatly in forcing us all to take a hard look at what we are doing, and how we are going about doing it. She has courageously deflected the good ship CCBA into dangerous straits, knowing well that these currents must be traversed before we can continue on the long voyage ahead of us. I am confident that the voyage will ultimately be negotiated successfully.
Director Brown has told me that she proposes to ask for my apology over certain things that have transpired. I am prepared to respond to that request. She has further stated to me that she will seek my removal as Chairman of the Water Quality Committee. I am prepared also to address that item in a manner which will, I believe, be quite satisfactory to all concerned.
First, let me say that I apologize for my part in the exchange with Gordon Johnson of charges of falsehood at the meeting last Thursday evening. Nothing was accomplished by my response to Gordon on that topic.
Further, I apologize for the consternation apparently provoked when my statement of February 17 - March 5, 1975 was supplied to most directors along with Gordon Johnson's March 7 letter of resignation from the presidency of CCBA. I can easily see how there might be a strong reaction under the present circumstances. There was little reaction to the statement when I first presented the main part and gist of it orally on February 17. At that time, a request by a Director that the statement be entered into the record was agreed to without dissent. I would rather have forgotten it.
As for the thrust of that statement, Director Duke would have ample opportunity, as President of CCBA, to allay any suspicions of him I may have intimated or may have been provoked among others. I regard with keen appreciation his joining the large majorities to vote FOR all the significant actions we have undertaken. If he, or others, feel these actions should be reconsidered, let these matters be brought before the full board in open meeting, with such supporting evidence as may be available to them.
Turning now to my Chairmanship of the Water Quality Committee, let me point out that there was no effort made on my part last Thursday evening to retain that Chairmanship. In fact, at the end, I was asked to stay on, and I agreed to do so. Accordingly, I believe that the options, up to this point, remain with me.
As many of you know, my family and I have recently complained about the extent of the burden upon me as Water Quality Committee Chairman. I have no regrets for all the time and effort I have put in. Far-reaching actions have been instituted, setting the pattern for future similar actions, if the Board so desires.
I have many other interests which I have had to let slide the last two or three months, and I would like to get on with them. There are other community affairs of interest to me. The spring migration is upon us and my wife and I want to get out and do some bird watching. Also, I am about to be a grandpa again and I want to be unencumbered for that event.
Accordingly, I am grateful for this opportunity to say I am quite ready pass on the Chairmanship -- to say Dr. Everett Gibson, as was proposed last Thursday. I was impressed with Everett's statements of desire to work more with water quality, even as a member of a committee chaired by me. Everett has done an excellent job with the rain acidity program. He is young, energetic, resourceful, well-spoken, and presumably has the necessary time. He is handsome, and quite evidently doesn't need to go to charm school. I don't believe that he is fully equipped, at this time, to deal with the jungles of Austin -- or in the local political scene -- but he can learn quickly.
I hope he would accept the assignment as Chairman of the Water Quality Committee. I am prepared to give him such assistance as he might need to get started -- to convey to him the picture as of this time -- as I see it. But he and his Committee would do the work.
We should get on as soon as possible with the better organization of our activities, as was proposed at the last meeting. We have much to do. If we were not effective, there would not be the out-cry against us from the expected quarters. We are not alone in the positions we have taken. The public last Thursday night was not here to acclaim me -- but rather to voice their support for what CCBA is doing. Any mention of me was incidental -- insofar as they feared that my removal as Water Quality Chairman might mean that the CCBA Board was thinking of taking a softer line, and possibly of abandoning the actions it has undertaken.
I remain as a member of the Board, free to speak in Board meetings. I would rather not be tied to any standing committee, since I feel I have done more than my share, and other directors have a lot of catching up to do. I would offer advice when requested to do so by any Board member. I want to be free to offer thoughts on various subjects to Board members as the occasions arise. If a Board member makes it known to me that he or she doesn't want my inputs, for whatever reason, I will, of course, respect that attitude. I certainly don't want to be a burden on any one.
I trust that this statement will see the good ship CCBA through the straits, and on its way to the important goals ahead.
I am not important. No one member of this organization is important. But the idea of CCBA - unique in Texas, and perhaps in the nation -- is vastly important. Let us not betray the trust of the great majority who elected us last May, and who renewed that trust last Thursday night.
