| Pecan Grove Municipal Utility District (MUD) directors voted Tuesday to go out for proposals for operating service companies.
The board voted to send an 11-page request for qualifications form to selected operating contractors. Proposals are due back to Pecan Grove MUD directors by Feb. 24.
The Tuesday action follows a letter submitted to the board at its December meeting. In that letter, ECO Resources, Inc., current operators of the utility system for the district agreed to amend its existing contract termination date with the district so that the MUD board could receive proposals for a new operator.
The district's contract with ECO runs through December, 2006, but that the contract has a 60-day cancellation clause.
The action by ECO came after Pecan Grove MUD directors voted in November to consider the termination of the existing contract with ECO in light of an incident in which an ECO employee took monies from water district accounts, adding the action to this month's meeting agenda. At least one Fort Bend MUD, First Colony MUD No. 9, has sued Jane Elaine Trentham of Missouri City for taking $25,000 in funds from that district. Trentham is a former ECO employee.
In the December letter, ECO said, "to facilitate the process, ECO agrees to negotiate an addendum to the existing contract, shortening the term of the existing contract. ECO, although disappointed with the request, will continue to operate under the current contract until a mutually-agreed upon date is set per section 6.01 of the contract."
Jim Brown, Houston regional vice president of ECO, told the board at the December meeting that he understands that his firm will be considered for a new contract and the ECO will work with Pecan Grove MUD on an acceptable termination date of the existing contract.
At Tuesday's meeting, board president Joe Taylor gave directors a list of all operating companies in Harris County. The board agreed to send the list to seven major operating companies.
Board member Holly Zarate observed that the constraints of all major companies would probably be the same. Zarate also suggested that the city of Richmond be one of the bidders, saying that "it would make sense for the city of Richmond to be the operator in the long run."
Taylor said the board and ECO will have to reach a new termination date before the board's February meeting.
Zarate said at the December meeting that it is just a good time to look at the market. "It sounds like we're firing ECO, but that is not it," she said.
At the board's November meeting, Zarate said that from a fiduciary standpoint the board should investigate whether "such an incident (theft of district funds) is unique to the industry and that everything has been done to address this."
"Coming from my professional background, accounting irregularities strike at my core confidence in the company," Zarate said at the November meeting.
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