Big promises, bigger questions: Harbor Island desal project under scrutiny after new allegations<\/a><\/p>\nFormer COO Travis Pruski, who resigned in late March, claims leadership made his position untenable. His allegations include concerns about access to the agency\u2019s budget and broader operational decisions.<\/p>\n
During a board meeting Tuesday in Robstown, residents echoed those concerns, particularly about financial transparency.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody got to see the budgets. Now, maybe the board does, but that\u2019s required. They have to show the public the budgets,\u201d said Kathy Fulton, a Port Aransas resident. \u201cThe only thing they have on their website is the audit report. That is not the same thing as the budgets.\u201d<\/p>\n
State law requires the authority to maintain financial records and make them available for public inspection, but it does not explicitly require the agency to publish its budget online.<\/p>\n
Pruski also alleged the authority presold more water from its planned Harbor Island desalination plant than it can produce\u2014prompting additional concern from the public.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the event that reservations exceed the production of usable water produced, which reservations take precedence?\u201d asked Port Aransas resident Luke Dailey. \u201cAlso, regarding these reservations, how much money has been collected and how has that money been spent?\u201d<\/p>\n
Seven people spoke during public comment at the meeting, all voicing support for Pruski.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s work-driven and the source that always answers the phone, always answers my emails, my texts,\u201d said Ron Krim, general manager of El Oso Water Supply Corporation in Kenedy, Texas. \u201cWhen I call him in for a board meeting, he comes prepared to show all the latest updates, including ahead of today’s meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Authority leadership declined to comment following the meeting, including Executive Director John Byrum, Board President Eric Burnett, and Pruski himself.<\/p>\n
In a written statement, Burnett acknowledged Pruski\u2019s claims and said the board would move forward with an investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis board will provide communications and updates in a manner that supports transparency and public confidence,\u201d Burnett said.<\/p>\n
The investigation comes as the region continues to face ongoing concerns about long-term water supply.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NRA has hired outside council to investigate its former COO\u2019s allegations, as residents raise concerns over transparency,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250295,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":["post-250294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi-headlines","tag-corpus-christi-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}