Source: h/t DALL-E.
On April 28, 2025, the City Council made appointments to boards and commissions. Maybe the most significant one, given how important water is to everyone in North Texas, is Richardson's representative to the North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD).
NTMWD
Two years ago, in Mayor Dubey's first time wielding the gavel, the meeting included a review of the North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD). Here's what I wrote about Mayor Dubey's performance.
That brings us to our new Mayor Bob Dubey. He asked no questions. He made no requests. He wrapped up the time the Council devoted to NTMWD by saying,
"Are we going to have to pay a little bit more? Possibly, and probably..."
How about certainly? There was no doubt in NTMWD's presentation. There was no doubt in John Sweeden's comments (Sweeden is one of two City representatives on the NTMWD board). Several Council members honed in on steadily rising water rate as a primary citizen concern. If there was any doubt in the Mayor's mind, he should have grilled the NTMWD about what was needed to keep those rates from going up.Instead, Dubey went on, "The message that [NTMWD] are sending is hey, we have a job to do and it's way out there 50 years from now."
In fact, NTMWD's job is not "50 years from now." Even if it were, 50 years is not "way out there." Remember, NTMWD's rate is set to double in the next ten years. That's a problem now. NTMWD has a job to do now.Dubey concluded with, "They're doing a great job." If the job is supplying water, I'd agree they are doing that. Great. If the job is to supply water at rates growing no faster than people's incomes, then NTMWD isn't doing a "great job." Maybe the problem is that Dubey hasn't told NTMWD (or us) what he's asking NTMWD to do. Dubey's blasé attitude risks giving citizens a false sense of security. For all that, I'd give Dubey the "Is he living on the planet Mars?" award, except that if he were on Mars, he'd know the importance of water.
Source: Our New City Council Discusses Water.
If Dubey was living on Mars in 2023, his experience since then does not appear to have brought his orbit closer to Earth. At least, not if we can judge by his pick for the new Richardson representative on the NTMWD board. It's Franklin Byrd. He might be a fine and decent man, but let's face it. He's known more as a political crony of Scott Dunn and Bob Dubey than a public service veteran who understands the problem and has the contacts and respect to be able to get things done for Richardson at NTMWD. Can't Mayor Pro Tem Arefin, a civil engineer specializing in water projects, recommend and recruit a better candidate, say a professional he knows, for this job?
Instead, Franklin Byrd was a minor candidate for Richardson City Council in 2019. He was Councilmember Scott "BimboGate" Dunn's favored successor. He was also backed by "Patriot Texas Conservative Activists", a fact I know because Byrd himself repeatedly posted the endorsement on Facebook. Byrd finished a distant third in a three-candidate race. I see nothing in his resume that makes him an obvious pick for this important position. It looks and feels like cronyism to me.
So how does that happen? We've discussed this before. There's no transparency at all on how the Richardson City Council picks people for boards and commissions and even more important for regional bodies like NTMWD. On this and other matters, I am beginning to see Mayor Dubey's preference for cronyism in action, but how to explain the rest of the Council going along with him? After all, the Mayor is just one vote of seven. Do all seven believe that Franklin Byrd is the best person Richardson can find for this important assignment? Really? Is Dubey blackballing good candidates? Are the other Councilmembers afraid to put forward other names? What gives? I'm beginning to despair of another two years of Dubey as mayor leading a compliant council to make a clean sweep of our boards and commissions and replacement with cronies loyal to team Bob.
Dubey's Leadership
Bob Dubey might have more skill than I appreciated for a backroom knife fight, but when he has to operate in public, he still doesn't show enough competence to even run a meeting. That's been apparent from the first. See "Coaching from the stands". Or "Mayor Dubey In His Own Words. Unpacked.". Or, as recently as Monday, night, in how he introduced the agenda item for appointments.
Mayor Dubey: Okay, that brings us to item number six, review and discuss the 2025 general obligation bonds and certificates of obligation bond sale.
City Manager Don Magner: Mayor, we're actually, let's see, at number five for the appointments.
Mayor Dubey: Forgive me, I apologize. I got excited there. All right, we'll go to item number five.
Source: City of Richardson.
"Water rates will rise.
Dubey shrugs, looks to the stars.
He's living on Mars."
—h/t ChatGPT
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