Letter from Michele Gangnes founding member of LIV to Bastrop City Council on $15 million issuance of certificates of obligation

Michele Gangnes is a retired public finance attorney and longtime pro-bono water defender for Lee and Bastrop counties.

This letter, written for LIV by a founding member, Michele Gangnes, was delivered on October 21st to members of the Bastrop City Council to urge a delay in the issuance of $15,000,000 in public debt known as certificates of obligation*. It was met with a unanimous vote to issue the bonds. LIV believes the City engaged in an effort to hide the public notice of the bonds. Gangnes made the case that the City should have published notice of their intent to issue the certificates the way they officially ordered themselves to do, instead of reverting to a method they said just nine months earlier they would not use anymore.

Why would they do that? To deny citizens fair notice of their right to petition for a public vote on the bonds. In addition to state law that gives us the right, there's this lil' ol' thing called the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which holds the "right to petition for redress of grievances" as sacrosanct. But for now, this has escaped the Bastrop City Council.

Secondarily, Michele lays out the legal arguments as to why she thinks golf courses are not eligible to be financed with certificates of obligation unless they are explicitly included as part of a  "public works" project. The City Council approved financing a “golf course and golf facilities” anyway, without making that connection. Moreover, our opposition to using any public money to add a golf course is due to the city's refusal to even conduct a community-wide survey for what the community actually requested in 2023 surveys and community engagement sessions --- a recreation center for their kids and families! Instead, City Hall activists assembled a mere twenty people to come to City Hall to support the golf course, and voila! It was a done deal.

Last, everyone, even the seemingly clueless Bastrop City Council knows darn well about the years of ongoing battles to keep Lee and Bastrop counties’ groundwater supply sustainable into the future. Michele Gangnes has worked for free since 1998 to protect our groundwater. But now she and we are forced by politics gone wild in the City of Bastrop to witness the squander of our most precious water resource on the public dime. There's so much more we have to say about this -- soon. For now:

Read letter from Gangnes posted here. Thank you so much, Michele!

How do you feel about all of this? You can comment below or send an email directly to us at contact@livtx.org.

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* This short video about certificates of obligation explains how many cities are abusing COs to fund unnecessary projects. The city of Bastrop's plan to use public debt via COs to fund a golf course caught our eye on NextDoor. Thanks to everyone for keeping an eye out for our water and our wallets, especially Cecilia Serna and Herb Goldsmith. Michele Gangnes is also a founder and Board Member of the Simsboro Aquifer Water Defense Fund (SAWDF), a 501c3 organization. You can view Cecilia Serna and LIV's Linda Curtis comments and the bond counsel's response on this YouTube post of the City Council meeting, starting at 1:13:17 HERE.