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Councilwoman Beth Watson Shares thoughts on Latest Recall in letter to local news
From Beth Watson – Mineral Wells Councilwoman Ward 3
Vote for candidates, not recalls
The third recall petition effort is under way for an existing Mineral Wells council person. I honor this provision of our city charter that lets voters remove an existing council member, but it concerns me that those vigorously knocking on doors have not signaled any intentions regarding replacement council members, or any sort of other positive plans.
I mean, if not us, then who? Being a council member in this city–trying to move ahead despite years of underinvestment, neglect, and hard economic times–is a difficult and heavy responsibility.
My question about transparency is fair, especially since all three of the candidates targeted for recall have been accused of lacking this very quality.
The latest recall target, Council Member Carlos Maldonado, is a perfect example of this recall silliness. Carlos replaced a long serving council member in 2021. A respected family man, he has expertise in planning and zoning, construction and development, volunteer firefighting for Mineral Wells, and business ownership. He is bilingual and graduated from UT Arlington after attending Mineral Wells High School.
Sounds like a great council member, right?
Meanwhile, many who are active in the recall efforts either a) do not live in the city limits; b) are not eligible to vote for the person they are trying to recall; and c) have no record of contributing positively to Mineral Wells through their profession or volunteer efforts.
The amount of projects that need to be undertaken in our city is overwhelming. While we have many initiatives under way, the biggest is our Water Capital Improvement Plan. The time is right to undertake the construction of Turkey Peak Reservoir and a new water treatment plant, as well as to make needed pipeline and pump station improvements.
While the increase in water bills has been unpleasant for everyone, what really concerns me is the possibility of EVEN GREATER EXPENSE of further delay and neglect. I don’t want to see Mineral Wells on the news for catastrophic water system shortcomings. This devalues your property and would cause even greater hardship on those with fewer resources. That is a risk I am unwilling to take.
The recall efforts directed at our council members have gotten a lot of attention. However, what is the alternative agenda?
I hear….NOTHING about replacement candidates or options for our water challenges.
Theodore Roosevelt said that complaining about a problem without posing a solution is called whining. We’re hearing a lot of complaining, and that’s about it.
Beth Watson
Beth has served on the Mineral Wells City Council since May 2018.
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My dad always said before you get rid of something you need to have something better to replace it with. I hear none of that in these recall efforts. Holding present council members accountable for past non actions is beyond my understanding. If you can do it better power to you otherwise working with rather than against them seems a wiser choice.
This “silliness” as you call it is a direct result of Council members blind siding the citizens of Mineral Wells with high water bills. Yes, we need to do something about our water situation but this isn’t the way. A recall petition is our way of getting the councils attention because you forgot to include your citizens in your decisions. Every single member of that council voted to increase our water bills up to 146% within the next 5 years. People’s water bills are higher than their electric bills. Mine certainly was and we are only a two person household. Couple that with high rents and the high cost of food and you quickly have an intolerable situation. And you dare to call our efforts silliness.
I understand what she’s saying but there was two options and they chose the most expensive one and it is killing us here in Mineral Wells. From my understanding this has been going on for decades and also they’ve been receiving money as well for the turkey peak reservoir but didn’t use it for those causes. We as Mineral Well citizens shouldn’t all become homeless because the city didn’t take care of those decades ago. It’s sad when you have to choose to pay your water bill or not have gas to get to work or to put food on the table. It wouldn’t be so bad if people wasn’t getting charged for way more water usage than they’re actually using as well too. People are getting $1,219 and $500 bills and they don’t have any water leaks. Something needs to be done because this is out of control. It’s sad that this town has gotten this bad off.