City and Not PSB Has Ultimate Authority

Please read Opinion No. DM-44 from the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Texas very carefully:

Attorney General Opinion

Although it is an opinion regarding the relationship between New Braunfels Utilities and the City of New Braunfels, it can apply to the relationship between the Public Service Board/El Paso Water Utilities and the City of El Paso. Here is what is relevant to the effort to re-zone land along the Trans Mountain scenic corridor as Natural Open Space:

• Like the board of the New Braunfels Utilities, the Public Service Board (PSB) "is an agent of the city."
• Paraphrasing: Because the City of El Paso, not EPWU, owns the property, the city has ultimate authority to determine the use to which property acquired for the EPWU will be put and how to dispose of the property.
• ". . . a municipality cannot delegate to the board of its utility system ultimate control over city property"

Bottom line: City Council should just zone the entire land in the Northwest Master Plan as NOS. When they conceded that they had little authority over what happens to private land from Interstate 10 east along Trans Mountain, many representatives lamented that their hands were tied by mistakes made by City Councils of the past.

Well then, now is the time not to make a mistake. It is in their power to do the right thing or have future Councils cry that their hands were tied by the City Council in session in 2010. It is not PSB's decision. It is not Ed Archuleta's decision. It is City Council's decision. And, word to the wise, let us hope that they don't believe the hogwash about bond ratings and so forth that the PSB has used before to get their way.