In the News

 

The interim general manager of the Bexar Metropolitan Water District was succinct in his email to the CEO of the San Antonio Water System on Wednesday morning.

“The ‘war' is over, and we lost,” Tom Gallier wrote. Since 74 percent of voting customers want BexarMet to become part of SAWS, Gallier said he saw no reason to put up a legal challenge to the election and instead wants to work with SAWS to make the transition happen as quickly and painlessly as possible.

“In our litigious society, one can always find a reason to file a lawsuit,” he said. “But I am not going to recommend that.”

The two utilities have had a rocky relationship for decades, and the BexarMet board tried through the courts to stop Tuesday's election.

By Gallier's estimate, the U.S. Justice Department will clear the election results within a few weeks, and most of BexarMet's 271 employees and all of its 300,000 customers will be legally transferred to SAWS by the end of the year.

SAWS said Wednesday the transition will happen more quickly than it projected.

In the meantime, Gallier said day-to-day operations won't change.

That appeared to be the case Wednesday, hours after the voters spoke. The employee parking lot was full, and contractors came and went to discuss projects and pick up water samples for testing, as they always have.

BexarMet employees had mixed reactions to the change, even though anyone earning $50,000 or less a year has been promised a job with SAWS for two years. About 30 employees do not enjoy that guarantee, including Gallier, who said he plans to return to retirement in Mexico by the end of the year.

Gallier held a companywide meeting Wednesday to explain the pending transfer and tell the employees to feel free to go to an informational meeting SAWS is hosting at its headquarters at 10 a.m. Saturday.

For Matthew Hicks, who had parked his family's minivan outside BexarMet headquarters while waiting for his wife, this is an anxious time, and he didn't expect the SAWS meeting to help.

He explained how he has back injuries and can't work. His wife, who works in BexarMet's customer service center, is the breadwinner for the family, which includes three children between the ages of 2 and 6.

He knows about the state law that protects his wife's job but does not trust it.

“We want to believe them,” he said about SAWS and the politicians who pushed the merger. “But there is always a way around it.”

For electrician Cesar Ibarra, the transfer is not something to worry about.

“For people who are making a lot of money it's a concern,” he said. “But for us? We are not. ... The people who worry are the ones who don't work.”

Before Gallier's email arrived, SAWS CEO Robert Puente sent one to BexarMet, saying he was looking forward to working with BexarMet employees. Earlier, he'd said SAWS would need the majority of BexarMet employees, regardless of their pay grade.

“The vast majority of employees at BexarMet have done an outstanding job of ensuring service to their customers,” he wrote.

In the past 12 months, more than 100 BexarMet employees have quit, been fired or laid off as the utility dealt with a host of problems. When the utility lost its ability to borrow money short-term, in effect freezing its capital improvement plan, some staff was let go.

Other employees were found to have cheated on state certification exams and were fired.

“Most of the problem employees are gone now,” Gallier said.