Lawsuit against ECUD filed

Odessa American, Texas
·1 min read

Oct. 3—Will Kappauf and Troy Walker, two directors on the Ector County Utility District, have filed a lawsuit against ECUD and three other directors in the hopes of having November's election halted.

According to the lawsuit, filed in Ector County District Court Sept. 28, under state laws passed in the late 1990s, two cohorts of directors are supposed to be elected every other even year and ECUD has failed to do so after 2002 and until 2016.

The lawsuit alleges that in 2016, 2018 and 2020, the wrong people were put up for election and the same thing is happening again this year.

The lawsuit further alleges the Water Code "has its own specific directive that elections are to take place in May of each even-numbered year."

Kappauf made a motion to cancel November's election during ECUD's meeting Sept. 24, but the motion died for lack of a second, the lawsuit states.

Kappauf and Walker named ECUD President Tommy Ervin and directors Margaret Burton and Stephanie Shaw as defendants in the case. Phone calls to Ervin were not returned.

The plaintiffs want a judge to declare the board's November election void and to declare a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction or permanent injunction.