We know of four legal opinions rendered by various government attorneys regarding the legality of our septic permit. We have copies of three of the opinions, but the fourth was issued in closed session, and we have not been allowed access.
The first opinion we know of is from Jacqueline Cullom Murphy, Special Counsel to Hays County Commissioners Court. In an undated letter (probably 2006) to Commissioner Ingalsbe, Murphy states, “There is no ambiguous, obscure, or unclear legal issue related to Mr. Ramus’ application…” She also cautions Commissioner Ingalsbe as follows, “The County should be cautious that any action taken does not harm Mr. Ramus and his rights to develop his property.”
The second legal opinion we know of is from Claudia Russell, Staff Attorney, Environmental Law Division, TCEQ. She had been asked by the Commissioners Court to review our OSSF permit. Her findings were provided on July 27, 2006, to Commissioner Ingalsbe:
“It is our opinion that the Chapter 285 rules were followed by Hays County, as TCEQ’s AA, in making its decision with to the issuance of this permit.”
The third legal opinion was written by Mark Kennedy, Special Counsel to Hays County Commissioners Court. His opinion was dated March 31, 2007, and is consistent with the others. He states the following:
"This legal brief is a cursory explanation of my conclusion, which is: the Environmental Health Department may allow an OSSF of this type to be installed and to operate on Mr. Ramus' property."
Since one or more members of the Commissioners Court raised this issue again on April 17, 2007, it’s clear they ignored all of the above opinions. Why are they wasting your tax dollars to obtain legal opinions and then ignore them? If virtually every staff member questioned returns the same opinion, why do they persist? The answer is that those who would push through the agenda to revoke our permit do not care about what’s actually legal, nor about what is the common construction of the OSSF laws. They have decided, for political reasons, that they do not want us to have this permit, and they need to justify their decision to take away our permit and our property rights.
It is our understanding that Mr. Kennedy issued another opinion in closed session. We do not know what that says, but we understand it better suited the agenda of the majority of the Commissioners Court.
