Our septic permit, OSSF permit number 2005-416, was appealed to the Commissioners Court on July 11, 2006, by Neighbor. The motion to deny the appeal was made by Commissioner Ingalsbe. Here is a passage from the minutes of the July 11, 2006, hearing.
“A motion was made by Commissioner Ingalsbe, seconded by Judge Powers to deny the appeal submitted by [Neighbor] and Instruct Special Counsel to request a ruling from TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality). All voting “Aye”.”
OK, did you follow that? Neighbor appealed our permit, the Commissioners Court heard evidence, and Commissioner Ingalsbe voted to deny the appeal, as did ALL of the Commissioners Court. So why, the very next day, on July 12, 2006, did she send this e-mail to O’Dell?
“Charles,
At this point is there anything else you or anyone feels I can do to “correct” yesterday’s actions??? OR should we hold off for now?
I still feel terrible about the mix up on the motion.
Debbie”
What is the point of this email? The motion to deny the appeal was straight forward, and the vote, unanimous. Further, it appears that a commissioner is asking the president of a political action group, who has aligned himself with the primary complainant in this matter, how the Court should be run. Is this how you want your commissioners deciding your fate?
In response, O’Dell sent an e-mail on July 12, 2006, with the following instructions to Commissioner Ingalsbe.
“Debbie,
You asked me what you could do to make this unfortunate situation right.
…this matter should be placed on the agenda again for discussion and possible action, this time regarding denial of the Ramus OSSF permit (instead of [Neighbor’s] appeal)…
Charles
HaysCAN”
The most amazing thing about this email exchange is that this is exactly what Commissioner Ingalsbe then did. She put the following item on the agenda for the July 18, 2006, meeting: “23538 Action to Deny Any Additional Permits or License to Operate to Nickolous [sic] Ramus.”
The meeting minutes say, “Commissioner Ingalsbe felt like it was reasonable that we wait for a ruling from TCEQ.” Since there is no obligation on the part of TCEQ to review this matter, it would have potentially placed the permit on hold forever. And, there is no authority in the state law governing OSSF permits for the Commissioners Court to suspend a permit for any reason other than a deficiency in the system, which was not being claimed here. This motion by Ingalsbe was AGAIN voted down, this time three to two. Again, we thought this matter was finished.
On July 14, 2006, Commissioner Ingalsbe sent a letter to TCEQ asking for a review of the OSSF permit. On July 27, 2006, an attorney for TCEQ wrote back to Commissioner Ingalsbe and stated the following:
“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.”
This is the result of the review by TCEQ: the permit is valid, nothing is wrong.
So, just as the formal TCEQ review request was being made by Commissioner Ingalsbe, a Debbie Gonzales, who happens to share the same physical address as Commissioner Ingalsbe (aka Debbie Gonzales Ingalsbe) filed a personal complaint against us with TCEQ on July 13, 2006. This complaint was reviewed by Hays County on August 15, 2006, and again resolved in our favor. We believe that Debbie Gonzales is, in fact, Debbie Gonzales Ingalsbe. In essence, she has now filed a personal complaint against us, outside of her capacity as a commissioner on the court. We have copies of the request for review and the personal complaint, plus the corresponding TCEQ rulings. Both the personal and formal review requests were resolved in our favor.
Just in case you weren’t sure, it has come to light that Neighbor and Commissioner Ingalsbe are friends. In an email to Neighbor dated December 29, 2006, Commissioner Ingalsbe wrote to Neighbor about our septic permit:
“…I know we had both hoped for a different outcome. I will continue to do what I can, but please try to understand I am limited in what I can do. I value your friendship and look forward to continuing to work with you in the future…”
So, to summarize Commissioner Ingalsbe’s actions up to this point, Plan A was to find a legal or health reason to oppose our permit, but the other commissioners, the Special Counsel, and the TCEQ did not support her position. Plan A had failed by August 2006, when the second ruling from TCEQ was written in our favor. Looking at the various emails and documents being passed back and forth between August and the end of 2006, Plan B was to go after our OSSF installer and hopefully to find something wrong with our system, but that gambit did not result in permanent loss of our permit, so then they needed a new tack. Judging from what happened next, the Plan C that emerged in early 2007 was to discredit Nick (and county employees!) personally. (See Racially Motivated? for more details on these attacks.)
Since Commissioner Ingalsbe was unsuccessful up to this point in achieving her ends, what did she do next? She went fishing. O’Dell and Neighbor were quite helpful to her, as you can see from the following email excerpts. January 10, 2007, O’Dell sent an email to Neighbor with the subject “Suggested Request by Debbie”. Neighbor forwarded it to Commissioner Ingalsbe January 11, 2007. Here’s what was in that email:
“[Neighbor],
I suggest the following e-mail request be sent by Debbie to Bob Pratt:
Bob,
I am requesting that you send me the manufacturer serial numbers for all major components of the Ecological Systems OSSF system install on Mr. Ramus’ property. Also, please forward to me the name of the party retained to maintain the Ramus system, and contact information for that party. I also want to receive a copy of the maintenance contract. I would like to receive all this information at your earliest convenience.
Thank you.
Debbie Ingalsbe
Pct. 1 Commissioner
This is just a draft e-mail that Debbie can fashion to her own liking, but it’s important she ask for this information and document.
Charles
HaysCAN”
In case you didn’t quite follow, O’Dell sent Neighbor wording for her to give to Commissioner Ingalsbe to send out under the Commissioner’s signature, to help with Neighbor’s and O’Dell’s campaign against us. This email, written by O’Dell, was to request serial numbers and such on our septic system because they were fishing for any discrepancy they could use to deny our permit. Commissioner Ingalsbe complied with their request and sent the fishing email the next morning, January 12, 2007.
In fact, a minor discrepancy relating to serial numbers was discovered. Over time it was investigated, easily explained, and cleared up to the satisfaction of EHD officials, but O’Dell did not wait for that process. Instead, he sent an email to Commissioner Ingalsbe on January 19, 2007. Here’s the relevant part:
“I suspect there is stolen property involved and possibly drugs and payoffs to officials but these will be a matter for law enforcement to investigate if they are so inclined.
Regarding the stolen property issue, I strongly recommend that you go over UNANNOUNCED to Pope’s office this afternoon and request/demand that he or someone in his office (Pratt or one of their inspectors) immediately accompany you to the Ramus site and collect the system component serial numbers. Accept no excuses for delay…”
Never did O’Dell prove these claims, but Commissioner Ingalsbe acted on them anyway. The next we knew of this matter was that Nick received a phone call from Tom Pope of EHD. Pope informed Nick that Commissioner Ingalsbe told him that Nick had used stolen components in his OSSF and that he [Pope] was supposed to go confiscate the parts. (We have seen an email from Commissioner Ingalsbe to Pope with these marching orders and are in process of trying to locate a copy so we can provide the exact wording.) Pope told Nick that he informed Commissioner Ingalsbe that this would be a violation of our rights and probably illegal, and that he would not do it. Pope did, however, agree to research whether there were any stolen parts. His conclusion, of which he was notifying Nick in that phone call, was that there were no stolen parts in the system. The allegations were unfounded. Commissioner Ingalsbe was notified of this. Nick was justifiably upset by these allegations and called Commissioner Ingalsbe directly to tell her that no stolen parts were used in our septic system and that her accusations were unfounded. Commissioner Ingalsbe insisted that parts of our system were stolen and hung up. Is this the sort of behavior you expect from your elected officials? She convicted him without proof, without trial, and on what evidence? Hearsay from Neighbor and O’Dell, both of whom have an agenda to block our septic permit.
Next, O’Dell arranged a meeting for himself and Commissioner Ingalsbe with Sherri Tibbe from the District Attorney’s Office. The meeting took place Wednesday, January 24, 2007. O’Dell presented a three-page document by himself and Neighbor, alleging a conspiracy involving Nick, our OSSF installer, Pope and Pratt (EHD), Walther (Director, EHD), and even (try not to laugh) Murphy, Special Counsel to Hays County Commissioners Court, and our (then) attorney. Apparently, if you disagree with O’Dell, Neighbor, and Commissioner Ingalsbe, you MUST be in a conspiracy! No action was taken by the District Attorney’s Office following that meeting. Presumably someone there realized there was no evidence to substantiate any of O’Dell’s accusations.
After the failed gambit to get the DA to go after Nick, Commissioner Ingalsbe again put our OSSF permit onto the Commissioners Court agenda. But, since this was a matter that had already been decided multiple times, she listed the agenda item as an Executive Session item under the guise of “pending and/or contemplated litigation.” This was a subterfuge because there was no litigation pending at the time by us, and there was no discussion of them suing us for any cause. The “Executive Session” label on the agenda item simply allowed the matter to be discussed in closed session, where we could not defend ourselves nor hear what was going on. The first closed meeting was on April 10, 2007, with no result in open court. Then, on April 17, 2007, the Commissioners Court met again in closed session under the same vague wording, and upon reconvening in open session, they voted 3-2 (Sumter, Ingalsbe and Ford vs. Conley and Barton) to revoke our permit. We were not even present! Commissioner Ingalsbe clearly has a personal interest in her objections to our septic permit; therefore, she should have recused herself from further participation in any decisions relating to our permit. Not only did she not recuse herself, but it was she who made the motion to revoke our permit. This is the antithesis of fair and impartial government; Commissioner Ingalsbe has clearly allied herself with her friends, Neighbor and O’Dell, and has no right to adjudicate our permit in her own self-interest.
We feel Commissioner Ingalsbe’s actions are unethical and a violation of the public trust. If you share our outrage at her conduct, email her now (debbiei@co.hays.tx.us) to demand her immediate resignation.
