ROBSTOWN, Tx — The head of a water district in Robstown sold a small piece of land to the district he works for.
Marcos Alaniz, the district manager of Nueces County Water Control Improvement District #3, and his wife bought several properties near the district's filter plant.
Those properties, located on North 3rd Street in Robstown, were purchased in 2022 and 2023.
One of those purchases included several parcels, which were purchased for $176,000.
6 Investigates reviewed publicly available documents and requested additional documents from NCWCID #3 via a Public Information Request.
Those documents reveal that .11 acres were carved out of one of those parcels and sold to the district for $180,000 in October 2023.
That property is valued at $23,239, according to the Nueces County Appraisal District website.
The district's board of directors approved this purchase after discussing it in executive session at its meeting on September 19, 2023.
The agenda for that meeting does not specify this is an item to be discussed in executive session, and the meeting minutes do not indicate the board met in private to discuss this deal.
An audio recording from that meeting reveals the board did go into executive session, but the section of the statute that allowed them to do so was not publicly stated.
Following that executive session, a board member said discussion had already occurred and only a vote was needed. At no point during this meeting did the board publicly discuss this purchase.
The board then unanimously approved the purchase of this property for the construction and expansion of the filter plant.
6 Investigates reached out to Alaniz several times over a two-week period, and he responded only after KRIS 6 News reached out to Charlie Zahn, the district's attorney.
Alaniz said he had been advised by Zahn and the board of directors to not speak to 6 Investigates.
6 Investigates wanted to ask him when he became aware of the district's need to expand the facility and whether he was involved in the executive session that discussed this purchase.
6 Investigates also notified Zahn of concerns related to the Open Meetings Act. That act requires public entities to publicly state under what section of the statute the governmental body is going into executive session.
While the statute allows a governmental body to ask questions of its attorney, it prohibits discussion of items in executive session.
NCWCID #3 is a local government entity that provides water within a geographic area, including Robstown, Corpus Christi, and unincorporated areas of Nueces County.
