46 THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINE • Late Spring 2019 TheCoastalBend.com Coastal Bend Community perform process control duties in production or distribution of drinking water.” While not specifically required for executive managers of water systems, it is a stan- dard professional requirement for just about every city’s water and utility systems directors, and well as for assistant city managers who oversee utility departments. The TCEQ’s licensing web page provides an easy search tool for looking up any per- son who has attained a certification from the agency. Van Vleck, whose current position as Assistant City Manager puts him in charge of the public works and utilities departments, previously served as executive direc- tor of the utilities department during the 2015-16 water boil era, and who was the assistant director of the water department before that, does not possess any variety of certification from TCEQ, namely that of Water System Operator, according to the TCEQ search page and sources at City Hall. Until the end of 2016, the City did not employ a dedicated water director—instead, the department was overseen by the Utilities Director, who managed two assistant directors, one who ran maintenance of water and wastewater systems, and one who ran water production and wastewater treatment. In response to the multiple disasters in the department, the decision was made to reorganize and create the position of Executive Director of Water Utilities, and the first hire for the job was Houston native Clarence Wittwer, who applied for the job after seeing stories about Corpus Christi’s chlorination problems in the news. Wittwer was a veteran in utilities management and possesses numerous TCEQ certifications, including that of Water System Operator. He lasted nine months in the job before departing abruptly in the fall of 2017, citing complications to his fam- ily’s living circumstances following Hurricane Harvey. He was replaced by Director of Development Services, Dan Grimsbo, who, like Mark Van Vleck, is a professional engineer from the U.S. Navy who lacks any variety of TCEQ certification. Grimsbo started as interim director, and after the City’s failed effort to find a permanent re- placement, was officially hired as the City’s second-ever water director. Citizens can take a short breath of comfort in knowing that the three assistant directors of the water department serving under Grimsbo do possess TCEQ certifications, even if the boss and the boss’ boss do not. In the summer of 2015 Van Vleck was the Utilities Director for the City of Cor- pus Christi, and when E. coli was discovered in water samples in Flour Bluff in June, nothing was done but more testing, according to a well-informed source at City Hall. On July 23rd, more than a month after the first contaminated samples were found, four water samples taken at different parts of the city were found to be danger- ous—one with coliform bacteria, and three with E. coli.—and a city-wide water boil was ordered. Assuming that the source of the contamination in Flour Bluff was from private water wells, Van Vleck ordered the inspection of backflow preventers on all private wells in the area at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars, plus the intrusion upon hundreds of home and business owners, typically without their knowledge or permission. No source of contamination was found from private wells in Flour Bluff. On July 27th, Van Vleck issued an initial after-action report to then-City Man- ager Ron Olson, in which he stated, “The City is planning to conduct proactive (chlo- rine) burnouts every spring in anticipation of high temperatures during the sum- mer. These will be specific to the areas where lower chlorine residuals are observed throughout the system. The City has identified the need to develop a burnout plan for all of the 98 sampling locations throughout the system. This will provide additional actions in response to any future positive bacteria samples. These individual burnout plans will be completed by September 1, 2016.” Please read that statement again. This writer had to—several times. Let us break it down: (1) the first sentence contradicts the last sentence—the City is both planning “burnouts” in the spring but plans to be complete by September 1. (2) In sentence #2, the testing will be in specific areas in response to lower residuals observed through- out the system; (3) the burnout plan, a future event, will provide action in response to future bacteria samples. This is a word salad that would make the head swim of anyone attempting to listen closely enough to decipher its meaning. Perhaps it has no (Above) The Valero refinery asphalt terminal, which is operated by Ergon Asphalt, was the source of backflow contamination in December 2016 that led to a city-wide no-use order for the public water supply; (Below) Road construction on South Alameda Street being done to install larger capacity water lines needed to feed an inoperable, new water tower.