50 THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINE • Late Spring 2019 TheCoastalBend.com Follow Up CONFIRMED REPORTING: DROWNED IN INCOMPETENCE The immediately preceding story on the series of debacles at the City of Corpus Christi Water Department was posted on TheCoastalBend.com in advance of print publication. Within three hours of its release, we received an email from Kim Wom- ack, Communications Director for the City, which read: Hello Editor, Please forward information regarding your correction policy and how you handle inaccurate information. The article (with no byline) titled Drowned in Incompetence citing a “confidential source” has factual errors. Thank you in advance for the information. Kim Womack, Communication Director, City of Corpus Christi. Our reply read as follows: We will be happy to correct any errors. Please reply with the relevant information regarding the story. Thank you. A week and a day later we sent a follow up, which read: Following up your email from eight days ago, in which you claimed factual errors in our story, Drowned in Incompe‑ tence. Please reply with your list of corrections so we can look into them and publish any necessary corrections. Thank you. The following afternoon, Ms. Womack replied: Thank you for following up. Staff continues to work on correction informa‑ tion. There are a great deal of inaccuracies and it has taken more time than originally anticipated. I hope to have them to you by Friday. Twenty days later, having received nothing in terms of corrections to our story, we sent the following email to Ms. Womack: It has been one month since your original email claiming factual errors in the Water Dept. story, and 20 days since you told me that staff was working on corrections. We print the final story at the end of the week. Your claim of factual errors, absent any evidence, is, in and of itself, newsworthy and I will include these email in the final printed version. I am more interested in address‑ ing and correcting the “factual errors” claimed in your email. I will need your informa‑ tion by end of day Thursday. My suspicion is that these errors are being claimed by one and only one staff member, but we shall see. I eagerly await your response. As an editorial note, your email claims ‘a great deal of inaccuracies’ and that we would have your information by that Friday. The inefficiency and tardiness of The City’s han‑ dling of this simple PR matter, now 18 days late and close to missing a deadline, sort of feeds the theme of the story of itself. I hope I can tell our readers that my assess‑ ment is incorrect and that efficiency and timeliness can be expected from The City. Of course you know, the vast majority of us taxpayers expect late and missing in most City of CC matters. Again, we shall see. Many thanks! At 7:13 a.m. the following morning, we received a final email from Ms. Womack: Editor, The City of Corpus Christi will not be providing information on the inaccuracies in your story based on advice from our legal counsel. The decision to decline the opportunity to correct Drowned in Incompetence by the City of Corpus Christi’s legal department, despite Kim Womack’s repeated claims of a “great deal of inaccuracies,”in fact, confirms the factual integrity of our reporting, as well as the voracity of our confidential sources at City Hall. The week after the water department story was published online, City Council unani- mously approved a motion directing the City Manager to distribute a copy of the “City Employee Ethics Policy and the Fraud Awareness and Prevention Policy,”which provides whistleblower protections to City employees who come forward with infor- mation on corruption at City Hall. Staff of any and all government agencies anywhere in South Texas should know that The Coastal Bend Magazine shall serve as your voice, while protecting your identity, in the effort to investigate and accurately report on corruption and incompetence that costs taxpayers untold millions every year.