Abbott appoints seven to water authority board
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott appointed seven members to the Sulphur River Basin Authority board of directors Tuesday.
Kelly Mitchell of Texarkana, Gary Cheatwood of Bogata and Chris Spencer of Hughes Springs are the new appointees, with terms set to expire Feb. 1, 2023.
Previous board members Brad Drake and Wally Kraft, both from Paris, were reappointed to serve terms set to expire Feb. 1, 2019.
Board members Bret McCoy of Omaha and Katie Stedman of Mount Pleasant, who also previously served on the board, were reappointed for terms set to expire Feb. 1, 2021.
Mitchell is the president
and chief operating officer of TEXAR Federal Credit Union and serves as secretary and board member of Riverbend Water Resources District and is an ex-officio member of the Region D Water Planning Group.
He is a member of the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance and Wilbur Smith Rotary Club and president of the Wright Patman Chapter of Credit Unions. Mitchell has also served as the chair of Harvest Texarkana and the Texas A&M-Texarkana Alumni Association. He earned a bachelor of business administration degree and a master of business administration degree from TAMU-T.
Drake, who was appointed to the board in 2007 and then reappointed in 2013, is the CEO of Lamar Companies LLC and is a former board member of the North Lamar Education Foundation. He has a bachelor of business administration degree from Texas Tech University.
Kraft, who was reappointed in 2013, is a veterinarian and the owner of Animal Health Center in Paris. He is the Texas delegate to the American Veterinary Medical Association and former president of the Texas Veterinary Medical Association. He also serves as a board member of the Boys and Girls Club and Farm Bureau. He was honorably discharged from the United States Air Force and earned a bachelor of science degree and doctor of veterinary medicine degree from Kansas State University.
McCoy was appointed to the board in 2016. He is a financial adviser s and serves on the board of the Morris County Farm Bureau and Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church parish council. He earned a bachelor of science degree in agriculture development from Texas A&M University and a master of science degree in agriculture from Texas A&MCommerce.
Stedman, who was appointed to the board in 2016, is president and CEO of the Mount Pleasant/ Titus County Chamber of Commerce. She previously served as the director of operations at Prepared 4 Life and is a member of the Lions Club and the Rotary Club in Mount Pleasant. She earned a bachelor of arts degree from The University of Texas at Austin.
Cheatwood is an equipment operator for Pat Donelson. He is president of the Cuthand Volunteer Fire Department and an archeological steward for the Texas Historical Society. He previously served as a member of the Region D Water Planning Group and was honorably discharged from the Army National Guard. Cheatwood earned a bachelor of science degree in agricultural education from East Texas State University in Commerce.
Spencer is president and CEO of Crump Foods, Inc. He also serves as secretary of the Linden Economic Development Corp. and is past president of the Hughes Springs Chamber of Commerce. Spencer attended The University of Texas at Tyler majoring in management and minoring in economics.
Abbott named Spencer as head of the board.
All appointees must take an oath of office and get confirmed by the Secretary of State, SRBA administrator Nancy Rose said. They must also undergo board training as outlined by S.B. 2140, approved during the last session of the Texas Legislature. Rose said it was not clear yet whether SRBA would hold its regular Feb. 20 meeting in Mount Pleasant.