by BRAD ROLLINS
What was billed as a debate Tuesday evening between proponents and opponents of last year’s successful ACC annexation election turned out to be a pep rally for Kyle dentist Ray Wolbrecht’s ongoing lawsuit challenging the voters’ verdict.
A month after Hays CISD voters overwhelmingly opted to join the community college’s taxing district last November, Wolbrecht sued in Hays County court, arguing that ACC did not accurately inform voters of the full tax impact they could face by joining the taxing district, as they are required to do by law.
After the case was transferred to Travis County, Wolbrecht was rebuffed by a judge who dismissed the lawsuit when the plaintiff failed to post a $3 million bond to cover the cost of delays in issuing bonds to pay for a new campus in Kyle. Earlier this month, the state’s Third Court of Appeals said it did not have jurisdiction to hear Wolbrecht’s appeal.
Wolbrecht said ACC’s maneuvering to have his lawsuit consolidated with one the college district filed in Travis County was an attempt to end-run the system designed to “keep the merits of the lawsuit from being discussed in open court.”
“I’m standing up here today because I’m pretty angry. ... I’m angry because I’ve seen what the rich and politically connected and powerful have done to us,” Wolbrecht said.
Wolbrecht has filed for a rehearing in appellate court but conceded on Tuesday that he is unlikely to prevail. He said, “We’re probably going to get trounced in appellate court.”
In calling Tuesday’s meeting, organizers said, “There’s a big ACC ‘town hall’ meeting with opposing sides ‘talking it out.’” It also referred variously to a “ACC-Wolbrecht ‘head-to-head’ meeting” and a “showdown in town square.” But the only two people who spoke on behalf of ACC at the meeting, including Hays Free Press Publisher Emeritus Bob Barton, were members of the audience who chimed in on their own accord.
Asked by one of the 25 or so audience members why the event was billed as debate instead of a monologue, Wolbrecht initially suggested that the Hays Free Press misreported the nature of the meeting and that the responsible reporter had agreed to run a correction. Then a spokesperson working for Wolbrecht chimed in to say that he had invited ACC officials to attend and they had declined.
In a written statement issued before the meeting, ACC spokesperson Brette Lea said that no one from ACC had been asked to attend. The statement said, “ACC was not included in planning any event to discuss Mr. Wolbrecht’s lawsuit. ... By not including ACC in the discussion and using inflammatory rhetoric like ‘head to head’ and ‘showdown’ indicates a disingenuous intent and seems more of an attempt to gain publicity.”
The statement went on to say that Wolbrecht’s lawsuit caused the college district to miss out on the federal Build America Bond program, resulting in a smaller campus in Kyle by about $10 million and a delayed opening date.
Lea said, “Mr. Wolbrecht and his attorneys have lost at every level of the court system ... Mr. Wolbrecht has filed another motion, a request for a rehearing, thereby causing yet more delays.”
