The well of acrimony between some Lakeway Municipal Utility District board members and General Manager Richard Eason ran dry as the board voted July 14 to accept his resignation that he tendered June 18.

Board member Kay Andrews abstained from the vote.
In his letter, Eason wrote that he felt he was being forced out after 17 years of service at LMUD.
“I have been told flat out that I am no longer wanted here, and I even received a letter of recommendation from [board member] Jerry Hietpas last March, encouraging me to go out and find another job. [Board President] Karl Ansbach suggested I be looking for another job,” Eason wrote.
In anticipation of the board not renewing his contract at his annual review scheduled for August, Eason had asked board members to discuss a new contract or separation package June 9.
Ansbach explained at that meeting that the board would wait until Eason’s review to make any determinations on his future employment.
“I am personally disappointed that during the last 12-18 months, I have not been supported by some members of the board. Their actions and statements against me have created a stressful environment, and made it difficult for me to be as effective as I would like to be,” Eason wrote.
He said the hostile environment was affecting him physically. He sought medical attention and received insomnia medication, he wrote in his resignation letter.
Eason will receive $61,445.70, which is equal to six month’s of his current base salary.
His resignation will be effective at the conclusion of his remaining 24 vacation days.
He said he plans to start work this fall at Cayman Islands governmental entity.
Board members voted Wednesday to assign general manager duties to Ansbach on an interim basis as the process begins to find a replacement. He will receive $300 per week, subject to Texas Water Code and LMUD policies.
The decision to part ways with Eason was hard to swallow for some board members.
“Reluctantly, yes,” was board member Tom Priddy’s response when Ansbach sought a second to the motion to accept Eason’s resignation.
Before meeting in closed session to discuss Eason’s employment and voting to accept his resignation, board members heard from several members of the public who were in support of the general manager.
Ike Herrick of Lakeway said Eason was instrumental in elevating LMUD’s standards and operations.
“I think he is largely responsible for pulling this MUD up by its bootstraps … ,” Herrick said, adding that Eason had become a political lightning rod for the City of Lakeway. “In my opinion, and also as chairman of the [Engineering and Operations] Committee, it would be a great loss to the Lakeway MUD, should Richard Eason leave his position as general manager. It would be a serious mistake on behalf of the board.”
He urged board members to make Eason a deal that would retain his services until he was eligible for early retirement while developing a successor.
“Stop nitpicking the man. Let him do his job, and he’ll make you all look good,” Herrick said. “No one can fill Richard Eason’s shoes, not a single member of this board. Some of you may think you can, but you can’t.”
Cole Rowland, co-chair of the district’s Community Advisory Committee, reminded board members of LMUD’s early days when it had a difficult relationship with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (then the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission) and was spraying sludge on local golf courses to raise a stink of a different kind.
“I think we are very much indebted to Richard for the job he has done correcting a very bad situation,” Rowland said.
Eason’s wife, Lynne, thanked the city of Lakeway for all of the good years they their family enjoyed here, but made it clear that few options remained for her husband to remain at LMUD.
“He hasn’t seen a choice that was clear to him which would allow him to stay in a work environment in which he could do what he does best. It hasn’t been that way for awhile, and that is a very sad situation,” Lynne Eason said. “I’m sorry for all of the stuff that has come up with this MUD, all of the bad publicity, all of the infighting, all of those things which hurt not only the MUD, not only the employees but the community in which they work.”
LMUD committee member P.A. Penley asked the board to look at the impasse’s origins.
“I think we should learn from our mistakes and go back and see what caused this. One thing was, a [takeover attempt of] the MUD by the city. The MUD spent $200,000 in this effort. The city hasn’t said what they spent,” Penley noted. “Certainly, a lawsuit well-publicized didn’t have much help for him.”
Eason won a defamation of character suit against Andrews on June 25 in Travis County 261st Judicial District Civil Court. The jury awarded him $91,000 in damages.
LMUD board members also received a report from the district’s independent counsel, Austin lawyer Martha Dickie, in closed session regarding Eason’s suit against Andrews.