User:Louis/Williamson-Travis Counties MUD No. 1

A water-and-wastewater district outside Austin sued four of its own residents in September 2025 to bar them from attending public meetings, contacting district contractors, and posting about the district online. The four defendants include a sitting member of the district's own board of directors and a former director. A Williamson County district court dismissed the tortious-interference claim under the Texas Citizens Participation Act, ordered the district to pay defendants' attorney's fees, and the district has appealed that ruling.

The district

The Williamson-Travis Counties Municipal Utility District No. 1, abbreviated WTCMUD 1, was created in 1985 and serves water and wastewater customers in Cedar Park and adjacent unincorporated areas straddling the Williamson-Travis county line northwest of Austin. Day-to-day operations are contracted to Inframark, LLC, and the district's general counsel is Cole Konopka of Coats Rose, P.C., 2700 Via Fortuna, Suite 350, Austin.

The five-member elected board, as of May 2026:

• Beth Jones, President (term ends Nov 2026)
• Hanoi Avila, Vice President & Treasurer (term ends Nov 2026)
• Christopher Rocco, Secretary (term ends Nov 2028)
• David Flores, Assistant Secretary (term ends Nov 2026)
• Carrol Norrell, Assistant Secretary (term ends Nov 2028)

The lawsuit

Williamson-Travis Counties Municipal Utility District No. 1 v. Linda Fabre, Tina Flores, David Flores and Sarah Teale, Cause No. 25-1224-C480, was filed in the 480th Judicial District Court of Williamson County. The cause style and court are recited verbatim in the district's own posted board minutes and agendas, including the September 17 follow-up special meeting and every subsequent regular meeting agenda from August 2025 forward. The Texas Scorecard piece characterized the filing as occurring "in September" 2025. The 480th District Court's current judge is Terence M. Davis, appointed by Governor Greg Abbott in September 2024.

Two of the four named defendants have personal connections to the board that sued them:

• David Flores is one of the five sitting WTCMUD 1 directors. The other four directors voted to sue him.
• Linda Fabre is a former WTCMUD 1 director who served from November 2020 to November 2024. The district's own 2025 audit lists her under "Former Treasurer."

The other defendants are Tina Flores and Sarah Teale, both district residents. Per the Texas Scorecard reporting, the residents operate a watchdog site at muducation.org, which publishes district contracts, billing errors, deed-enforcement records, Open Meetings Act complaints, bond-application drafts, and other public records categories.

What the petition alleged

According to Texas Scorecard, the petition claimed Fabre and Tina Flores "charged the podium" at a board meeting and that Teale "called in a false police report about armed men at a meeting." The petition also pointed to the defendants' posts on neighborhood Facebook pages, on Nextdoor, and on muducation.org.

The relief the district asked the court to grant included an order to "ban the residents from attending meetings, contacting contractors, or even posting online about the district."

TCPA dismissal

The defendants moved to dismiss under the Texas Citizens Participation Act, Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 27. The TCPA lets defendants move for early dismissal of lawsuits that target speech, petitioning, or association on a "matter of public concern." The Texas Supreme Court has construed that phrase broadly to include resident criticism of local developers and contractors, as in Adams v. Starside Custom Builders, LLC. The 480th District Court granted the defendants' motion as to the district's tortious-interference claim.

A defendant who wins TCPA dismissal "shall" be awarded court costs and reasonable attorney fees under § 27.009(a)(1) (mandatory), and the court "may" impose sanctions under § 27.009(a)(2) sufficient to deter the plaintiff from filing similar actions (discretionary after a 2019 amendment). The court ordered the district to pay the defendants' attorney fees. The specific dollar figure has not been disclosed in the board minutes reviewed for this draft, but under the Texas Public Information Act, Government Code § 552.022(a)(16) makes attorney fee bills payable by a governmental body subject to public disclosure, with limited redaction for privileged communications only.

The dismissal was partial. Per the February 18, 2026 minutes, the district's assault and false-imprisonment claims (tied to the alleged podium-charging and police-report incidents) survived the TCPA motion and the defendants have appealed those rulings separately.

The retroactive ratification

The lawsuit was filed in September 2025 naming David Flores as a defendant, but the board had never voted in open session to authorize suing one of its own members. On January 30, 2026, the four other directors voted to retroactively ratify that part of the suit. Per the minutes:

Director Avila stated for purposes of transparency and accountability the Board would like to ratify the Board's initial motion to file suit to include Director Flores as a named defendant along with Sarah Teale, Linda Fabre, and Tina Flores. During this conversation, Director Norrell alerted the Board that Ms. Fabre had stuck her tongue out at her during Director Avila's motion.

The ratification motion was made by Director Avila, seconded by Director Jones, and approved by Avila, Jones, Rocco, and Norrell. Director Flores was not present at the meeting.

Under the Texas Open Meetings Act, Government Code §§ 551.143 (walking quorum) and 551.144 (criminal penalty for closed meeting), final action or litigation authorization taken outside a properly posted open meeting is voidable. Texas courts have generally held that a later ratification in a properly posted meeting takes effect only from the date of that new meeting and does not retroactively cure the prior illegality.

Appeal

After losing the TCPA motion, the district did not let the case end. Director Avila told residents at the March 18, 2026 meeting that the district is appealing the dismissal of its tortious-interference claim, though not the fee award itself:

Director Avila stated that the appeal was from the denial of the tortious interference claim, not from the amount of damages to be paid to the defendants.

To prevail on a tortious-interference claim in Texas, a plaintiff must prove a valid existing contract, a willful and intentional act of interference, proximate causation, and actual damages. Resident criticism of a contractor by a government body's constituents is generally protected First Amendment activity, and Texas law requires interference to be "independently tortious or unlawful" before liability attaches.

The 4-to-1 board

Director Flores has been the lone dissenting vote on a string of motions documented in the board minutes. At the June 23, 2025 special meeting alone, Flores voted "no" on:

• Authorizing Coats Rose to draft a clear-bag and metal-detector policy resolution for board meetings (passed 4-1)
• Terminating the contract with Ranger Guard, the district's prior security vendor (passed 4-1)
• Hiring an outside attorney specializing in deed-restriction enforcement (passed 4-1)

On the deed-enforcement vote, Flores's stated reason was that "the Board was making decisions outside of meetings."

The other four directors have used subsequent agendas to formalize limits on Flores's conduct as a director:

• The October 15, 2025 agenda included new business item 8(b): "consider Resolution Limiting Directors From Engaging in Direct Services With Whom the District Conducts Business," and item 8(c): "discuss director roles and responsibilities, including discussion of importance of directors not performing electrical work on behalf of the District or performing jobs that otherwise would be performed by District subcontractors."
• The November 19, 2025 agenda included new business item 7(a): "adopt Resolution concerning ultra vires acts taken by directors."

Flock Safety cameras

At the June 23, 2025 special meeting, district resident David Dalrymple used public comments to challenge the board over a proposal to install Flock Safety automated license plate reader cameras. Per the minutes:

Mr. Daylrmple then addressed the Board regarding discussions at the 23 June 2025 meeting associated with the installation of FLOCK camera/license plate readers in the District. He summarized his belief that ALPR camera systems track whereabouts of the vehicles and captures license plate numbers, and he felt the Board gave no reason for the interest in this potentially invasive camera system. He summarized his knowledge of the City of Austin's cancellation of their contract of the FLOCK camera system after alleged unauthorized access and sharing of information with other agencies.

The City of Austin ended its Flock Safety contract in June 2025 after a city audit found that more than 20 percent of police department searches of the Flock database lacked the required justification, alongside concerns about potential data sharing with outside agencies.

Linda Fabre, who would later be sued, was also present at this meeting and used her public comment to "summarize her opinion as to Director Flores' vilification by the Board and the Board's actions against him."

Konopka on residents' emails

At the March 18, 2026 meeting, district counsel Cole Konopka told residents that asking the board questions by email costs them money:

Mr. Konopka stated that residents should attend the meeting rather than send an email with their questions to avoid duplicate questions and additional legal fees charged to the District.

Director compensation, 2024-2025

From the district's audited financial statement for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025:

Director	Role	Fees of office	Expense reimbursements
Beth Jones	President	$8,177	$1,124
Hanoi Avila	Vice President & Treasurer	$7,198	$0
Christopher Rocco	Secretary	$7,198	$864
David Flores	Assistant Secretary	$4,199	$0
Carrol Norrell	Assistant Secretary	$6,188	$0
Linda Fabre	Former Treasurer	$663	$0
Kelley Masters	Former Secretary	$1,105	$0

The audit also notes that the district's board has set a $7,200 statutory cap on annual director fees of office. President Jones's $8,177 in fees during fiscal year 2025 exceeded that cap; per the audit, the overage "is to be withheld from future per diems." The audit does not break out legal-services spending by matter, so the share of district funds spent on the SLAPP suit and the pending appeal is not separately disclosed.

Outstanding items for further reporting

The following items are documented in board minutes or the resident document archive but have not been independently verified for this draft:

• The exact dollar amount of attorney fees awarded to defendants under Texas Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 27.009(a)(1).
• The text of the district's original petition, including the specific statutory hook for the speech claims.
• The full docket and orders in Cause No. 25-1224-C480, available through the Williamson County district clerk at https://judicialrecords.wilco.org.
• Any Williamson County Sheriff's Office removals of residents from WTCMUD 1 board meetings (referenced as a document category at https://www.muducation.org/public-documents under "WCSO Meeting Removals").
• The current status of the Flock Safety contract negotiation.
• The text of any "ultra vires" resolution adopted on November 19, 2025.

Contacts

• District website and board contact: https://wtcmud1.org
• District counsel: Cole Konopka, Coats Rose, P.C., 512-541-3593
• Resident document archive: https://www.muducation.org/public-documents
• Existing press coverage: Texas Scorecard, September 22, 2025