The Groves Insider

05/29/2026

Were you able to make the latest "Talk of the Town" meeting discussing water meters and transportation use fees (TUF)? If you made it, feel free to leave your comments and takeaways here. I was unable to attend but did have a couple of questions so I emailed the City Manager. I am also attaching the agenda from the meeting here, as well. There were no minutes taken nor was it video'd.

My questions (& concerns) were as follows:

1. What is the life of thew new water meters?
2. Since they will be installed at one time, what is the plan when these meters start to fail, possibly all at one time?

I asked these specific questions because back in 2009 we installed our current meters, all at one time. In 2019, they started to fail...all at one time. This created a very expensive problem for the citizens of Groves. The city (apparently) did not have a plan in place to replace these meters in stages, as they failed.

The response from City Manager Kevin Carruth is below:

"The meters have a 10-year full warranty, with an additional 10 years prorated after that, for a total of 20 years. Starting in year 15, there will need to be an intentional program of meter replacement over the next five years. Few, if any of us, will be with the City in 15 years, so it will be critical that the meter replacement program be included in long-range capital planning."

Interesting response, in my opinion. It sounds like, based on the response, that there is not a plan in place to address these exact same issues we are experiencing now, in the future. In fact, based on the City Manager's response, someone down the line will need to address the problem, because it won't be him. I appreciate the honesty. Unfortunately, in 15 years, we will still be paying for these new meters, as they start to fail. Remember? Repayment will be at $2.4 million a year for 20 years.

05/26/2026

📍 Town Hall Meeting
Tonight | 7:00 p.m. | Groves KC Hall
New water meters & cutoff valves discussion: don’t miss it.

05/14/2026

**I'm going to preface this post by saying this: the problems within the City of Groves were not brought on by the current City Manager. In fact, the current City Manager has really had his challenges since taking over. He walked into this city without knowing the full scope of the issues. Our City Council was in denial. For years, there has been zero accountability...zero. It's unfortunate, but we will pay the price for bad government for a long time. I'm not defending any of his actions & actually disagree with some of his decisions BUT, as someone that has looked into documents dating back for years, he has no other options that to charge citizens more, the writing was on the wall**

The posts we make here are not always the popular opinion. Many of you criticize what we say. We recognize that BUT, The Groves Insider has worked really hard to present FACTS, not rumor, in most cases. We have sent countless emails to the city to verify facts and share them with you. The City Manager always responds quickly and thoroughly. When appropriate, we share those documents to back up our statements. Let's be honest, MUCH of the information that YOU have regarding the city was posted here. Again, not always the popular vote but information we feel is important to the citizens of Groves. We work hard to provide complete and open transparency even though the city has not always done so.

So, recently, the City of Groves page has made numerous posts regarding the new water meters. It's the very first time EVER the city has done this. Again, NOT the popular opinion but it IS an effort. These posts have been decimated by the citizens. We have a water meter system that is in such utter chaos, disrepair and out of date that this new meter install is really the only solution. We all complain because our water bills are so out of whack. We all complain because bills have been estimated for years. We all complain because our bills are hundreds of dollars. Now we all complain because we don't want to pay for a complete new digital system. Unfortunately, we can't have it all ways. We NEED an updated water meter system so our bills will be accurate. Do you realize that about 5 years ago, our city mgr underestimated our water usage by $1.6 million?? We can no longer allow that to happen. The City of Groves has scheduled a meeting for Tuesday, May 26 at 7:00 pm to address your concerns and answer your questions. First time they have EVER done that. I do not envy them standing in front of that group of citizens. I truly hope YOU show up and get your questions answered. Again, you may not like the message The Groves Insider is sending BUT, being fully transparent...this is the only way.

At the City Council meeting Monday night, Glen Boudoin with Public Works discussed a recent audit his department did regarding extra garbage cans. There were more than 200 homes that had extra cans but were not being charged for them. This was costing the City of Groves more than $40k a year in lost revenue. While in the grand scheme of things $40k may not be much toward our overall bottom line but that is ONLY the garbage cans. A simple, small audit produced $40k back in revenue.

So, lost revenue with our water department and now lost revenue with our garbage cans leads me to, once again, suggest how a forensic audit should be considered. While they can be expensive, if it is determined other areas of our revenue are being shorted, that would pay for the audit, eventually. What other areas of our city are being under-valued? Starting next year, we have a $2.4 million payment for the Certificate of Obligations our City Council just initiated. An audit may uncover more revenue being lost from within the city and not continue to put the burden on the citizens.

One other thing, it is no secret that our small businesses are not getting the support they need from our city. Businesses open and then close pretty quickly. Businesses can apply for grants from our EDC but they are still fairly limited on how much they can get reimbursed because of caps on each category. Maybe an audit of our EDC program can revamp reimbursement options and increase support for our small businesses. Despite $579k each year from our EDC going to pay for our Fire Department, there is still money left over to consider increasing support for small businesses. I think more value needs to be placed on the businesses in Groves. Our entire make-up is made up of small business. We cannot survive without them.

All of this post is to encourage you to be realistic & open-minded. It's ok to be angry...I AM. I am angry we have been put in this position. We all now know the city has issues. We all now know it's going to cost us a lot of money to fix those issues. We all now know it's going to take years to get back out of this hole. We have been very close to rock bottom. I don't care how anyone tries to explain it...that is reality. Pretty much the only way is up.

YOU may not like what The Groves Insider has to say but we are the only one saying it out loud.

Send a message to learn more

05/11/2026

The City of Groves has been working on educating its citizens regarding the new water meters, the cut-off valve, etc. They are posting questions/answers multiple times a day. The City Council approved this expenditure to the tune of $5.7 million out of the $26 million Certificate of Obligation.

Keep in mind that in the past two years, we have already spent approximately $1 million to replace meters that are in need of repair due to faulty batteries, faulty meters, etc.

So, our questions are these: 1. Why replace ALL meters when many have recently been replaced? 2. Did the city go out for bids for this large scale project? 3. If not, why? 4. Who will be doing the work to install the new meters and is their rate of pay comparable to others in the business? 5. What is the life of the new meters and will they all fail at one time since they were all installed at one time? 6. What is the plan for maintenance and replacement, when that time comes.

Send a message to learn more

05/08/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AvGQW4y9t/

YOU asked for it. Information. After work hours at 7:00 pm. Open forum. This is your opportunity...

📍 Town Hall Meeting
May 26, 2026, | 7:00 p.m. | Groves KC Hall
New water meters & cutoff valves discussion: don’t miss it.

04/30/2026

Recently, the Groves Police Department made a post regarding a joint training exercise at the primary school. They trained with the Groves Fire Department. This training is extremely important and we support it, wholeheartedly. When Norman Reynolds was Marshal, I had a one-on-one meeting about this very topic and what kind of training our officers went through for this type of scenario.

Our Fire Department is solid. The firefighters in our Fire Department have been here a long time, have gone through extensive training and continue to do so. Each year, our Fire Chief goes before City Council and gives a synopsis of our fire department, length of service, hours of continuing education, etc. It's all there, in writing, so citizens can see the make-up of our department. There is NO QUESTION their experience, their dedication, etc.

Our Police Department is young. Even many of our promoted officers are young, in that position. I'm sure most people on the police force are there because they WANT to serve our community. No question. To them, this training is beneficial because 1/2 of the department has never experienced any type of hard violence while on the job. In the past 17 years, we have not seen any type of breakdown of our force, such as the Fire Department.

Under the social media post, a citizen questioned the training. They questioned how could there have been proper training if there isn't anyone with enough experience to be training? Under this comment, several people (some family) defended the fire fighters and their experience. It's what we do...we defend family. I do it, as well. Actually, it was a very good question despite the straightforward delivery. I thought it was extremly reasonable. Did another department come in to train? Our Fire Fighters...so much experience. No question because we all know based on annual reports from the Fire Chief. Our Police Department...how do we know? How do we know if they have the experience to train because no one has ever bothered to let the citizens know the make-up of our department. There has not been a report made to City Council describing the experience on our police force in at least 17 years. What training do our officers have? What certifications do they have? Who is training who? What IS the make-up of our police department? Instead of crucifying the poster, think if it's a reasonable question...it is.

Send a message to learn more

04/27/2026

So, last week, The Groves Insider listened in on a workshop with City Council regarding the streets around the Bechtel parking at the old Kmart building, in part, and The Groves Insider sat in on Zoom with the City Council meeting tonight. In BOTH cases, there were comments made by someone on City Council regarding lack of communication with the citizens. (go figure) In the workshop, both the City Manager and the Mayor "wished more citizens would have come to the workshop" so they could give input regarding the parking on residential streets. Tonight, Council Member Holmes admitted there was a lack of communication with the businesses regarding the use of dumpsters and one franchise vs leaving the ordinance the way that it is. The common denominator is "lack of communication" by the city of Groves. At what point will they STOP denying how valuable social media is and start using it to their advantage?? Communication within our city is very poor. I'm glad to hear our City Council is starting to recognizing this.

Send a message to learn more

04/16/2026

Brandon Holmes—Councilmember Ward 2 recently posted regarding water bill, water meters and sewer fees. His information is, of course accurate (mostly), but he doesn’t discuss the dollar amount. We’ve highlighted a few items:

“For many years, the city kept water and sewer rates flat”. I think the words “many” and “flat” are wrong. It’s easy to go back and look it up to see this isn’t quite accurate.

“In some years our utility systems were actually losing money and had to be supplemented by the general fund”. One specific year comes to mind where our water account had been “underestimated” by $1.6 million dollars!!! The city mgr (D.Sosa) admitted to underestimating water usage by $1.6 million. How do you underestimate a bill (while having 20+ years experience by $1.6 million???). While that was before Brandon Holmes tenure in council, the other council members should have been clued in, especially our Mayor who was a council member, at that time.

“Additionally the reserves will pay the loans aka “fund the debt service” for capital projects.” Current loan “certificate of obligation” is $26 million to be paid back in 20 years. Thats $2.1 million a year. Where do you think that money is going to come from?? Us…the citizens.

“The council recently approved a plan to replace residential and commercial meters.” It will cost the city $5.7 million for this plan. This is after they have paid to replace meters over the past couple of years at a cost to the citizens. It’s kind of like we’re being charged twice🤷🏻‍♀️.

“The billing manager is Lamar Ozley and the city manager is Kevin Carruth”. My best advice is to just go ahead and skip Lamar Ozley, he assisted in creating this mess, and go straight to Kevin Carruth. You may get the same result but you won’t be treated (maybe) as rudely as you would with Lamar Ozley.

Again, we appreciate the explanation by Brandon Holmes but let’s cut to the chase…what does it cost & how does it affect the citizens??

04/05/2026

T. U. F

Do you see that on your water bill this month? Transportation Use Fee. As city government will tell you, it's not a tax. It's a fee. Supposedly, it's legal. Other cities are doing it. So, our city manager initially and ultimately our city council approved this fee. It doesn't have to be voted on by the citizens BUT the citizens could have initiated a petition to require a vote...no one did. Apparently, it will go into a "separate account" and can only be used for street repairs. Every household will be charged differently based on how many drivers, cars, etc. are in the household. Businesses will be charged more because they have more traffic. The city hired a company, New Gen, to do the legwork in determining who pays what fee. That doesn't mean they contacted each home. That doesn't mean they knocked on your door. It means they look at records remotely to make that determination. Of course, they marketed themselves heavily. In fact, they will review this year after year. We have paid them ALOT of money, and will continue to do so, every single year. What a racket?

My fee is pretty minimal. Not going to lie. Unfortunately, I continue to have issues with our "Chief Financial Officer" being in control of this separate account. You remember...Lamar Ozley, who coded many many items to the wrong ledgers, on purpose...knowing they were wrong. He failed to report it. I have zero confidence in this separate account knowing that our "CFO" has control of money going into that account.

As it's been stated before, we have no options for our roads to be repaired unless we are "fee--d, taxed, borrowed, etc" to the nines because of poor choices made by prior city government, lack of oversight by our city council and zero confidence in Lamar Ozley. Even with this T.U.F. there won't be any road repairs for a long time.

From the City of Groves website:

https://www.cigrovestx.com/upload/page/0224/Transportation%20User%20Fee%20Presentation%20%20FAQs%2026030411.pdf

Send a message to learn more

02/09/2026

Tonight, City Council meeting at 5:00 pm. Several topics of interest. Item 10 is the rezoning of Exxon at 39th & Hwy 366. The station bought the house directly behind the station and is requesting to rezone it from residential to commercial in order to tear down the building and rebuild from the ground up, farther back. The Groves Insider attended several meetings regarding this and MOST of the residents on that block showed up against the request. Several of their concerns were additional street traffic on Dunn, which is already is extremely poor condition. In addition, no one from the Planning & Zoning, the owner of the station or the City even did a drainage study with regards to the poor drainage in that area so that was not even addressed. More concerns were the noise, additional foot traffic, etc. The city council is expected to approve this. While it states the owner has satisfied the concerns of the citizens, the drainage study was NOT addressed. IMO, it doesn't matter what concerns any citizens have, it doesn't matter to the city. For no one to address the drainage in an already fragile area just to bring in more revenue, is uncomprehensible.

Item #17: to accept a proposal from NewGen Strategies & Solutions to conduct a transportation use fee (TUF) feasibility analysis. This will cost the city $47,500. The city is proposing to incorporate a TUF of $1.00 per household in order to pay for this study. It states it will be a "temporary" fee for 12 months but, make no mistake about it, it will NEVER go away. It will only increase from here. Let's call it a "soft rollout".

Item #18: authorize a service agreements with Civil Inc. for a pavement and asset management plan. Basically, vehicles used by the city will have a device attached to them to "read the roads". This is cost us $7500 a year for 3 years. It will be paid for with the TUF listed above.

Item #19: establish a temporary TUF on utility bills to fund a feasibility analysis, street condition study and street maintenance. Let's be clear, street maintenance will only happen if there is any money left over, which it is stated there probably won't be. You can read about this on pages 193-197 of the City Council agenda on the city website. There is ALOT of information to read through. Lots of fluff and circumstance.

Again, NONE of the items listed above will pay for street repairs. Based on the makeup of the street a 7 mile section will cost anywhere from $780k to $12.750 million. JUST A 7-mile STRETCH. We have about 76 miles of streets in Groves with only 36%(ish) in "good" shape.

Finally (& maybe most important), there is a post, as required by law, on the City of Groves website "notice of intention to issue certificate of obligation". Read through that. It states that on March 9th the city will vote to authorize the issuance of Certificates of Obligation (COs) in the maximum of $26mm, maturing over a period of years not to exceed 40 years. IF the city takes 40 years to repay this debt, we will have paid $41,365mm based on an "assumed" interest rate of 5% (although that rate is not guaranteed). In the meeting minutes from the previous meeting, it was stated the City will pay this out over 20 years. The fund manager stated the city is good to pay back $1.7mm a year if we took out a CO for $21mm. No where is it stated the city can afford to pay back $26mm at a cost of $2.4mm a year. I certainly hope the citizens realize that the money to pay this back will come from taxes and increased utility bills. The TUF cannot pay this back unless we have "some leftover" and use some on streets. We need to stay diligent that the city does what it stated and pay this back in 20 years despite the opportunity for a 40-year note. At this point, the increased cost to live in Groves is a done deal. Absolutely nothing can be done about that. We have our past admin to thank for that. It is our duty to make sure they are doing what they say, going forward.

**On a side note, there is an invoice for $24,523 for legal council regarding EPA violations for Star Lake that dates back years. The city needs to offer full transparency and share what is happening with that case, how much more will it cost us, what fines have we incurred or will incur and how much more in attorney fees are expected.

Send a message to learn more