Anonymously Wondering If J.D. Granger Is Paid Enough To Direct America's Biggest Boondoggle

Someone with the extremely common name of "Anonymous" made an interesting comment to a blog post from a day or two ago, with the comment pointing out how many taxpayer dollars Kay Granger's son, J.D., is being paid for the extraordinary job he has been doing for years and years and years of being the Executive Director of the Trinity River Vision Authority, also known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, but more commonly known, nationally, as America's Biggest Boondoggle.

The comment from Anonymous...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Bridge's 2020 Possible Project Schedule":

John Dean Granger IV was paid $192,816 in 2016 according to a Public Salaries Database in the Star-Telegram. That's more than the Tarrant County sheriff made. JD Granger also made more than County Judge Glen Whitely who presides over Commissioner's Court.

Public Salaries Database

That Public Salaries Database link above was included in the comment from Anonymous, and took us to a list of what public servants in Tarrant County are being paid to serve the people of the county in the illustrious commendable way, some of them, serve the public.

The salaries of the public servants working for the public on the TRWD (Tarrant Region Water District) are surprising, at least to me. As in I am surprised at how many public servants are being served so well, salary wise, by the public employing them to run this public agency which delivers water to the Tarrant Region.

The top salary earner in the TRWD, Jim Oliver, earns $304,990.40 a year.

Some of these public servants working for the TRWD are quite notorious, and have managed to keep their high paying jobs, despite the notoriety. Noteworthy notoriety such as being caught flagrante dilecto in the TRWD headquarter's parking lot making whoopee with a TRWD employee who was not this public servant's wife. I think that particular TRWD public servant got a raise after this shenanigan.

And then there was this other TRWD TRVA employee, married at the time, who had himself a fling with a subordinate co-worker, a fling which made some of his TRWD co-workers so uncomfortable details of this ongoing assignation were relayed to me, among others, including details, such as details of overnight junkets, to far away locations, like overnight hotel stays in Dallas, with the junket on the TRWD, well TRVA, expense account, because, you know, they were in Dallas to check out what Dallas was doing with its version of the Trinity River Vision.

Let's look at the Public Salaries Database's list of the top TRWD salary earners...

Oliver, James M. $304,990.40 General Manager TRWD

Thomas, Robert A. $236,475.20 Deputy General Manager TRWD

Buhman, Daniel L. $192,816.00 Assistant General Manager TRWD

Granger IV, John D. $192,816.00 Executive Director - TRVA TRWD

Buhman, Daniel L. $192,816.00 Assistant General Manager TRWD

Granger IV, John D. $192,816.00 Executive Director - TRVA TRWD

Marshall, David H. $188,323.00 Engineering & Opp Supp Director TRWD

Newby, Sandy         $182,000.00 Finance Director TRWD

Christie, Linda         $177,091.20 Governmental Affairs Director TRWD
Cleveland, Wesley $172,120.00 Integrated Pipeline Director TRWD

Beason, Darrell E. $168,272.00 Operations Division Director TRWD

Christian, Robert S. $156,270.40 Real Property Director TRWD

Weaver, Edward M. $150,155.20 IPL Program Technical TRWD

Maguire, Charles M. $149,344.00 Director of Information Services/CISO TRWD

Owen Jr., Wayne P. $139,360.00 Planning Director TRWD

Miller, Ronald B. $138,091.20 Assistant Operations Director TRWD

Ickert, Rachel A. $136,510.40 Water Resources Eng Director TRWD

ehrig, Jason         $133,910.40 Infrastructure Eng Director TRWD

Coffey, Jeffrey M. $133,764.80 Geospatial Services Manager TRWD

Hatcher, Michael T. $133,681.60 Cyber Security Operations Specialist  TRWD

Cabrera, JL        $132,329.60 Project Management Office Manager TRWD

Is this the norm in other areas of America, to pay this many people this much to operate a water district?

When I lived in Mount Vernon one of my neighbors on the cul-de-sac on which I lived was the manager of the PUD (Public Utility District), which is the Mount Vernon/Skagit County version of TRWD. I don't think he was paid around a third of a million bucks a year. Then again, Skagit County is much smaller, population-wise, than Tarrant County, with that water district run without the scandals and boondoggles which seem to plague Tarrant County's TRWD and its subordinate agency, the TRVA, which J.D. Granger has so ineptly mismanaged.

Continuing on with that train of thought, thinking that if the PUD in Skagit County came up with a bizarre economic development flood control scheme, called the Skagit River Vision, altering the part of downtown Mount Vernon which the Skagit River passes through, with the Skagit being an actual river, not a glorified ditch, to supposedly turn that section of Mount Vernon into the Vancouver of Washington, well, such nonsense is not imaginable, for multiple reasons in addition to the fact that two Vancouvers are within a relatively short drive to the north and south of the proposed imaginary Skagit River Vision.

Ironically, during the same time frame in which J.D. Granger's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle has been boondoggling along Mount Vernon has sort of completed its own version of a Skagit River Vision, with the Skagit River, as it passes past downtown Mount Vernon, passing by a sort of Riverwalk, connecting downtown Mount Vernon directly to the river, with large plazas, a walkway and other attractive attributes. All that and a new Dutch designed flood wall which can be quickly put in place when the river goes rogue and threatens downtown Mount Vernon.

The Skagit River Vision was accomplished without abusing eminent domain to steal citizen's property. I do not know if the locals voted for the Skagit River Vision or if the funding came via other means, such as simply paid for out of other local revenue streams. I do know that no local congresswoman's son was hired to executively direct the Skagit River Vision in order to motivate his mother to secure federal funds to pay for the project.

I also am fairly certain if the Skagit River Vision boondoggled along, for years, with little to show for the effort, with that congresswoman's unqualified son paid $192,816.00 a year, well, the Skagit Valley locals would not put up with such outrageous nonsense.

Such is how the world operates in modern, democratic, progressive, well-educated locations in America.  Locations in America served by an actual newspaper practicing the time honored practice called investigative journalism...