Former Tarrant water board president gave Panther Island boss extra $60K in paid time off
Days before leaving office, and two months after he directed a paid leave exception for the outgoing general manager, the Tarrant Regional Water District’s former board president made a similar arrangement for Panther Island executive J.D. Granger.
According to documents obtained through a public information request, former board president Jack Stevens wrote an internal memo on May 13 — more than a week and a half after he lost his reelection bid, and five days before he left office. In the memo, Stevens directed water district staff to make an exception to the paid leave policy for “the current Development Director of TRWD.”
In an email chain, staff members clarify that the title references Granger. The exception allows Granger to bank 1,560 hours of paid time off, 520 beyond the maximum outlined in the district’s policy.
At Granger’s hourly rate, that’s more than $60,000 worth of extra time. It’s unclear how Granger would use that extra paid time off, although district policy allows for employees to cash in excess time off — capped at a $10,000 payment per year — and to roll excess time off into their retirement accounts.
According to water district documents, Granger is paid about $242,000 a year for his role as the executive director of the Panther Island/Central City project. That project, which has a price tag of more than $1 billion, has been ongoing for more than 15 years and has been spearheaded federally by Granger’s mother, U.S. Rep. Kay Granger.
After issuing the exception memo, Stevens followed up with a staff member on May 17, one day before he left office, and asked them to “please implement the exceptions in my Memorandum dated May 13, 2021.”
The exception that Stevens wrote for Granger is strikingly similar to an exception he wrote two months earlier, for now-retired general manger Jim Oliver.
That exception, which the board of directors voted unanimously to revoke on Tuesday, added more than 2,000 extra hours of paid time off into Oliver’s account. At Oliver’s hourly rate as general manager, that exception would allow him to cash in on more than $300,000 in post-retirement compensation.
Board president Leah King on Tuesday described the exception to Oliver as “ill-advised” and potentially “unlawful.” However, Oliver’s lawyer told the Star-Telegram that the exception was made following district policy, which includes a clause that paid leave exceptions can be made.
Lawyers for the Tarrant water district are conducting an “inquiry” into the exception made for Oliver. It’s unclear if the exception made for Granger is also included in that inquiry.
King and the other board members have not made any public comment on the similar exception Stevens made for Granger.
Granger and King could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday.
Luke Ranker contributed to this report.
