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KINGWOOD - Preston County Commissioners on Wednesday briefly discussed issues at Preston County Public Service District No. 1.
Commissioner Samantha Stone told her colleagues that the Public Service Commission indicated there was gross mismanagement at the PSD but nothing prosecutable. "They (the PSC) are the ones that make the final decisions," she said. "They have ordered corrective action to be taken."
Stone was referring to a series of recommendations offered by PSC staff on July 20 and agreed to on Monday by an administrative law judge.
The staff recommendations and the ALJ’s order stemmed from complaints filed by PSD1 customers Penny Nicholson and Michelle Hatch alleging various matters of wrongdoing, incompetence and violations of state code by the PSD1 board.
Staff found no criminal misconduct but offered recommendations "designed to strengthen the district's governance, enhance operational oversight, improve financial accountability, and ensure compliance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements."
Stone said one of the corrective actions was tied to PSD1 paying taxes on items bought. She said she encouraged the PSD board to use the P-card - the state purchasing card program - and asked County Administrator Nathan Raybeck to help set things up so they wouldn’t have to pay taxes.
Stone - a regular attendee at PSD1 board meetings, who’s offered the board advice and given an ear to customers with grievances - also said she discussed the board hiring Steptoe & Johnson to write an employee policy for the PSD. The board did just that during its Tuesday meeting when it voted to hire Steptoe & Johnson to develop and finalize an employee handbook.
Commissioner Don Smith said at one time Kingwood Water was interested in taking over PSD1 but board members were not interested.
Along with the two customer complaints handled in the ALJ’s order, an August 2025 PSD1 rate-hike request filed with the PSC drew 55 customer complaints, spanning such issues as misuse of funds, board incompetence and misconduct, and even inconvenient meeting times (currently 4 p.m. one Tuesday per month).
The rate case was completed in April, with PSD1 residential customers seeing their monthly bill increasing, on average, by 78 cents per month.
"People need to flood these meetings," new board member Rex Sisler said on the Preston County PSD1 Customers Facebook page. "The meeting time of 4 p.m. sucks because most people work as I do, and it’s hard to get to these meetings. And I honestly feel that’s the reason for the 4 p.m. time. The more inconvenient time means less people showing up. That place is a (expletive). I’m a new board member and I see that. Whenever possible, attend these meetings. The more people, the better."
A complaint aired at Tuesday’s meeting alleges discrimination, saying a female chief operator currently makes $6.23 less per hour than a male chief operator did in 2022. The complaint was raised in the meeting but nothing formal has been filed with PSD1 board for action.
The next meeting of the Preston County Commission will be held at 9:30 a.m. August 11.