Commissioner criticizes Montgomery County judge's action on toll road contract

Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack, left, says he is fed up with what he believes are unethical practices of County Judge Craig Doyal concerning Doyal's votes on contracts with Halff Associates considering the county judge's business partnership with Halff Vice President Bobby Adams. less Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack, left, says he is fed up with what he believes are unethical practices of County Judge Craig Doyal concerning Doyal's votes on contracts with Halff Associates considering the ... more Photo: Photo By Jason Fochtman Photo: Photo By Jason Fochtman Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Commissioner criticizes Montgomery County judge's action on toll road contract 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack said he is fed up with what he believes are unethical practices by County Judge Craig Doyal, and made his stance known via a Commissioners Court vote Tuesday as well as comments afterward.

Noack was the lone "nay" in a 4-1 vote approving a change order that added $385,000 to the county's $1.987 million contract with Halff Associates Inc. for work on the Texas 249 toll road project. The change order calls for additional services needed for the right-of-way acquisition assistance, storm drainage design and off-site detention pond analysis and design for the Texas 249 toll road project.

The county originally awarded Halff the general engineering consultant contract on the Texas 249 toll road project in January 2015.

According to Doyal, the Texas Department of Transportation changed its drainage requirements for road construction. Halff, he said, was able to develop a plan to use the current system and add an off-site detention pond to meet those new requirements on the section of road near the Montgomery-Harris County line resulting in big savings to the county.

"The drainage pipes we have in there now are adequate if we just add some retention on some property we already own ... and not have to tear it out at a cost of $5 million," Doyal said. "It's a whole lot cheaper than replacing all that underground drainage out there.

"To me, it makes perfectly good sense. I'll spend $385,000 to save $5 million any day."

While Noack doesn't question Halff Associates' qualifications, he said due to Doyal's personal and business relationship with Bobby Adams, a vice president with Halff Associates, the county judge should recuse himself from the discussion and vote. Doyal and Adams are longtime friends who co-own Spring-based holdings company WS&G LLC. They started it in 2010 and are part-owners in another business venture.

Doyal has been involved in every vote regarding Halff Associates' approximately a dozen contracts worth around $3 million since that time.

"I've tried giving Doyal the benefit of the doubt and stayed quiet. I just can't any longer," Noack said. "I never expected Doyal to do the right thing; I've served with him for almost four years now. Integrity is often defined as doing what's right when no one is looking. If you can't do what is right when the public is watching, there's no telling what's done in the back room. Hence his current legal and ethical issues."

"Whether his business with 'Bobby Jack' Adams is illegal or not isn't the point. Bobby Jack works for Halff. Doyal awards millions of dollars in contracts to Halff. Bobby Jack and Doyal have a business together. You do the math. It stinks. The public knows it stinks. But as usual, Doyal is blind to the fact that this is wrong."

In addition to voting on all contracts for Halff, Doyal had not filed any conflict-of-interest disclosures with the county regarding his business relationship with Adams until last week, when Doyal filed 10 disclosure forms with the county Dec. 12 including his business partnership but did not file one regarding Halff Associates specifically.

The Texas 249 project is being funded through a $10 million loan from Montgomery County to the Montgomery County Toll Road Authority.

Doyal said he is not recusing himself from the vote on advice from the County Attorney's Office. And a January 2015 County Attorney's Office opinion supports the county judge's nondisclosure decision related to voting on contracts involving Halff Associates.

"... under the facts you (Doyal) have given us, it does not appear that you have a substantial interest in Halff; therefore you may participate in a matter concerning a contract with Halff as if it were any other matter before commissioners court," County Attorney J D Lambright's office stated in its opinion.

However, Lambright clarified the almost two-year-old opinion Wednesday night.

"I think it's important to be very clear just what the January 2015 memo issued by my office said. As we stated at that time, based solely on 2 or 3 pages of information that was provided to my office, it appeared from a purely legal standpoint, the County Judge was not required to abstain from voting on matters involving the contract with Halff," Lambright stated in an email to The Courier.

"Nonetheless, it is always the opinion of my office anytime an elected official has a question as to whether a conflict of interest may exist, I would err on the side of caution and disclose that potential conflict and abstain from voting to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. Of course, it is then up to each elected official to decide how he or she proceeds."

During Tuesday's Commissioner Court meeting in open session, Doyal also denied accusations that officials with Halff Associates are funding his legal defense regarding his criminal case on a charge of conspiring to circumvent the Texas Open Meeting Act regarding negotiations for the $280 million road bond passed by voters in November 2015. A grand jury also indicted Precinct 2 Commissioner Charlie Riley, Precinct 4 Commissioner Jim Clark and political consultant Marc Davenport on the same charge.

During the court's discussion on the Halff change order, Doyal asked James Baker, with Halff Associates, who was sitting at the back of the commissioners courtroom, how much money the company has paid to Doyal's attorney Rusty Hardin.

While Baker said he "didn't have that number," Doyal said "none."

Hardin told The Courier Wednesday he has not billed Doyal for his services. Doyal confirmed that when he receives that bill, he will use his campaign funds to pay for his defense as permitted by state law.

Trial for Doyal, Clark, Riley and Davenport is scheduled for March 27.