
Who is running for Tarrant Regional Water District board in 2025? Here are the candidates
Editor’s note: This story will be updated Monday, Feb. 17, for candidacy filings filed and processed after Feb. 14.Four candidates will vie for three seats on the Tarrant Regional Water District’s board of directors in the May 3 election.Tarrant County residents can expect to see at least two new faces as incumbent board members James Hill and Mary Kelleher did not file for reelection. The filing period opened Jan. 15 and closed Feb. 14. Board President Leah King will seek a third term on the board, according to the water district’s candidate portal. Alongside her on the ballot will be North Texas investor and realtor Skylar O’Neal, educator Andrew Brinker and building inspection executive Johnathan Killebrew. The candidates are running for three at-large seats on the board, which has a total of five seats. The top three vote getters will win the positions. Hill, who was elected to the board in 2017, was appointed as vice president in 2021. Kelleher served two terms on the district’s board and is now running for Fort Worth City Council’s District 5 seat.Incumbents C.B. Team and Paxton Motheral were elected in 2023 and will not be up for election until 2027. Mark your calendar for these key voting dates:
April 3: Last day to register to vote
April 22: Last day to apply for a mail-in ballot
April 22: Early voting begins
April 29: Early voting ends
May 3: Election DayYou may check your voter registration status here.King, who has been on the board since 2017, is president of the JPS Foundation, which raises funds for services offered by JPS Health Network. She previously served as president and CEO of United Way of Tarrant County and sits on the boards of Cook Children’s Medical Center and Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center.O’Neal has led the North Texas-based Summit Cove Realty for 10 years. She volunteers with several local civic organizations including the Ralph Lowe Energy Institute board at TCU and as a board member of the Fort Worth Opera. She is also actively involved in philanthropic efforts through the Brogdon Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization focused on education. She graduated from Texas Christian University in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in communication studies, business and fashion merchandising. Brinker worked as a science teacher at Paschal High School and currently teaches at the Texas Academy of Biomedical Sciences and Tarrant County College. As an educator, he led the Trinity River Turtle Survey that brought students to the river to collect data on water contaminants and their impact on turtles. He was named Environmental Educator of the Year by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in 2020. Killebrew has worked for Metro Code LLC for 24 years, with 15 of them as its president. The company offers building inspection and plan review consulting services across North Texas. Killebrew, who serves on the city of Fort Worth’s Development Advisory Committee, received a bachelor of science in construction management from Utah Valley University. Board members are responsible for receiving reports from the district’s general manager and adopting an annual budget. The board is also responsible for adopting and regularly reviewing an overall strategic plan that reflects the district’s objectives such as water supply, flood control, and recreation opportunities along the district’s land and the Trinity River.To vote for a water district seat, voters must be Texas residents, reside in the water district’s tax district and be 18 or older on the first day of the term to be filled by candidates. Voters can check their eligibility by visiting the water district’s interactive voting boundaries map or checking their tax statement for the code 223 Tarrant Regional Water District.Candidates will be invited to speak at a forum April 17 co-sponsored by the Fort Worth Report. For more information about the election and voting, visit the water district’s election website.Nicole Lopez is the environment reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at nicole.lopez@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
Comments (0)