As 2025 is well underway, the Board would like to provide updates regarding several ongoing projects within the District, as well as introduce our newest Board members.

MUD#88 serves Legends Trace, Wright’s Landing, and Bristol Lakes, which includes managing our access to clean drinking water, monitoring storm water drainage, maintaining our wastewater treatment plant, and securing our community through contracts with local law enforcement.

District Map – Link

One key component with MUD#88 is that we share much of our infrastructure with MUD#89 (Legends Ranch) and Spring Creek Utility District (SCUD), which includes use of our water well facilities. Our District must work alongside these Districts as partners, and as such it can be challenging to accomplish our goals, which we do through our Joint Facilities Advisory Committee (JFAC). It is important to understand this as we discuss things like our Drought Contingency Plans.

The MUD#88 Board oversees all matters of the District, and Board Directors are residents within our District. We pay the same taxes, drink the same water, and utilize the same facilities. It is important to us that our tax dollars are spent conservatively, that our water is clean to drink, our neighborhoods are safe to walk, and that we properly plan for the future.

Within the last year, we have had a few Board Directors leave the Board due to their work schedule or moving away from the District. When this happens, the Board appoints a new Director to fill the vacancy. When the Board Director’s terms expire, elections are held for residents to vote, like other public elections. However, if the election is not contested (more candidates than positions), the election can be cancelled in order to save the District the costs of managing the election.

Please read the following to be introduced to the current MUD#88 Board of Directors:

Ryan Tsamouris, President – Ryan and his family have lived in Montgomery County since 2007, moving into Legends Trace in 2013, and then Bristol Lakes in 2020. He served on the Legends Trace HOA Board for three years, appointed as President for one year before moving homes, and is currently presiding over the Bristol Lakes HOA. He was elected to the MUD#88 Board Director in 2018 and was appointed President in 2024.

Ryan has worked in Information Technology for almost 20 years, starting in healthcare IT and then moving into oil & gas. He currently works in cybersecurity as a Cloud Security Architect for a major petrochemical company. He holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Engineering degrees from Texas A&M University.

Ryan and his wife, Denise, have three young children, keeping their lives as busy as ever. His hobbies include volunteer work, writing, and enjoying downtime with the family. His current volunteer activities include working with the Education for Tomorrow Alliance, the Conroe ISD Student Health Advisory Council, and the occasional Watch DOGS at his kid’s schools.

Ryan’s top priorities for the District are ensuring community safety through support and coordination with local law enforcement, and maintaining a fiscally conservative approach to the District that enables efficient operations while reducing the tax burden on homeowners. You can learn more about Ryan via his professional bio here.

Email: [email protected]

Kent Doerries, Vice President – Kent and his wife, Shelby, have lived in Wrights Landing since 2017 and in Montgomery County since 1996. Kent has served the community through the Legends Trace Homeowners Association Board of Directors for three years before being elected to the MUD#88 Board of Directors in 2021. 

Kent has been deeply embedded into the community for the better part of a decade, spending nine years in public education as a teacher in Conroe ISD, of which he is also a graduate. In 2022, he moved into business and technology consulting, specializing in federal and state tax credits and incentives. Kent holds a Bachelor of Music from Southwestern University and a Master of Business Administration from Texas A&M University.

Kent and Shelby have a daughter, Jacqueline, who is just learning to take her first steps. In his spare time, Kent serves as a director on the Texas A&M Mays School of Business MBA Advisory Board, where he is working to enrich the current curriculum and develop opportunities for meaningful engagement between current and former students. You can also find Kent at a Porsche Club of America event or in the yard on the weekend!

In serving the District, Kent’s most important items are improving pedestrian mobility and safety, continuing to keep tax rates low, and ensuring long-term sustainability for water acquisition and retention. You can learn more about Kent via his professional page here.

Email: [email protected]

Jeremy Davis, Secretary

Jeremy has been a proud resident of Wrights Landing since April 2018. As a passionate marathoner and endurance sports enthusiast, Jeremy values the importance of perseverance and commitment, both in his personal and professional life. He is the proud father of a daughter who will be starting kindergarten in the fall of 2025.

With nearly seven years of service in the District, Jeremy has made significant contributions to the community, particularly with his expertise in lawn care and pest management, helping neighbors maintain beautiful, thriving yards.

Professionally, Jeremy works as a manager at a local automotive dealership, where he oversees a team of 40 individuals dedicated to providing quality vehicles for those with limited credit options. His focus on teamwork and high standards aligns with his approach to community service, always keeping the best interests of residents in mind.

Jeremy is committed to ensuring that our District remains a safe, thriving community, particularly for its many young families. His work on the Board emphasizes creating safe access between neighborhoods to ensure a connected and secure environment for everyone.

Email: [email protected]

Michael Liberto, Assistant Secretary

Michael and his wife, Lauren, have lived in the District since May of 2019. He has been on the MUD#88 Board since December 2024.

He was a former professional baseball player with the Kansas City Royals organization until 2013. He then moved to the Spring/Woodlands area to pursue a full-time career in the insurance industry.  He currently owns and operates his own independent insurance agency franchise, having six employees to meet the needs of customers, recover from the unexpected, and realize their dreams.

In his spare time, he loves to spend time with his wife and two daughters, travelling, doing anything sports related, but most of all, to golf.

For the District, the most important priorities for Michael is to help our neighbors by providing the best service to the District, while also making sure it is managed in an efficient, cost effective, and successful manner.

Email: [email protected]

Larry Douty, Board Director

Larry and his wife, Nedra, have lived in the District since 2012. He has served on the Legends Trace HOA board since 2023, currently serving as Vice President. He was appointed to the MUD#88 Board in February 2025.

Larry worked in Information Technology for 39 years with a major oil company as a computer operator, analyst, engineer, team lead, supervisor, and project manager until he retired in 2019 as a network engineer. He holds two associate degrees, one in Data Processing and one in Drafting.

Larry and Nedra have two children and six grandchildren. He enjoys building computers, working with his hands, giving back to the community, and scuba diving, which he is a certified scuba diver. He gets the most pleasure spending time with his family, which there is never a dull moment.

For the District, the most important priorities to Larry are to manage costs, remain efficient, meet the expectations of our residents, and continue to reduce rates while maintaining the highest levels of integrity and ethical standards.

Email: [email protected]

Each month, the Board of Directors meets to discuss open projects, issues, and to make decisions on District activity. If you are interested in attending meetings, please see the following information (https://www.mcmud88.org/meetings/). Here are the current major items for our District:

Tax Rate & Exemptions

Our tax rate continues to trend downwards. Since 2016, our total rate has lowered from $1.37 to $1.07 per $100/value. This has meant considerable savings for homeowners, and we estimate this will continue to lower as we make progress towards paying off debts and with the introduction of commercial property as part of the Declaration Church buildout (more on that in a moment).

We also recently introduced our first tax exemption, which started in 2024 with a $10,000 exemption for those of age 65 and over. For 2025, we have increased this exemption to $15,000. Those who qualify for this exemption do not have to take any actions. These will be automatically applied to your tax assessment.

Even with our rate trending downward, we do recognize that our property taxes are higher than other municipal districts around us. This is mainly due to our District development only being completed within the last five years, and that we have not had any commercial property to offset taxes from homeowners, as we see with MUD#89 or Spring Creek Utility District. This will improve as development debts are paid down, and businesses move in next to the church.

Church Property Development

The Declaration Church purchased the 82 acres of green belt property behind Wrights Landing and Bristol Lakes in 2022, and they are in the process of developing the land for both their church facilities and several small commercial businesses.

The Board’s primary concern with this area is drainage development and that the church maintains as many trees as possible along the fence line adjacent to homes. We have requested the church convey the District a Landscape Buffer Easement along their western boundary line to maintain the tree line between the District’s residents and the Church’s development(s). We have also expressed interest in taking ownership of the unused land that they are not able to develop for the purpose of maintaining more options for green spaces within the District (including the ~27-Acres along the west side of Birnham Woods Drive, north of Elan). This is still in discussion and pending agreement by the church.

One benefit of the development of this property is that it will bring in small businesses. These businesses will pay taxes, which can help offload the tax burden for District homeowners.

As of February 2025, the church development team continues with the preparation of the civil site drawings and Drainage Impact Analysis for the project. It is our understanding the project is still under design, although we have seen activity where the church is selling certain parts of the property for the businesses interested in developing there. This may include businesses like doctor’s offices, a daycare, a gym, and potentially even recreational facilities such as a restaurant with putt-putt (TBD).

Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) Replacement

Our District has one wastewater treatment facility located at the end of Cedarwood Trace Drive, behind Wrights Section 2 and Bristol Lakes. You can see it in the middle of the map image above. This facility manages our waste, removing contaminants from sewage so that it can be safely discharged downstream.

The current wastewater plant was designed and built to be temporary by the original Developer, and it requires a monthly rental payment for us to utilize it beyond its original lease term, per our lease agreement. In 2023, the Board issued bonds to build a new permanent concrete wastewater treatment facility, which will be built immediately east of the existing WWTP facility.

As of February 2025, the build of the new facility is underway, at 7% completion:

Water Drainage Issue Between Wrights Section 3 and Pavilion

Since 2023, the Board has been attempting to resolve the ongoing water drainage issue between Wrights Section 3 and the Wrights Pavilion. Normally, this would be a simple project. However, that stretch of land is where two major natural gas pipelines are buried, and the drainage option we have chosen requires coordination with Montgomery County, as it will require us to connect the drainage into the existing infrastructure under Birnham Woods road.

We are actively working towards completing this project within 2025, coordinating with the County and the owner of the pipeline, Kinder Morgan. Currently, the construction contract has been approved, agreements with Kinder Morgan are nearing completion, and preconstruction meetings have begun.

Birnham Woods Sidewalk Extension and Pedestrian Bridge

Partnering with MUD#89 and Spring Creek Utility District (SCUD), we are in the process of designing sidewalk extensions to connect Elan Boulevard down to Highway 99, allowing access for MUD#88 residents to more easily walk or bike to nearby businesses. Part of this includes the building of a pedestrian bridge that runs parallel with the existing vehicle bridge going over the drainage channel and connecting a sidewalk from the drainage channel to Legends Run Drive.

This initiative was driven by Board Vice President Kent Doerries, who provided great ideas for how to partner and fund with our neighbor districts to make this a reality.

These improvement projects will begin in 2025, and further enhancements are being discussed to better connect our neighborhoods into these sidewalks such as potential median sidewalk additions and signage.

Stage 2 Drought Restrictions

As you likely know, our District, along with our joint water facility districts (MUD#89, SCUD), have been under Stage 2 drought restrictions since late 2023. Under Drought Stage 2 Restrictions, there is a multiplier on the tiered water structure for residents who use above the monthly minimum (7,000 gallons per month), and also establish mandatory rules for use of water while under these restrictions. This means our water usage is charged at a higher rate if we go over the monthly minimum.

There is often confusion for why we must maintain these restrictions, especially with us receiving a deluge of rainfall throughout 2024. The short answer is that drought restrictions are not determined by how much rain we receive, but by the available water in our groundwater wells, specifically the Evangeline and Upper Jasper Aquifers that our wells are tapped into.

Rain in our area does not directly and immediately recharge the groundwater aquifers. In addition, a majority of the rainfall from large/intense rain events runs off to nearby bodies of water; therefore, only a fraction of the rainfall actually contributes to recharging of the aquifers.  The main area for recharge of the Evangeline Aquifer is northern Montgomery County, near Lake Conroe. The Evangeline Aquifer in our area was substantially impacted during the droughts in 2022 and 2023 and is slowly recovering.

Our water wells are currently our only source of drinking water, but we are working to diversify our water sources and alleviate the demand on the Evangeline Aquifer, as discussed more in depth below. 

To begin, we highly recommend you watch this video about how aquifers work (watch on 1.5x): LINK

As you learn in the video, there are two types of aquifers, unconfined and confined. Both the aquifers that our water wells are tapped into, the Evangeline and Upper Jasper aquifers, are mostly confined. This means that our aquifers take longer to recharge due to them not being connected to lakes or streams that receive the water from rain. They can take a long time to refill.

In 2022 and 2023, we had severe droughts that impacted the entire region. Water usage was high across the entire 77386 zip code (and County overall), and our aquifer recharge has been very slow. Basically, our aquifers have not yet recovered from the previous drought years, which is why we remain in Stage 2 drought restrictions. However, the static water level is improving as you can see with the static water level noted here (dark blue line):

Note that Well #2 is one of three wells our District receives water from, but all three show similar trends since 2022.

To counter the potential of future droughts, the Joint Facilities Advisory Committee (JFAC), with MUD#89 and SCUD, has been working on ways to offset our water usage:

1. We are adding a new groundwater storage tank (GST) to Water Plant No. 2 off Elan Blvd. This will add more capacity for us to pull water from the Upper Jasper aquifer. Out of our two main water wells on Elan, we pull most of our water from the Evangeline aquifer, which is the aquifer impacted the most from the droughts in this area. The second well uses the Jasper aquifer, which has a higher amount of Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) that must be first aerated within our storage tanks. Due to the time it takes to complete the aeration process, the amount of water we can pull from Jasper is very limited. This project will allow us to pump and aerate more Jasper water at one time prior to mixing with the Evangeline water, thus alleviating the Evangeline well and increasing our groundwater capacity.
2. The JFAC is currently negotiating with the San Jacinto River Authority (SJRA) to bring in surface water from Lake Conroe to supply our three districts, providing us with an alternative water source along with our groundwater. Surface water would help offset our use of groundwater during periods of severe drought. This project will take several years to complete, but initial agreements with the SJRA have been executed. As of January 2025, we are proceeding with a topographic survey, and currently the SJRA is validating the waterline alignment and connection point for the proposed project, which should be completed by May 2025.

That’s it for now! If you have any questions, the Board is available via our normal public meetings each month, or you can email [email protected]. You can find meeting information or other details about MUD#88 at our website here: https://www.mcmud88.org.