Kruppa Payment Sparks Discussion About the County Surveyor Position

Fayette County Commissioners voted 3-1 to reimburse County Surveyor Gene Kruppa $300 for the use of his personal cell phone during a meeting last Thursday, April 27.

Pct. 1 Commissioner Jason McBroom voted against the payment. Commissioners Drew Brossmann, Harvey Berckenhoff and Luke Sternadel voted in favor. County Judge Dan Mueller recused himself from the vote, which he later said was due to Kruppa serving in his campaign during Mueller’s run for County Judge last year.

“I don’t believe it was a legal payment because to be a county surveyor, you have to have a current surveyor license,” McBroom said.

According to the Texas Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, Kruppa’s license expired on Dec. 31, 2020. According to the Texas Natural Resources Code Chapter 23, “To be eligible to serve as a county surveyor, a person must be a registered professional land surveyor.”

“I think Gene has been a great surveyor, but I have to go by what I interpret the law to be,” McBroom said.

County surveyors were once an important elected office in the days before land was settled. According to the Texas State Historical Association, “Duties included surveying land for the county and recording and examining field notes of surveys made in the county. With the disappearance of open land the importance of the office decreased, and in many counties the office has remained vacant.”

Kruppa was up for election last year, but he did not run for election, and neither did anyone else.

“When someone does that, they’re considered a holdover candidate,” said assistant county attorney Blake Watson. “Mr. Kruppa is still technically our County Surveyor even though he was not on the ballot.”

Watson said the County considered abolishing the office, which requires a vote in the general election. During last year’s budget proceedings, the Commissioners did not allocate any funds for the office, with the expectation that the office would be abolished. Previously, they allocated funds for a cell phone stipend to the County Surveyor.

The Commissioners intended to place a proposition on last year’s ballot to abolish the office, but County missed a deadline to do so.

“Because that election didn’t happen, and Mr. Kruppa was still our holdover candidate, there was that $300 reimbursement for the County Surveyor’s cell phone,” Watson said. “Since it was not a budgeted item, we had to have a discussion and vote on approval for that.”

Watson said the County Surveyor does not receive a salary from the County. If any survey work arose that required the services of the County Surveyor, Watson said the officeholder would charge a fee for those services.

Commissioners voted to approve the payment following a lengthy executive session that was closed to the public. The meeting agenda stated that the closed session was called to “deliberate the appointment, employment or duties of an employee, with final action to be taken in open session.”

McBroom said he believed the discussion should have taken place in open session, just as the Court does for every other payment.

“I don’t know why it was in executive session,” McBroom said.

The Record attempted to reach Kruppa for comment on this story via the phone number and email listed on the Fayette County Surveyor’s Office webpage. His cell phone is not listed on the page. The phone number listed was the office number for BEFCO Engineering of La Grange.

An email sent to the address listed was returned as undeliverable.