Brief History of the District

On February 19, 1966, the voters of Titus County authorized the creation of Titus County Fresh Water Supply District No. 1 (referred to herein as “District”) under the provisions of Chapter 4, Title 128, RCS of Texas and acts 1967, 60th Legislature, regular session, Chapter 221, the boundaries being the same as that of Titus County. At this same election, the voters elected the first Board of Directors of the District, and these were B. M. Sandlin, A. C. Anderson, Harold Smith, John F. Cook and Buck Self. In another countywide election on August 9, 1966, the voters of Titus County authorized the issuance of $2,225,000.00 in tax and revenue bonds to be used for the construction of a lake on Cypress. On May 13, 1974, the Texas Water Rights Commission entered an order changing the District to a municipal utility district and it now derives all of its powers and authorities from Chapter 54 of the Water Code of the State of Texas.

The Water Development Board of the State of Texas was a co-owner in the lake, furnishing approximately 60% of the finances. The overall cost of the project was estimated at $28,000,000.00. The City of Mt. Pleasant and Industrial Generating Company (now Luminant) contracted for the purchase of water from the lake, and certainly, these contracts were a big factor in getting the lake built. The City of Pittsburg will be permitted to take water from the lake under an agreement between District and Northeast Texas Municipal Water District. The Board of Directors named the dam as Fort Sherman Dam in commemoration of a fort built in 1839 near the crossing of F.M. Highway 21 on Cypress Creek, and the lake as Lake Cherokee Trail due to the fact that the trail of the Cherokee Indians in traveling back and forth from the Nacogdoches area to Oklahoma crosses the lake where F.M. Highway 21 crosses. However, at a later date, the Board changed the name to Lake Bob Sandlin in honor of Board member B. M. Sandlin who worked so long and so hard to bring this project to a reality.

Joe W. Sandlin, Jr., President - 15 years
C. Larry Cox, Vice President - 25 years
Jerry Boatner, Secretary - 11 years
Dianne Owens, Director - 7 years
Paul O. Meriwether, MD, Director - 4 years

**Years of service as of September 24, 2023**

Darrell D. Grubbs, Executive Director
dgrubbs@tcfreshwater.com

Lyndee Rodgers, Administrative Assistant
lrodgers@tcfreshwater.com

Nicolas Fierro, Police Chief & Code Enforcement
nfierro@tcfreshwater.com

Jordon Smith, Police Officer
Zane Olson, Maintenance
Tyler Shumate, Maintenance