Nov. 30th's Texoma Area Paratransit System board of directors meeting proved eventful as Collin County Commissioner Chris Hill resigned from his position as TAPS board chairman. During the meeting, Sherman and Grayson county representatives called Hill divisive. TAPS board vice chair and Grayson County Judge Bill Magers said he was disappointed in Hill's lack of dedication to TAPS. Sherman representative Terrence Steele told Hill during the meeting he did not feel Hill was the right person to be able to put the organization back on the path to recovery and asked that Hill resign. Hill, who stepped in as chair after being asked to do so in October, said TAPS failed in its most central responsibilities: to serve the citizens of Collin County with excellence, and to carefully guard public assets and resources. "I am tired of fighting for TAPS and coming back to board meetings and hearing yet another report of the organization's failures," Hill said. "To say that I am not or Collin County is not committed in this is absolutely ridiculous. The deficiencies in this organization are too significant for us to overcome. Now that our debt has grown from $4 million to closer to $7 million, if I had $7 million, I wouldn't give it to this current staff and ask them to lead us out of this situation. I don't trust them to." By Tuesday night, McKinney City Council Member Chuck Branch had also resigned his position from the TAPS board. "We were asking honest questions that needed to be answered and they were not being answered," Branch said. "The board got on to me and Chris for badgering [interim Executive Director Tim] Patton with questions. That's one of those things I am not going to tolerate. As I continued listening to some of the board and heard their comments and complacency, it was clear that it was time for me to leave." Branch said he had a hard time finding information from the board and said Patton was withholding information from the board. "The board is aware that the organization is being investigated for fraudulent activity. They are aware that Tim Patton was the COO for three years prior to taking on his role is interim executive director. His job was solely for operations," Branch said. "He claims he did not know about the challenges; the overspending. He claimed that Brad [Underwood] told him not to tell anybody so he didn't. He has known about all of that information, yet I was able to produce a report showing the level of service the city was getting. I asked during Monday's meeting, 'How is it possible that someone who has been here for four months was able to get you this information but someone who has been here for three years can't?'" Fellow McKinney City Council Member Randy Pogue also resigned from his seat on the board. Hill said the organization is facing mounting debt including $1.7 million to the Texas Department of Public Transportation as well as additional debt owed to the state's Health and Human Services Commission. Hill said TAPS still owes final paychecks to more than 190 employees. Hill said he will recommend to the Collin County Commissioners Court that they immediately break away from TAPS and seek another transit provider. That discussion, Hill said, will take place Dec. 14. In an email sent by TAPS Dec. 2, there are still 194 former employees still waiting for final paychecks. Patton said getting those employees paid is at the top of his action list every day. "Those former employees are not forgotten," Patton said in the email. "They will be paid as new funds continue to flow to TAPS."