City commissioners recently gave city officials permission to retain the law firm of Lloyd Gossellink Blevins Rochelle and Townsend Attorneys in Austin to represent the city in obtaining permits from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to use water in Lake O' the Pines.

"It's something we've been discussing (seriously) for a couple of years," City Manager Frank Johnson said during a telephone interview Tuesday. He said the city needed another avenue to supplement its water source. He said the city's permit establishes how much water the city can take and a maximum rate which the city can take it at any given moment.