While we usually look skeptically at rulings from Travis County, this one struck home. On Thursday, August 28, Travis County District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble ordered the City of Austin to remove 13 proposed charter amendments from its November ballot.
It seems the Austin City Council only allowed members of the public to comment once on the entire package of charter amendments. The judge ruled this violated the Texas Open Meetings Act (TOMA). The public should have an opportunity to speak on each of the amendments individually.
The Bastrop City Council did exactly the same thing that caused the judge to rule the Austin City Council violated TOMA. It allowed members of the public to comment only once on the entire package of twelve (12) amendments in Ordinance 2024-25 rather than on each individually.
Interestingly, the lawyer who filed the successful lawsuit was Bill Aleshire. You may recognize the name because Mr. Aleshire is Mayor Lyle Nelson’s lawyer fighting City Council members Kirkland, Plunkett and Meyer recall effort.
The Bastrop City Council should take note. They should start paying better attention to the Texas Open Meetings Act. They should stop meeting as a voting-majority and have all voting-majority discussions in public, notwithstanding that the current Charter allows it.
The Bastrop City Council approved putting Proposition “K” on the ballot which would prohibit such meetings by changing the quorum requirement. They should abide by that now rather than waiting.
PLUS: Is it an inside job?
This article is reprinted here with permission from IndyTexans.org, the website of Independent Texans PAC because it has to do with recent activities of certain Bastrop City Council members targeting the duly elected mayor, costing taxpayers an exorbitant amount of money.
On Saturday, local FOX news ran a nearly five-minute piece with none-other-than Bastrop recaller, City Councilman Kevin Plunkett who has a difficult time explaining why they didn’t comply with the law. Oddly, the reporter didn’t even call the Mayor for comment.
Recall ringleader, City Councilman John Kirkland who is up for reelection next May, gathered 850 of the 1600 recall signatures. Kirkland must have been busy this news day, so Council Member Kevin Plunkett, who gathered an additional 450 signatures, appeared. He was clearly uncomfortable spinning their latest recall story: their failing petition is stuck due to “technicalities.”
This is another false claim. The petition is actually stuck because they didn’t follow the law.
Might the claimed “technicalities” be that municipal petitions in Texas are directed at City Councils to remove members and therefore sitting council members carrying those petitions is a major conflict of interest? FOX failed to report this.
Might these so-called “technicalities” be that these politicians, in order to gather 1600 signatures, had to make false claims involving “misuse of public funds”? So far, this fact seems to be lost in the local media shuffle.
Might these “technicalities” be minor errors in their petition? That’s an easy one. None of the recall signatures were invalidated for “technical” problems. Texas petition laws protect our right to petition from minor technical errors being used to disqualify signatures.
In point of fact, the recaller’s “technical errors” aren’t technical at all.
The recallers failed to meet a key provision in the Bastrop City Charter that puts recall petitions – thank goodness – to a modest truth test. On each page, someone has to swear under oath that what they are signing is true. And, that can’t be the petition circulator. This truth test was not met on 90 of their 96 pages.
Oops!
What the recallers have done is use city funds to attack their targeted political opponent, Mayor Lyle Nelson. Their intent was to trap him in a political quagmire that has, to date, cost the city at least $137,070 of taxpayer dollars.
Who at City Hall helped Kirkland and Plunkett? Certainly, we already know that city employees approved the petition format. City Council Member Cynthia Meyer helped gather a few signatures, as did some former Council Members: Jimmy Crouch and Deborah Jones.
If the recallers keep pushing the issue, could it be that we’ll find this is a very inside job? Are some of those involved getting paid to work at City Hall itself? How much city business isn’t getting done properly due to petition business?
Keep your eye on Bastrop City Hall tomorrow night, August 27, starting at 6:30 pm. You can get a ringside seat by showing up at City Hall. Or, you can watch it on the city’s YouTube or Facebook page.
Reach me, Linda Curtis, at Independent Texans PAC at 512.697.8809 or
[email protected]
Note: Feel free to reach out to FOX to ask them at least give the Mayor a chance to tell his side of the story.
SPECIAL City Council Meeting
MONDAY • August 19 • 5PM
Deadline for Charter changes to be voted on if they’re to be on the November 5 ballot. See discussion below.
The agenda for Tuesday’s City Council meeting is online. You can read just the agenda or the entire packet (agenda with complete documentation).
Item 14D, Charter Changes, is critical to open government.
What are the recommendations that will affect open government? We discuss them below, but you can read through them all and determine if others are important to you.
You can comment on them via the City Council comments form. It’s best to fill it out online, indicate that you wish to speak, and also include your comments in case you don’t make it to the meeting, can’t get in, or change your mind about speaking. (See our previous post on this topic.)
PLEASE NOTE: The City Council can ignore the recommendations of their appointed Charter Commission. (See our previous post on this topic.)
QUORUM: By a vote of 11-2, this modified amendment was APPROVED by the Commission.
Prop. 5: Shall Section 3.13 of the Charter be amended to specify that 3 members of the Council shall constitute a quorum?
THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT CHARTER CHANGE! Under the current Charter, a voting majority of three Council members can meet in private. This amendment would stop that, making a quorum four members for all City Council meetings, but three members at all other times. A voting majority could no longer meet in private, outside of a public meeting.
TWO READINGS: By a 12-0 vote this amendment was REJECTED by the Commission.
Prop. C: Shall Section 3.15(b) of the Charter be amended to authorize the city council to waive by an affirmative vote of four (4) or more Council Members the requirement that an ordinance be read in two separate meetings?
The point of two readings is so that the public has an opportunity to know what the City Council is considering and come to a future meeting to be heard on the subject. The City Council appointed Charter Commission REJECTED this proposal.
P&Z MEMBERSHIP: This amendment was REJECTED by the Commission.
Prop. I: Shall Section 12.01 of the Charter be amended to provide that the number of Planning and Zoning commissioners shall be established by ordinance?
[NOTE: In the Commission’s second meeting, a motion was made to leave the number of Planning and Zoning Commissioners as stated in the Charter. It was approved on a vote of 12-0.]
In the Commission’s second meeting, a motion was made to leave the number of Planning and Zoning Commissioners as stated in the current Charter. This motion was approved on a vote of 12-0. The City Council appointed Charter Commission wants the P&Z membership left as is.
BOARD APPOINTMENTS: By a vote of 11-1, this amendment was APPROVED by the Commission.
Prop. 1: Shall Section 3.01 of the Charter be amended to clarify that the Mayor appoints candidates to serve on boards (committees, commissions, task forces, etc.) and the Council confirms the appointment?
This will provide clarity given imprecise language in Sections 3.01(5) and 3.08. The City Council appointed Charter Commission APPROVED this proposal. An alternative to allow 2 City Council members to appoint was REJECTED.
CHARTER REVIEW: By a vote of 10-1, this modified amendment was APPROVED by the Commission.
Prop. 4: Shall Section 3.09 of the Charter be amended to mandate that the City Council must appoint a Charter Review Commission every six years?
This mandates that a citizens Charter Review Commission be appointed to conduct the assessment. The City Council appointed Charter Commission APPROVED this proposal.
Tuesday, August 13, brings another Bastrop City Council meeting. While the focus of the news often is squarely on national politics, the decisions of your local city council directly affect your day to day life.
So, how to keep up? First is to download and read the agenda. Agendas must be online 72 hours prior to the start of a City Council meeting. They typically are up on Friday afternoon before a Tuesday regular meeting.
Go to CityofBastrop.org. Click “Government”, then “City Council”.
From the left menu on the City Council page, select “2024 Agenda & Minutes” to review the agenda. Under “2024 Bastrop City Council Meetings”, select “Click here for Agenda and Packet“.
Amendments to the City Charter will be on the August 13 agenda, so if you want to read through the current City Charter, select “City Charter (pdf)”.
To register your wish to speak, or register your opinion on an agenda item, select “Council Request to Speak Form“. It’s fillable and can be submitted online.
DID YOU KNOW? If you right click a link on your desktop browser, you can choose to open it in a new tab.
There are two ways to speak at a City Council meeting.
For issues not on the agenda, you can choose to speak for up to 3 minutes on the topic of your choice under “Citizens’ Comments”.
For issues on the agenda, indicate the agenda item number in the box and whether you will speak in favor of or in opposition to that item.
You can also choose not to speak but to register your support or opposition to an agenda item.
You can download the agenda as a PDF, print it, and make notations on your copy. Bring it with you. Some copies will be available at the meeting, but not the full agenda packet for the public (only the agenda itself). The full packet includes all the reports provided to Council members ahead of the meeting so you can review what they have reviewed. The agenda includes links to the specific backup information for each item so you don’t have to wade your way through several hundred pages to find details on an issue.
Hopefully this post provides you with lots of information on how to be an informed citizen.