The Sandy Oaks City Council violated the Texas Open Meetings Act again at its regularly scheduled meeting May 14, 2015. The Council discussed a topic that was not posted on the meeting’s agenda, a requirement by state law to give citizens the opportunity to know in advance what is to be discussed.
The violation occurred during the “Citizens to Be Heard” segment of the meeting. At each regularly scheduled City Council meeting people can sign up to speak to the Council. Everyone is given a maximum of 3 minutes, unless more than 10 people have signed up, in which case each person is given 2 minutes.
At the meeting, Mayor Clement announced
We have a list of 2 people to be heard which indicates each is going to have 3 minutes. I also have [sic] a person come in and I’ll introduce him later
The mayor usually times people to give them exactly 3 minutes, but neither of the first 2 speakers needed the full amount of time. When they were done, Mayor Clement introduced someone by saying
At this time I have a guest
Luis Cuellar from Klotz Associates spoke to the City Council on the topic of water sprinklers for the apartment complex that might be going in at the entrance of Waterwood Pass Dr.
At the last regularly scheduled Council meeting, Mayor Clement was given the task of getting information from an engineer. Clement, however, did not put the topic back on the agenda for the new meeting and instead had Cuellar speak during the Citizens to Be Heard segment.
Cuellar was not cut off at 3 minutes like Mayor Clement has done in the past to citizens. Instead, the engineer spoke until he was finished, about 8.5 minutes.
Alderman David Tremblay and Alderman Earnest Gay both asked questions of Cuellar and discussed the topic with him.
The Council was warned in the past, by the former City Attorney Art Martinez de Vara, that they could not discuss topics with people during the Citizens to Be Heard segment. Council members have used this as a means of avoiding questions and issues from citizens.
The Texas Open Meetings Act requires items of discussion to be posted on an agenda a full 72 hours before an official government meeting. This gives notification to the community so people know what their government is planning to discuss.
Hector Guahardi, who plans on building the apartment complex in question, was not in attendance at the meeting.
Alderman Douglas Tomasini and Alderman Joel Ortega did nothing to stop the other City Council members from discussing the topic that was not on the agenda..
Alderman Micki Ball was not present at the meeting.
The Sandy Oaks City Council has violated the Texas Open Meetings Act numerous times. On March 21, 2015 the Council convened in an illegal closed session. The Council has also met numerous times in a location some citizens were legally banned from accessing.
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