TAFT, Tx — Certain rules established by the Taft City Council violate the Texas Open Meetings Act according to an Austin-based attorney.
Bill Aleshire, an attorney who specializes in government transparency and accountability, told 6 Investigates there are violations in rules for public comment and an ordinance that establishes how, what, and when a citizen or member of the media can record the meeting.
“It seems like the city council of Taft is somewhat at war with the Open Meetings Act,” Aleshire said. "You put all of this together and look and you wonder about the underlying attitude of people who are elected officials and seem to have forgotten they don't own that government. The public does. It's the public's government and the public is entitled to a level of transparency and respect."
Citizens who want to make public comment during a Taft City Council meeting have rules imposed by the city that violate the law and the Texas Constitution.
According to a May 14, 2024 agenda, "comments will be taken from the audience on only items on the agenda."
“They’re entitled by the Constitution of Texas to come down there and make that complaint whether it’s on the agenda or not. They can be running afoul of that Texas Constitution for free speech,” Aleshire said.
Additionally, those rules also say, "should there be more than five (5) people who wish to speak on a particular issue they need to select one (1) representative to speak for them."
Aleshire said this is a violation of the act following a 2019 change to the Open Meetings Act.
"That violates the idea that if there's x number of people that want to testify you're going to deny four of them, four members of the public would be denied their statutory right to address it," he said. "I think that is a pretty clear violation of the public testimony provision of the Open Meetings Act."
6 Investigates reviewed several agendas for compliance with the Open Meetings Act, specifically the city's notice of what would be discussed in executive session.
One such violation was found on the posted agenda for the Taft City Council agenda dated March 26, 2024.
Among the items to be discussed in closed session included "discussion with staff."
"Where they run afoul of the notice requirements in the act, this portion that says they're going to have discussion with staff. That is not, first of all you can't just have general discussion with staff, you can have discussion of complaints or charges or duties, that kind of thing, but just the broad topic of discussion with staff, you can have discussion with staff in an open meeting, but you still haven't said what the subject would be," Aleshire said.
Also problematic is the executive item session regarding the police chief.
As 6 Investigates reported, Taft Police Chief John Landreth began investigating concerns with overtime claimed by city employees.
Shortly after he began that investigation, an item was placed on the agenda to discuss "the duties of the Chief."
Landreth told 6 Investigates it was during executive session that he learned that item was not about the duties of the chief, but rather complaints that had been lodged after he began investigating city workers.
"If they did not tell the police chief that that's what they were going to be doing with him in executive session then they violated the act because any employee who is subject of a complaint or deliberation can ask for that discussion to occur in public and then the governmental body has no legal excuse for having that personnel discussion in executive session," Aleshire said.
Aleshire said the council is still allowed to receive advice from its attorney, however the communication is limited.
Another issue, Aleshire said, is an ordinance that sets rules for the use of recording equipment during Taft City Council meetings.
KRIS 6 News Chief Investigator Bryan Hofmann was handed a copy of this ordinance during the last city council meeting.
That ordinance does not comply with the Open Meetings Act, Aleshire said.
The law gives any person the right to record all, or any, part of an open meeting. While the governmental body can establish reasonable rules, those rules must not infringe on the person's right to record the meeting.
The Taft ordinance prohibits any person recording a meeting to limit those recordings to specific people,, it also limits recordings to the duration of the meeting, and sets forth a requirement that citizens must register their name, address and telephone number with staff prior to the start of the meeting if they intend to record.
"I don't see any legal basis for that, that's an open meeting, they can record the entire meeting," Aleshire said. "It doesn't say they can record the governmental body only. The meeting is with the public as well."
He said the rule requiring people who wish to record register their name, address, and phone number with the city is not reasonable and could put citizen's safety at risk.
"You're just attending a meeting and you want to make a recording of it? There is no reasonable basis for requiring someone to identify themselves..." Aleshire said. "There's no legal basis for that."
An additional ordinance establishes criminal penalties for violating these rules. According to the ordinance, any person found to be uncooperative and noncompliant with the rules adopted, after refusing to comply with an order to leave the meeting, "shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not exceeding $300 for each offense."
"Especially making it a criminal statute to exercise your statutory right, I mean, that, by adding criminality on top of it they really are going over the cliff," Aleshire said.
"When you put all these examples together it seems they (City Council) have a level of disdain for the spirit if not the actual law of the Open Meetings Act," he added
The Taft City Council also has a new confidentiality clause, put in place at its last meeting. That clause restricts city employees from speaking to the public, instead requiring an open records request.
“There’s certain channels to go through to obtain any information and that’s pretty much for an open record request basically stating that city employees shouldn’t be going and talking to people about everything happening at City Hall,” Assistant City Manager Ryan Smith said.
After spending the day in Taft, it was clear people don't want to get involved.
Off camera, Taft residents told KRIS 6 News they fear retaliation from the city council.
One resident said, “The citizens just do not feel anyone is listening and that it is a waste of time to voice their concerns or attend city council meetings.”
6 Investigates reached out to the Taft city manager, the mayor and all members of the city council. Only one responded, city councilor Alonzo Molina Jr. He said he would do an interview but was not available Thursday.
For now, Aleshire has some advice for city officials.
“My advice to them is take a step back, take a look at these laws and think about if they really reflect the attitude you have about your constituents and democracy and their right to be involved,” Aleshire said.
The next city council meeting is expected to take place on Tuesday, May 28.
