NRH City Council - 817-555-UH-OH

                                    by Ron West    - January 12, 2006

    This morning's Star Telegram editorial titled similar to above seems to show a remarkable lack of really "investigating" potentially illegal behavior by members of the North Richland Hills City Council.  Apparent facts show that Tim Welch, Mayor Pro Tem called three members of the council after what appears to be a pet project of his failed during a previous council vote.  The admitted purpose of the calls was to "enlighten" other members of the council so that they would vote correctly the next time Tim brought the matter to council for a vote.  This "persuasive" contact resulted in two previous negative votes being changed to in favor thereby passing the matter.  The problem is not whether the matter that was passed had merit or not - rather that the open meetings law was apparently violated.

        While the publicity for this continuing use of "walking quorums" is welcome, it does not do anything to discourage or stop this type of activity in the future.  We believe that this is and has been the method of operation used by City Manager Cunningham and Mayor Trevino in making city decisions ever since Trevino was elected.  In reality, face to face meetings or a couple of calls followed by other face to face meetings or other calls (like a phone tree) is the way business is accomplished in NRH.  This carefully construed method of avoiding open meetings is just a way of life in our city.  Our City Attorney, appears to be paid to see how far the law can be bent to achieve the goals of Trevino & company.  Since all city ordinances are hidden from the public prior to placement on a Council Agenda for passage - and since all pass with a solid majority of the council, they are either clairvoyant or have discussed the ordinances outside the council chambers.

        If a law was broken by Tim Welch or other members of the council is truly a moot question.  Open Meetings laws are something of a joke since no one enforces them.  In Tarrant County, to our knowledge, the District Attorney who is supposed to be the citizen's first line of defense has never brought nor prosecuted any elected official in our county for open meetings violations (or for other infractions of the law).  Complaints filed with the District Attorney's office are routinely blown off and discarded.  In like manner the Attorney General of the State of Texas simply refers complaints back to the county so why bother with having such laws.  No enforcement agency is charged with pursuing open meetings violations.

        As to the editorial in the Star Telegram, wouldn't their self proclaimed watch dog role dictate that the "why" of the calls by Tim Welch be investigated.  Why was he so interested in this development?  Did he have financial or other ties to the developer?  Has this type of "persuasion" been used on other matters?  Why was Mr. Welch so interested in overriding the petition of nearby local home owners?  The editorial states that council members "deserve respect and thanks for their public service" which would be more true if council members observed the law and respected the citizens of the city.

        Maybe the editorial would have been better titled "Another Open Meetings Violation - 555-HO-HUM"