Walking Quorum & Open Meetings

by Ron West

    Being an outsider looking in on Council Meetings in NRH leaves one wondering where the required process of deliberation on new laws an ordinance changes is occurring in our city.  I know from first hand presence in Pre-council meetings it is not occurring there.  I know from the past couple of years observing the actual council meetings, it is not occurring there.  But it has to occur somewhere doesn't it?

    Citizens elect council members to review and oversee all new laws put into place in our city don't they?

    In NRH, however, new laws and changes to existing laws are presented in final format to the council on Thursday preceding the next council meeting on Monday.  The final draft of the ordinances is printed an placed in the Council Member packet (which is also released to the Fort Worth Star Telegram).  This packet of information is not available for citizens until they walk into the council chambers for the actual meeting.  (Supposedly a packet is also put in the Library on Friday sometime.)  

    On rare occasions - like the recent changes to the sign ordinance - council members will react to public pressure and make minor wording changes but this is, I repeat, very rare.

    Where then is the direction of the city staff occurring?  How is the city staff and the elected officials able to avoid open discussion of such changes?

    The answer is the "walking quorum".  This is currently a legal way of avoiding open meetings and even if illegal, virtually impossible to stop.  An example would be a phone call between the City Manager and each member of the council favorable to his requirements.  Each call is a separate call and no meeting is actually called.  In some cases, this may only be a call to the Mayor who would then discuss the new ordinance with his sitting majority on a person by person basis.  Some members of the council are never included in this loop and possibly some are so much of a rubber stamp, calls are not necessary.   Business is not supposed to be done this way but there is little other explanation of how our city passes all laws.  If the Mayor, City Manager or any member of the Council would like to comment on how new laws are developed and passed, then I would be glad to print such information.

    There is an attempt at State level to make such walking quorums even more illegal but as mentioned above, enforcement is virtually impossible.  The first level of enforcement in the local District Attorney who routinely turns a blind eye to any illegal city activity for any city in Tarrant County.  He is also elected and depends on support from the locally elected officials.

    The only solution appears to be to elect individuals dedicated to honest and open government.  Only when our elected officials obey both the letter and intent of the law will we have the kind of government that we should have.  When a city has elected officials who want to "bend" the law for personal benefit or reasons, the citizen is truly an outsider.  Add to this a powerful City Attorney who works to help them interpret the laws to avoid public scrutiny and you have our NRH environment.  (When I personally asked the City Attorney who enforces the City Charter - he told me to "hire an attorney"!)

    NRH is a city that endorses some version of the "walking quorum".  If you doubt this, just attend a council meeting with any agenda item relating to a new law they want to pass.