January 5, 2016
LNO has requested twice for information concerning the City Manager’s investment in High Density Property, however on both requests no information was received. LNO has contacted the Texas AG’s office requesting an opinion of the City Manager’s initial claim of Attorney/Client privilege and in the second request, simply stating that there are “no responsive documents.”
From: Christine Loven [mailto:cloven@colleyville.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2016 8:54 AM
To: Editor <editor@localnewsonly.com>
Cc: Amy Shelley <ashelley@colleyville.com>
Subject: ORR Nelson Thibodeaux – December 29, 2015
A link to the second request is below:
ORR – Nelson Thibodeaux – December 29 2015
Since, LNO has been “stonewalled” in the efforts asking the City Manager simply to reveal the circumstances surrounding the property owned in High Density developments in Colleyville. Per the City Charter, with the belief that these holdings established a concern that may rise to a conflict of interest occurring during the debate and consideration of the new Comprehensive Plan and per the provisions of the City Charter a Citizen’s Complaint has been lodged, a link is at the bottom of this article. Section 14.01 “F” as noted below has been invoked as a “Citizen of Colleyville” and an Official Complaint of Conflict of Interest has been filed this date.
Note under the General Provisions, Section 14.01 this section pertains to “all elected and …….City Employees.”
Colleyville City Charter
GENERAL PROVISIONS Section 14.01 Publicity of Records: All record and accounts of every office, department, or agency of the City shall be open to inspection by any individual subject to public inspection as provided by State law . Amended May 7, 2005) Section 14.02 Personal Financial Interest: (Amended May 7, 2005) This section shall apply to all elected and appointed City officials, members of commissions, boards, committees and City employees.
A) Misuse of Office. No person shall use his office, position or employment in an unlawful manner or in a manner calculated to obtain a financial benefit or a commercial benefit that would not be available to someone not holding such office or position
B) Contracts. A person, who is subject to this section and has a direct interest in any proposed or existing contract, purchase, work, sale or service to or by the City, shall not participate in discussions thereon, render a decision thereon, or vote thereon.
C) Discretionary Authority. No person shall make a decision or exercise their discretionary authority with regard to an entity in which he or she has a financial interest as prohibited by State law.
D) No person shall grant, accept or solicit in the discharge of his official duties any favor or personal benefit, service or thing of value to any person or entity in violation of State law.
E) Notice. Any person who shall have a conflict of interest under paragraph B above shall file a sworn statement describing in reasonable detail such conflict with the City Secretary no later than either the beginning of the meeting at which the matter will first be discussed or acted upon, or the time at which the potential conflict first becomes known to the person, whichever occurs first.
F) Citizen Complaints. Any citizen of the City may file with the City Secretary a statement of suspected conflict of interest. Such statement of suspected conflict of interest shall be filed within fifteen ( 15) days of the decision, vote, or other event 35 giving rise to an asserted violation of paragraph C above, and shall describe the complained of conflict in reasonable detail. The City Council, or its designee, shall respond in writing to a timely filed statement of suspected conflict of interest, and the statement of suspected conflict of interest and response of the City Council shall be maintained in the public records of the City.
G) Oath. Upon the election, appointment, or employment of any person by the City, they shall sign a statement acknowledging that they have read and are familiar with the provisions of this Section of the Charter, and all other sections of State law pertaining to the conflict of interest, and these statements shall be maintained as public record of the City.
H) Removal from Office. Failure to comply with any of the provisions of this Section shall constitute malfeasance in office and upon a finding by a Court of competent jurisdiction of said violation, the person shall immediately forfeit their position or office and such position or office shall be deemed vacant. I) Contracts Voidable. Any violation of part C of this Section in the approval process of any contract shall make said contract voidable by the City.
J) The City Council may adopt by ordinance, a code of ethics and conduct that is consistent with the provisions of this Charter. Section 14.03 Nepotism: No person related within the second degree by affinity,
TO READ THE CONFLICT OF INTEREST COMPLAINT Click Here Conflict Document2
3 Comments
Kathy Hadley
I have a concern with Mike Taylor being on council since he purposefully sent out an ugly letter against his opponent, to sway the voters to vote for him, instead of Bobby L. Page 5 of the Charter of the City Of Colleyville Texas Revised May 7, 2005, it CLEARLY STATES under QUALIFICATIONS that if a “member of the City Council…or offense involving moral turpitude, the City Council shall declare a vacancy. . .” I have spoken with Mayor Kelly about this, and he said, “Well, no one sent in any letters to the city complaining about it!” While speaking during “citizen comments,” among other things I have said, I have mentioned the citizens NEED to “get a City Charter and read It because mine is FULL of highlights! It is very informative!” At a different mtg. I was speaking again during “Citizen Comments,” and Mayor Kelly stopped me before I could emphasize to the citizens their NEED TO READ THIS! He KNEW what I was going to say because I had my book in my hand! In my opinion, I guess it won’t really matter because he and his cohorts are doing what suits them best at the expense of Colleyville’s heritage, atmosphere, residents, and future! Pages 35 and 36 under “personal Financial Interest: (Amended May 7, 2005) of the City Charter, in my opinion, there are SEVERAL WHO ARE IN VIOLATION, and need to be held accountable!!!
is doing what
David Medlin
Kathy,
I don’t know if we are talking about the same section, but the charter does give the council and the mayor the authority to investigate the moral issues, before declaring the seat vacant. There is ample evidence to have reasonable cause to call for such an investigation.
Regarding his comments about not receiving any letters….I’m not sure when he told you that. But here are some thoughts based on fact.
1) he does not need, nor do other council members need an official complaint or even a letter to initiate such an investigation. His non-action speaks volumes just as action would have, more than his words.
2) during the 12/15/15 city council meeting as I was addressing the various council people, Mayor told me not to address them (part of the rules) and I should address him directly. So I did. I specifically pointed this out and called him out for not doing so already and in fact pointed out not only did they not investigate this, they re-elected him to some key leadership positions.
3) I followed up with a email to him on 12/21/15, asking him to do two things. One was to explain that vote that went against the citizens because there may be support we just don’t see. I also specifically called on him to do this investigation.
A couple of days ago, I got a response that started off boilerplate, (and non-responsive at that) and then he punted telling me that the offer to discuss was still open and gave me his cell phone.
I have not had a chance to call him to follow up, but plan to. I also contemplated making that letter and his response public, but have not done so out of respect. I plan on following up with him and depending on how open he is in our conversation I may not publish it. Of course one might be able to get it from the freedom of information act, but that has proved to be less than timely or transparent.
So I can tell you for sure he knows a letter was recieved (email) at the latest 1/5/16 because that’s when I got the response.
I wonder if I will have to go the full route of filling a citizen complaint to make it official as Nelson did with the city manager issue, or if any on the council,will do the right thing and initiate the investigation on their own.
One would think one of the three folks up for election would want to show leadership on this issue, but only one of the three I think possibly has the right moral compass to do the right thing. I don’t know if she has the will to go against the establishment, but there is still time.
Another councilwoman who ran with MT has said she had nothing to do with that even though they ran on the same “ticket”. She made her choice to distance herself or not with him after it came out but instead choose not to. She also has time to make it clear to the community she has the right moral compass as well. Again, her actions speak louder than her (private) conversations.
But for sure at this point the Mayor has recieved at least one letter calling upon him to do this investigation.
Wonder if anyone else will send a letter to him,or to the rest of the council so it is painfully obvious this is not a seltzer issue either.
Kathy Hadley
David, during citizen’s comments I brought up the question and VERY STRONG suggestion, to the mayor and council, that they need to read the city of Colleyville Charter before they are allowed to serve the residents and make decisions for the city. Holding up my city Charter at a C.C.Mtg., I asked “HAVE YOU READ THIS?” Of course, I did not get an answer or a head nod, and I was looking directly at the mayor because I was horrified at what Mike Taylor and his friends did to Bobby. I thought maybe NOW he would read it and see that as the Mayor of Colleyville he has a responsibility to discipline Mr. Taylor and hold him accountable because they both “subscribed” to and took the “Oath of Office” which is “filed and kept in the office of the City Secretary.” (p. 11) Also, ” The City Council shall be the judge of the election and qualification of its own members.” (p.5) So, once again the mayor is NOT aware of the important PREAMBLE! We are a “Home Rule municipal government” (p.2) We, as residents of Colleyville, have “rights, authorities, privileges, obligations, and immunities…”(p.2)to expect that OUR CITY will be governed by individuals who have the utmost respect for the country atmosphere of this beautiful city, respect for ALL Colleyville residents, and the ability to put the concerns of the Colleyville residents ahead of the developers, realtors, and the incentive for one to make big $bucks$$ off of Colleyville’s beautiful country atmosphere, at the expense of the wildlife and current home owners!