Hugh, thanks for contacting me for some clarification on the City Administrator candidates.
As I have said since being elected, I aim to be a transparent leader and help fix and/or replace processes, ordinances, and practices that do not make sense, do not benefit the citizens, or are in any way negative to the City of Jefferson.
As I stand here today, obviously there is still a lot of room for improvement in some citizens’ minds. Having said that, the Council in no way was trying to hide our meetings with the two candidates whatsoever, and no intent to mislead the citizens of Jefferson. I had specifically mentioned in each City council meetings since December that we were posting for the role, getting resumes, working with candidates to ultimately identify the best candidate for the town. There were no concerns by Council about the process (including an in-house attorney as well as multiple veteran council members).
We also asked our City attorney if our process was OK. We were not to deliberate, meet before or after as a council, share opinions or otherwise converse on the candidates, nor take a vote since this was not to be a city meeting. I would describe the events as a “meet and greet” style interview with two candidates to talk about our city and their experiences which could help it.
Mr. Turner took exception to the meeting and entered the room at the Transportation Center to take pictures and make the allegations of an illegal meeting.
We called TML (Texas Municipal League), and the attorney that we spoke to stated that we had done nothing wrong.
The Texas Attorney General’s office stated that while they do not give legal advice or make legal determinations, that all aspects of this event and the allegations could be looked at differently by different legal counsel, and thus were inconclusive as to whether we had held an illegal meeting. Basically, the answer was “it depends on lots of factors”.
In hindsight, should it have been posted? It obviously would have been easier seeing where this has unfortunately evolved. With this question coming to our attention, I can insure you that we will need to put in place specific and tighter guidelines in our ordinances and processes to address citizens’ concerns about posting meetings and interviews for salaried employees of the City.
I do applaud the questions from citizens and am open to any and all feedback on further changes and improvements to any city process but obviously frown upon the unprofessional public delivery of the allegations and embarrassment to the city and its citizens that this visibly provided to two candidates who seek a career here in Jefferson (or maybe now don’t).
Mayor Rob Baker