Continuing coverage of a developing situation we’ve been monitoring in the DFW suburb of Grapevine, Tim Frazier, a citizen of the town, published a copy of a formal criminal complaint he filed with the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office involving a letter related to yesterday’s coverage.
The complaint frames the mayor and city council’s actions as a potential criminal violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act (TOMA), specifically a “walking quorum.”
The letter in question (a different letter) was addressed to GCISD Board of Trustees President Shannon Braun regarding proposals to close two elementary schools in the district. Printed on official City of Grapevine letterhead and signed by Mayor William D. Tate along with all six city council members, the letter presents itself as an official city communication. However, there is no public record showing that the letter was deliberated, authorized, or discussed in any open meeting. Many people are asking how every council member’s signature came to appear on it.
This letter appears without the errors of Tate’s usual correspondence, giving weight to the allegations that this is formal city communication.
The complaint:
Frazier says he submitted an exhaustive open records request seeking information on the communications involving this letter. No information about the letter or coordination in signing the letter was revealed by the request.
Because the mayor and a quorum of council members appear to have collectively agreed to and signed an official letter outside of a publicly noticed meeting, they likely deliberated or took action on public business in private, which is exactly what TOMA prohibits.
(Fun fact: TOMA has only been law in Texas for 12% of Tate’s tenure as Mayor.)
If the council didn’t deliberate, they didn’t act as a council.
If they did act as a council, then they must have deliberated.
Both can’t be true, so they appear to be cooked.
The City’s attorney responded to an inquiry on the scandal to the Dallas Express:
In a written response to The Dallas Express, Grapevine City Attorney Matthew Boyle denied the allegations, calling them “baseless.”
“The Grapevine City Council acted in full compliance with the Open Meetings Act in signing the letter of concern sent to the GCISD,” Boyle said, “The City Council did not meet or deliberate about the contents of the letter.”
The city attorney’s statement insists that a quorum never met and that no electronic communications were used to circumvent the Open Meetings Act. Yet it offers no explanation for how every council member’s signature ended up on the same letter. The circumstances raise serious questions about potential coordination and possible violations of TOMA’s walking quorum rule.
No explanation makes this make sense and they appear to be cooked.
So two options:
A - they violated TOMA
B - all of the council members signed the letter without reading or discussion, had no input, and simply did what they were told.
Who proposed sending a letter? Who wrote it? Who made corrections or deletions or additions? Who communicated with each council member to come and sign the letter? Where and when was each signature obtained on the original letter?
These are critical questions that must be answered. Only with those details can we ascertain Option A or B laid out above.
Neither of those options is a good choice!
Grill them under scrutiny 🥵