On June 2nd CFABB members attend the Town's Regular Council Meeting and observed a major violation with regard to open meeting law. The record will show that Mayor, Vice Mayor and all Council people were in attendance with the exception to Councilman Garza. The record will also show that critical town officials, staff and Town Attorney Scott Ruby was also present.
The violation of the Open Meeting Law occurred when Council and Mayor voted on and approved Agenda item 7D as reads below.
CORE Construction - Change Order #5 - Mill out existing paving and replace with three inches of asphalt paving.
Council to consider and if advisable, approve Change Order #5, under the contract No. PW-2006-DB-0001, with Core Construction, to mill out existing paving and replace with 3 inches of asphalt paving on 6th street, 7th street and Roosevelt street, to be funded from Account No. 070-50-598 (HURF), in the amount not to exceed $71,503.
During discussion on this matter an issue surfaced as a result of several questions from Councilman Doster. Through his questions and discussion it was learned that the reference referred to as the (HURF) account was incorrect and the correct account to be used was known as the GADA account. Once discovers limited discussion took place and the Town attorney did not advise the council correctly on what should have taken place as a result of this inaccuracy with regard to which account was actually being used.
According to the Open meeting law, Council should have tabled this agenda item to a later meeting so the appropriate correction reflecting the proper account for funding this project was corrected.
The reason for this law is simple. Each and every agenda item must be represented exactly as it is meant and precise with all facts to be correct. Since this is a public meeting you have the right to speak publicly on any agenda topic you wish. Therefore let say you had an issue with money coming from the GADA account to fund this project and would have rather seen the money come from the HURF account or any other account. You as a public Citizen would not have been able to offer your complaint or concerns on this agenda item because the public forum where this type of discussion would have taken place had already taken place well before the discussion of this agenda item. Therefore you would not be able to voice your concerns.
Thus is the reason what ever is provided in the agenda must be complete and accurate. If this is not the case it should have NEVER be voted on. We are very surprised that not the Mayor, Council or even the Town's HIGH paid Attorney was aware of this. It has also been discovered the work on these streets as per the agenda item started immediately within 24 hours of the approval. This in itself lends to another question whether or not it was approved quickly because work had already been scheduled to start.
We have been investigating the relationship with Core Construction for sometime and to date we have learned of Councilman Hardesty's affiliation, Core's affiliation with the towns committee's and the fact that rarely does any company ever get a chance to bid on projects within the Town. Sure is odd everywhere one looks in town on major construction projects you will always see Core Construction. Makes one pose the question... why?
The violation of the Open Meeting Law occurred when Council and Mayor voted on and approved Agenda item 7D as reads below.
CORE Construction - Change Order #5 - Mill out existing paving and replace with three inches of asphalt paving.
Council to consider and if advisable, approve Change Order #5, under the contract No. PW-2006-DB-0001, with Core Construction, to mill out existing paving and replace with 3 inches of asphalt paving on 6th street, 7th street and Roosevelt street, to be funded from Account No. 070-50-598 (HURF), in the amount not to exceed $71,503.
During discussion on this matter an issue surfaced as a result of several questions from Councilman Doster. Through his questions and discussion it was learned that the reference referred to as the (HURF) account was incorrect and the correct account to be used was known as the GADA account. Once discovers limited discussion took place and the Town attorney did not advise the council correctly on what should have taken place as a result of this inaccuracy with regard to which account was actually being used.
According to the Open meeting law, Council should have tabled this agenda item to a later meeting so the appropriate correction reflecting the proper account for funding this project was corrected.
The reason for this law is simple. Each and every agenda item must be represented exactly as it is meant and precise with all facts to be correct. Since this is a public meeting you have the right to speak publicly on any agenda topic you wish. Therefore let say you had an issue with money coming from the GADA account to fund this project and would have rather seen the money come from the HURF account or any other account. You as a public Citizen would not have been able to offer your complaint or concerns on this agenda item because the public forum where this type of discussion would have taken place had already taken place well before the discussion of this agenda item. Therefore you would not be able to voice your concerns.
Thus is the reason what ever is provided in the agenda must be complete and accurate. If this is not the case it should have NEVER be voted on. We are very surprised that not the Mayor, Council or even the Town's HIGH paid Attorney was aware of this. It has also been discovered the work on these streets as per the agenda item started immediately within 24 hours of the approval. This in itself lends to another question whether or not it was approved quickly because work had already been scheduled to start.
We have been investigating the relationship with Core Construction for sometime and to date we have learned of Councilman Hardesty's affiliation, Core's affiliation with the towns committee's and the fact that rarely does any company ever get a chance to bid on projects within the Town. Sure is odd everywhere one looks in town on major construction projects you will always see Core Construction. Makes one pose the question... why?
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