“WHETHER YOU MAY LOSE YOUR RIGHT TO CONTINUE USING YOUR PROPERTY FOR ITS CURRENT USE’ AND PROTECTING BASTROP," was verbiage contained in a mailer from the City of Bastrop to thousands of property owners.
From LIV: PLEASE ATTEND ONE OF TWO CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS: TUESDAY, MARCH 4 and/or TUESDAY, MARCH 11, 6:30 PM. Fill out a card or speak asking that this process be slowed down to give affected property owners time to understand the proposals and to allow the City Council to be elected on May 3rd, to make the decisions. This statement, delivered by former Bastrop Mayor, now "Citizen Lyle" Nelson, at the first of two hearings of the Planning & Zoning Commission (February 17) received strong support. He says: "These alerts state that it is in response to concerns from citizens. When and in what form were these concerns expressed? How many citizens expressed concerns and to whom? How many developers expressed concerns and to whom? These alerts inform our citizens that there will be only four (4) opportunities in a matter of Twenty-three (23) days to be informed, educated and provide input in a public setting. That seems such a limited amount of time for a regular citizen to digest and comment on the changes and their impact. This is especially concerning with a municipal election looming and the Legislature in session." (See Lyle's full statement here.)
FACTS of ABUSE OF AUTHORITY AND OPEN GOVERNMENT
>On Monday, Feb. 17, at a meeting of the city's first of two Planning & Zoning Commission (P&Z) hearings to do a significant rewrite of the city's development code, three women, including LIV's Linda Curtis, were handing out flyers and this survey for Bastropians for Open Government (BOG). They were verbally abused by Council Member Cynthia Meyer who told them to "get out" because "You can't do that here." When they refused to leave, Meyer said she would call someone. Then appeared City Manager Sylvia Carrillo-Trevino who repeated the abuse and threatened to "call someone." No one came, because they knew it was a public meeting in a publicly owned building.
>Many people left in the middle of the meeting, expressing confusion about how the discussions affected their property. One former teacher said, "Don't have meetings lasting more than two hours. They could also have posted information on the walls to bring us up to speed." The meeting lasted 4 1/2 hours.
>On Monday, Feb. 24, at the second P&Z hearing, Mayor Pro-Tem, John Kirkland, spoke at the hearing of the P&Z, seemingly lobbying them before they brought their recommendations to the City Council on March 4. Kirkland will be running that meeting! (We were told that this was also an open meetings violation.)
>Outside the hall on Feb. 24, City Manager Sylvia Carrillo-Trevino, filled out the Bastropians for Open Government survey. She checked that it was "Fiction" that "she has been in violation of the City Charter requirement that she live in the City." We beg to be fully informed so we can print that she has supposedly complied.
>On Sunday, March 2, the City Manager Carrillo attended a candidate's campaign event, a clear violation of Number 7 of the Rules of Ethics of the ICMA. The International City/County Management Association is the premier organization of local government professionals worldwide.
>The Attorney General has ruled that John Kirkland does not have to turn over his communications with former City Attorney, Alan Bojorquez, about his employment with the city. Though we believe the decision was in error, we will not be spending $5-10K to get into a court of law. It's a lot easier for the court of public opinion to weigh in on May 3rd when Kirkland will be on the ballot.
Don't put up with the Kirkland-Sylvia shock and awe show. Voters still really do run the show.
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