Sep 244 min read

Breaking: Nelson finally filed suit on recall: Sylvia Carrillo's Inside Job

Updated: Oct 15

Update: On Saturday, September 21, attorneys for Bastrop Mayor Lyle Nelson -- Bill Aleshire and David Bragg -- filed suit for a writ of mandamus in the Third District Court of Appeals. Nelson finally filed suit to ask the court to direct the Interim City Secretary, Irma Parker, to rule the recall Nelson petition as insufficient, contrary to her decision to render it sufficient on September 17. Untie the recall noose, Bastrop!

See suit here.

For the last year, an effort to recall Bastrop Mayor Lyle Nelson was conducted by sitting city council members, led by John Kirkland that included recently defeated Jimmy Crouch. Kirkland was joined by City Council Members Kevin Plunkett and Cynthia Meyer. They used a petition that tricked signers with artful language to imply that Nelson and his "girlfriend" (Susan Smith, the former CEO of Visit Bastrop) were involved in "misuse of public funds." (It's a long story we have followed in articles posted at the bottom of this post.)

Any five-year-old could see that a recall petition circulated by City Council members is a conflict of interest. It might be legal, but it is about as unethical as it gets. To our knowledge as supporters of the right to petition, we've never seen Council Members using recall petitions. Recall petitions are directed to the City Council to call for a recall election. How do you petition yourself? By the way, the petition didn't even use the words "recall," or an "election."

Over the last year, Bastrop City Manager Sylvia Carrillo repeatedly referenced an "investigation" to justify her refusal to release information that might have cleared Nelson from accusations of wrongdoing.

No thanks to Carrillo, the recallers finally hit a brick wall. On September 12 the Bastrop District Attorney's Office released a letter announcing the Grand Jury's investigation resulted in a decision to NO BILL Susan Smith, due to lack of evidence. (See LIV's "Recaller's House of Cards in Collapse.") Guess what. There was no investigation of Lyle Nelson!

A reasonable person might think that once the DA's investigation came up with a nothingburger, the recall petition would be dropped by petitioners. Nope.

At the September 17 City Council meeting, City Secretary, Irma Parker, the Interim City Secretary who was hired a few weeks earlier by her longtime friend, Sylvia Carrillo, ruled the petition "sufficient."

We have serious doubts about how petitioners have "fixed" the problem as reported by Parker, but that is now left up to a court of law to determine unless Parker stands down.

At the September 17 City Council meeting, not a word was said by anyone on the dais about the DA's ruling. Parker's boss, Sylvia Carillo, was not present. Recaller Council Member Cynthia Meyer defended Parker who, when asked by the Mayor if she had consulted with the City Attorney, said, "I report to the City Manager, sir.'

What's really going on here? This one is also real simple. Carrillo can count to three.

This paragraph was updated 9/25/24: The recallers have the votes to terminate Carrillo, but don't count on it. Carrillo's contract here automatically renews. Our understanding is that she will renew at her current pay of $230,000. (And, she may also keep her $42,000 stipend for serving as interim director of the Bastrop Economic Development Corp.) We believe Carrillo is overpaid for a city the size of Bastrop by approximately $50,000. That is the amount of the pay raise John Kirkland moved for in 2023 after Carrillo's first year as City Manager. Meanwhile, former City Secretary (well known as scrupulously honest), Ann Franklin asked for a $5000 raise after 10 years of service. Franklin's reasonable raise was denied by Carrillo. Franklin had enough and left just before Bastrop was blessed by Parker's presence. (See this chart of City Manager salaries in 20 Texas cities with comparable populations.)

Despite the automatic renewal of Carrillo's contract, this ongoing recall charade -- and resulting costs of $137,080, so far, to Bastrop taxpayers not including the costs of unnecessary litigation to defend a deficient petition -- could call Carrillo and Irma Parker's employment futures into question. More soon on this point.

If you are sick of this recall, know that we are too. We also don't like unethical bullies. Pray for justice at the Third District Court and be part of the solution by taking the following action:

Take Action!

If you are a city resident of Bastrop, reach the Bastrop City Council here and ask them to put recall to rest. Copy Sylvia Carrillo here too.
If you live in the county or city, please reach out to us at LIV to let us know if you will attend a meeting to discuss plans for cleaning up City Hall. Let us know if prefer to attend via Zoom or in person. Send an email to contact@livtx.org or call 512.213.4511.