All I want for Christmas is open government, an end to mob rule, and a serious review of Bastrop City Manager Sylvia Carrillo

The rights of the minority were trampled on November 21st in the city of Bastrop. It won't stop unless some in the majority put a stop to it.

I have had nightmares trying to write this article. I cut my organizing teeth in the South Bronx over 40 years ago when thugs wielding lead pipes threatened us poll workers for a reform leader on the New York City Council. Ten years later, half of the corrupt Bronx Democratic machine including a Congressman, wound up in prison. Reform takes time.

I wouldn’t say Bastrop is yet like the South Bronx in the early 80s. But unless the leaders of the Bastrop community step up for open government and fair deliberation, it could happen.

My Take on the November 21st Bastrop City Council Special Meeting.

The good news is that nearly 600 people have watched the November 21st meeting video. Hundreds have likely read City Councilwoman Cheryl Lee’s Report. The Lee Report is 42 pages that raise legitimate and complex questions about City Manager Sylvia Carrillo’s job performance. A review and investigation of the Lee Report was voted down 4 to 1 at a meeting called by Carrillo on November 21st.

The Fixers

Carrillo and her allies on Council and in the community, including Mel Cooper’s PAC, Bastrop Conservatives, and Dock Jackson, Bastrop Democrats, helped set the stage. The meeting was stacked with people standing in the back who bullied, heckled, and sought to humiliate Lee, the Mayor, and their supporters like me.

The day of the meeting, Cooper put out an "urgent call to action" email with:

“Tonight, at 6:30 pm, the Bastrop City Manager, Sylvia Carrillo, will be under attack by a small but vocal political faction seeking her removal, led by Mayor Lyle Nelson and City Council member Cheryl Lee. This group has made allegations, which Sylvia will address and refute with clarity and conviction.”

There was no “seeking her removal,” in the Agenda Item, but that's what people were told was the "urgency". Here's the Agenda item to read for yourself:

4A. City Council shall convene into closed executive session pursuant to Texas Government Code Sections 551.071 and 551.074 to seek the advice of legal counsel regarding Resolution No. R-2024-XX of the City Council of the City of Bastrop, Texas, initiating an investigation by the City Council into the conduct of the City Manager.

What was the “attack” on Carrillo? Carrillo was up for her job performance review by her bosses, the City Council. Council Member Lee’s Report was submitted in Executive Session, as is customary for personnel matters, the week before this meeting. Unless it was leaked, Cooper nor Jackson had read it. But by calling it an “attack,” pleading that it was "urgent” and claiming it was about "removing" Carrillo, they set the stage for the many people to show up who do business with or depend on the City Manager’s fair treatment and purse. She has the sole power to execute contracts for less than $50,000.

But the bullies who attended the meeting were integral to making it a genuine "doo-doo" show.

Reminder of the South Bronx.  The loudest voice was a menacing guy who stalked up and down the aisle shouting down anyone who didn’t support Carrillo. He was finally ejected. That was the guy I kept yelling at to “shut up.” Yes, I confess and I was wrong for yelling at him, not to mention foolish. I knew no one had been screened for a weapon. Austin City Council uses a metal detector, but not yet the City of Bastrop.

Kirkland, Plunkett, and Meyer scored, but this is not a game.

Carrillo had an uninterrupted 80 minutes to demean Lee’s report. To explain her report, Lee got 5 interrupted minutes. Even Councilwoman Kerry Fossler was heckled for suggesting that people get to know one another. Perish the thought!  

Carrillo herself made the best case for why she should be thoroughly reviewed, have a pay cut, be put on probation, or fired. Perhaps too excited by her adoring audience, she went off the rails by detailing how she could “legally” circumvent the city charter that she is bound to follow. The provision that has long required the City Manager to live in the city had just been re-affirmed on November 5th, by 2770 voters (63%) against Proposition L.

There was also Johnny Sanders who in the past has served on the City Council, Commissioners Court, and is a former President of the BISD. He is also Councilwoman Cynthia Meyer’s brother. His testimony was cheered by the mob in the back of the room when declaring Lee’s Report was “BULLSHIT.” Did he get the report and read it or not, I asked when I called him on it as the mob jeered at me.

My biggest disappointment was seeing decent people who let this happen. This included a current local official (an attorney who knows better), several ex-officials, a respected pastor, and a major business owner. Even a supporter of Lee’s said she was afraid she would “lose it,” if she said something. I get it and I think this is normal behavior in a dirty fight.

I want to thank Cecilia Serna who stood up to the bullies. She called them out for, "acting like children" and "playground bullies." She read from the agenda itself that explains what decorum is at City Hall meetings. It gave pause to many.

The Aftermath

Within days of this meeting, the stellar City of Bastrop Attorney Alan Bojorquez resigned. I have a pending open records request to get his letter of resignation and communications between Kirkland and Bojorguez for the several days following the November 21st meeting. I believe we are all about to see why we needed Bojorquez more than he needed us.

A week following this meeting, John Kirkland was lighting the Christmas Tree, not the Mayor as is tradition. Why? In a word, bullies.

At the next meeting, December 10, this is on the agenda, despite the pending litigation on whether the petition is even valid. What’s the big hurry? Answer: To quash the minority:

11C.Consider and act on first reading of Ordinance No. 2024-51; An Ordinance Ordering a Special Election to be held on Saturday, May 3, 2025 for the Recall of Mayor Lyle Nelson According to the Bastrop Home Rule Charter; Designating Polling Places with the City; Establishing other Procedures for the Conduct of the Special Election, Including Providing that the Election is to be held as a Joint Election in Conjunction with Bastrop County; Providing a Severability Clause; and Providing an Effective Date. 

So far, the majority and their leader, Carrillo, rule without regard to the majority that should count the most. That’s the 3006 (73%) voters who, on November 5th, passed the open government amendment, Proposition K.

Dear Santa: Please send me some open government and nip mob rule in the bud.

Here is Cheryl Lee's Report.

Here is the video of November 21st

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See Community Impact News’ recent article here.