While the Ds and Rs were at each other's throats in the national and state elections, the small city* of Bastrop with a population of 12,000, was the scene of cross-partisan matchmaking for good government. Citizens from across party lines passed most all of Propositions A through L. The measures were placed on the ballot by the all-volunteer City Charter Revision Commission.
LIV and Independent Texans PAC's review of the measures
was read by almost 1,200 people online and more than 1,000 people on paper we met at the polls. There are approximately 7,000 registered voters in the City. And we know many individuals who were pulling for the measures, especially Prop K, so congratulations to all! This includes Councilwoman Kerry Fossler who led the effort to get Prop K through the Charter Revision Commission and placed on the ballot.
Props K and L were most important to the loose-knit coalition we refer to as "Bastropians for Open Government." Prop K, the open government amendment passed with 73%. Prop L would have allowed the City Manager to live outside the city and was handily defeated at 62%.
A pivotal meeting is coming up this Tuesday of the Bastrop City Council to begin the evaluation of the City Manager, Sylvia Carrillo. We have written about her role in a wasteful and viciously false recall petition directed at Mayor Lyle Nelson. The premise of the recall fell apart months ago when the County Attorney's Office released a "nothingburger" on the investigation of allegations of misuse of public funds, a key claim in the recall. But the city -- thanks to Carrillo -- is now spending more money on lawyers to try to save the fatally flawed recall petition. Her handpicked city secretary and longtime friend, Irma Parker, was paid $50,000 for twelve weeks of work, including certifying the petition.
Proposition K, the "open government amendment," passed with 73% for a reason. It will make the majority of the city council (3 of 5) end their private meetings where they engaged in their own "vote rigging" or face a violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act. Nice, eh!?
Please remember the names of those who engaged in those private meetings. They are John Kirkland, Kevin Plunkett, Cynthia Meyer, and before he lost his Council seat, Jimmy Crouch. All are, not coincidentally, Nelson recallers.
Please consider showing up on Tuesday to put forth your own ideas on how to get the City Manager, Sylvia Carrillo, properly evaluated, in line, or out the door.
LIV's ideas are:
Fire the City Manager for violating the city charter by purchasing a home in March outside the city before Prop L was even on the ballot. Now that Prop L failed, this might be a signal from the voters to let Carrillo go or be given a serious probationary period and pay cut.
If you cannot get the votes to send Carrillo packin', take back that fat-cat $50,000 raise she was given after just one year of service. That was John Kirkland's move -- a 28% increase in pay last year. See 20 cities the size of Bastrop with the average city manager pay at $180,000, not $230,000. Again, in our view, Carrillo would be lucky to keep her job.
Get Carrillo to direct Irma Parker to drop the recall petition already! It is still being pursued in court and paid for by the city -- the taxpayers. Please note that Kirkland and the other recallers were enabled by Carrillo to run up a $137,080 bill in legal and investigative fees, not including a tab currently running on legal fees to defend the recall petition. Council should also set a date for the hiring of someone else as Parker's contract with the city expired on October 25th. See memo here.
For a longer-term investment in cross-partisan matchmaking, please join LIV. We care about open and honest government and nothing about your party affiliation or ideology. That's up to you. Dues begin at just $10 for the year and share this post.
*Note: City government is nonpartisan in Texas. Officeholders do not run on a party line. LIV loves nonpartisan elections.
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