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Farmers Branch City Councilmember Richard Jackson filed a code of ethics complaint against Farmers Branch Planning and Zoning Commissioner Harold Froehlich II on Jan. 27, 2025.
The complaint states that Froehlich disclosed confidential information “directly” to Director of Economic Development Perla Travera during a meal before the Dec. 9 Planning and Zoning meeting.
The complaint says the information Froehlich disclosed was from prior executive sessions and involved the names of parties and details specific to a project named “Five B,” which was later renamed “Project Six B,” and was made in the presence of Planning and Zoning Commissioners Dan Heard, Marcus Miller and Patrick Trapp.
The City of Farmers Branch fulfilled the Branch Herald’s Open Records Request the morning of Feb. 10, following the Branch Herald’s initial story about the ethics complaint, with most of the emails redacted due to attorney-client privilege.
The complaint was released in accordance to Texas Government Code Section 552.301(d)(2), which requires the city to provide the requestor, Kate Bergeron, publisher of the Branch Herald, notice that the city’s attorney, Nicole Corr of Wyatt Hamilton Findlay, wrote to the Texas Attorney General’s Open Records Division asking for an opinion on the public information request.
“The City believes portions of the information responsive to this request are excepted from public disclosure pursuant to Texas Government Code Sections 552.107 and 552.137,” she wrote.
The Branch Herald’s request on Jan. 31 was for “Ethics complaint and all email communication regarding the complaint between city council members and city staff.”
Corr’s letter to the attorney general states, “These documents contain email communications between City attorneys, Whitt Wyatt and Nicole Corr, and the law firm’s client, the City of Farmers Branch. City staff members are the recipients of these email communications from the City attorney. The communications clearly demonstrate that they are for the purpose of rendering professional legal services to the City. The communications include legal advice and comments related to an ethics complaint.”
Emails not redacted contain City Secretary Stacy Henderson’s communications to Froehlich about the complaint and City Manager Ben Williamson’s direction on posting requirements and when the Farmers Branch City Council could meet in regard to the complaint.
Following executive session on Jan. 27 to discuss the complaint, council voted 4-1 to deny the complaint with Jackson voting to deny it as well. City Councilmember David Reid voted against the measure.
