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An ethics complaint filed with the City of Farmers Branch on Jan. 27 was discussed by the Farmers Branch City Council during a closed executive session as part of the Feb. 4 city council meeting.
According to Texas Government Code, Section 551.071, council is allowed to enter closed executive sessions to receive legal advice from the city attorney.
Following executive session, City Councilmember Omar Roman, District 1, made a motion to deny the complaint. City Councilmember Tina Bennett-Burton, District 2, seconded.
Council voted 4-1 to deny the request with City Councilmember David Reid, District 5, voting against the measure.
No one made any public comment about the complaint.
As soon as Branch Herald Publisher Kate Bergeron saw the ethics complaint on the agenda item on Friday, Jan. 31, she filed a public records request with the city.
Typically, when Bergeron files public records requests with the city, she receives the response on the last day the city is legally allowed to respond.
According to the Texas Attorney General website, a government body must notify the requestor if information will take more than 10 day and must request a ruling from the Office of the Attorney General if they withhold any information.
To date, the City of Farmers Branch has followed this to the letter of the law with Bergeron and the Branch Herald.
In regard to this particular request, Bergeron emailed former Farmers Branch Public Information Officer Ashtyn Anders-Tapp on Monday, Feb. 3, asking for the public records request be expedited and released after the Tuesday, Feb. 4, city council meeting so information could be released with this story.
Anders-Tapp replied Tuesday with a single-sentence response, “This complaint remains private until the investigation is complete. Council will discuss next steps, if any, after executive session this evening.”
Bergeron called City Secretary Stacy Henderson on Wednesday, Feb. 5, and left a message requesting the public records request be expedited so its information could be released with this story.
As of 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7, the city had not responded to the request. Per state law, they have until Friday, Feb. 14, to respond to the request or request a ruling from the state attorney general’s office.
