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The Farmers Branch City Council deadlocked Sept. 15 over whether the city should pay council member Lupe Gonzalez’s legal expenses in a civil dispute with Mayor Terry Lynne, leaving the request unresolved after two 2-2 votes.
Gonzalez’s request stems from a cease-and-desist demand involving a social media post she made about Lynne following events at the June 2 council meeting. Gonzalez recused herself from the Sept. 15 votes, and Lynne ultimately abstained because of his involvement in the dispute.
The matter had originally been scheduled for closed-session legal advice, but council member Roger Neal asked that it be discussed publicly. The council agreed. Members later met briefly in closed session for confidential legal advice before returning to the chamber, where Mayor Pro Tem David Reid presided over the public discussion.
City Attorney David Berman began by narrowing the issue. The council was not being asked to decide what happened June 2 or whether statements at the center of the dispute were true, he said.
Instead, Berman said the city could pay Gonzalez’s legal expenses if the council determined that her actions were within the scope of her official duties and that paying them served a public purpose. He said the city charter and other provisions generally protect officials and employees from legal costs arising from their government work.
But Berman said he did not believe Gonzalez’s social media post was part of her official duties.
Council members may use social media to communicate with constituents, he said, but that alone does not make a post official city business.
“She did not have an official duty to report that,” Berman said.
He also said he believed the city’s liability coverage was unlikely to apply, although he had not contacted a claims specialist with the Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Risk Pool.
Neal questioned whether paying Gonzalez’s legal costs would provide a public benefit if the post fell outside her council duties.
“There’s no public benefit to the city for us paying for her legal defense,” Neal said.
Berman said there can be a public benefit to defending officials and employees when legal claims arise from their work because it allows them to perform their duties in good faith without personally bearing the costs of litigation. Whether that reasoning applied to Gonzalez was for the council to decide.
Reid disagreed with the view that Gonzalez was acting only as a private citizen. He argued that she was communicating with constituents in her role as a council member. He said the post appeared on a council-related Facebook page, used letterhead identifying her as a council member and addressed questions about what had happened.
“Titles do matter,” Reid said.
He also argued that defending officials acting within the scope of their jobs gives city employees and elected officials confidence that the city will stand behind them when their work results in legal action.
Lynne took the opposite position. He said his dispute was with Gonzalez personally, not with the city.
“My action is not against the city at all,” Lynne said.
Lynne also said he was willing to waive claims against the city and described the issue as “purely a civil matter” between himself and Gonzalez.
The council then moved to a vote.
Neal moved to deny Gonzalez’s request. Neal and council member Elizabeth Villafranca voted in favor of denying payment, while Bennett-Burton and Reid voted against the motion.
The vote was 2-2.
With Gonzalez recused, Lynne ordinarily could have cast the tie-breaking vote under the city charter. Berman noted, however, that Lynne had an interest in the outcome.
“Yes, I wish to abstain,” Lynne said.
Berman clarified that the tie meant only that the motion to deny the request had failed. It did not mean the city had agreed to pay Gonzalez’s legal expenses.
Reid called for another motion.
Bennett-Burton then moved to approve the request and have the city cover Gonzalez’s legal expenses. Reid seconded the motion.
Bennett-Burton and Reid voted in favor. Neal and Villafranca voted against it.
The second motion also ended 2-2.
With neither side able to secure a majority, the council ended the discussion without approving or denying Gonzalez’s request.
“Since there is an impasse, and I doubt it’s going to be resolved,” Reid said, “there will be no action on this item.”
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