A lot can happen in a week.
In the case of the City of Willow Park, the last seven days or so has seen the resignation of the city attorney and two city council members, leaving in question the city’s ability to operate.
While accounts differ, the conflict between Mayor Teresa Palmer and City Manager Bryan Grimes became evident at a Texas Municipal League event in Georgetown on June 27.
When Palmer arrived at the event, it was discovered that she had not been registered. Grimes spoke with event organizers and straightened out the omission, getting Palmer registered.
According to one account, Palmer berated Grimes in the presence of officials from other cities for the oversight. According to Palmer, Grimes was harassing her to the extent she filed a complaint with the Georgetown Police Dept.
The Georgetown police determined that Palmer’s complaint “did not meet the threshold for harassment.
“He said ‘a word?’ she said ‘no thank you.’ He said it was a mix up and she blamed him for her badge not being present at the sign in table. He continued to try and speak to her and she yelled ‘get away from me’ and ran away, causing a scene.”
Palmer said surveillance video (linked at bottom of story) from the hotel would back up her story. Gwendolyn Galle, who was Palmer’s campaign manager, set up a fundraising social media page to raise money for Palmer’s legal expenses. That post said the surveillance video was in Palmer’s possession.
The Community News has requested a copy of the video both from Galle and from the City of Willow Park, and neither has provided it. A copy of the video was recieved through other channels, and will be included with the online version of this story.
Tensions continued to rise when Palmer scheduled a special city council meeting on July 15. Other than public comment, the only item on the agenda was a closed-door meeting to consult the city attorney “To discuss the pursuit of legal action by a city employee against the elected Mayor of Willow Park.”
Social media posts encouraged people to “attend to support our mayor.”
Because it was a special meeting, the law required four of the five sitting city council members to attend. Only three members showed up: Chawn Gilliland, Lea Young, and Nathan Crummel. Lacking a quorum, Palmer gaveled the meeting closed and directed city staff to go home.
The staff left, as well as the three city council members. However, with about 60 people in attendance, Palmer invited public comment.
In general, those who spoke accused the city of not being responsive to their concerns, and criticized city council members for not staying. The council members responded by citing the Texas Open Meeting Act, which forbids three or more council members to meet without an established agenda.
Palmer closed the meeting telling the group that after she was elected, she was told that she had no authority and that the people who voted for her didn’t know what they were doing. She accused Grimes of insulting her intelligence, and reiterated that she ran on transparency and open government.
In the interim, City Attorney Pat Chesser resigned. On Saturday, July 19, Young resigned, and then council member Greg Runnebaum resigned on Monday, July 21.
Both Young and Runnebaum issued statements, but neither answered the question of why they were resigning.
Runnebaum said he would cite his reason for resigning at the next city council meeting.
Under Texas law, the resignation of a city council member becomes effective at the next city council meeting when the resignation is accepted, or eight days from the date of resignation, whichever is sooner.
This leaves Willow Park with only three city council members. Three members would be the required number to be present to make a quorum at a regular meeting. But, a special meeting requires four members.
What hangs in the balance is Willow Park’s ability to function as a city. With only three members, the council can’t meet until its regularly-scheduled meeting on Aug. 12. One member of the council has a pre-scheduled trip, so that meeting can’t be held.
One way forward would be to hold a special meeting on Monday, July 28, just before Runnebaum’s resignation would be effective, to appoint a new member to fill Young’s seat. The council could then possibly accept Runnebaum’s resignation and then appoint someone to fill that seat.
One problem with that scenario is that the city has not had an opportunity to solicit applications from interested persons who would want to serve.
Another option would be to hold a special election in November. However, the last day to call for an election is Aug. 19, and the next city council meeting is not until Aug. 26.
Without a super majority (four members) the city cannot hold a special meeting and cannot set a tax rate.
By law, without an adopted tax rate and budget, everything would revert to the current-year budget and tax rate. That would eliminate the city’s planned programs for the coming year, including two new police officers. The city would also not have the ability to issue debt, which would put the Squaw Creek road improvements on hold.
It was reported that local activist Marce Galle was reaching out to city council members, attempting to schedule a Monday meeting. Council members pointed out she has no official role with the city.
At press time, members of city staff, Mayor Palmer, and the city council were attempting to resolve differences enough to schedule a meeting for Monday.
A lot is at stake for the city.
The Community News will continue to follow this story.
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Normanb101981
Why is the Mayor behaving like this. But then again this is what the people voted for. WHY??? I am kind of mad this may cause my taxes and utility bills to go up. So sad what is happening.
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