Let's Make Wilmer a Great big SECRET

Former "resigned in disgrace" mayor Jeff Steele continues his journalistic endeavors and forays into social networking with the facebook group "Let's Make Wilmer Great!". Unfortunately, after hearing from a few people with opposing views, Steele kicked them all out, closed the group and made it secret - not very conducive to promoting the community's interests at large.


It seems the group started with the description that included "taking Wilmer back" but that was updated fairly early on in the lifecycle of the group. At one point during the holidays, Steele asked all the members of the group to invite as many folks as possible to participate in online group activities. Evidently, the suggestion to direct the group's attention to focus on one particular member was considered "abuse" and that's when the situation began to take on the character of a junior high school clique.

One member and all her posts were removed by Steele, two other member were booted off the group for being nay-sayers, but at least initially, their posts were allowed to stand. There were seventeen remaining members at this point following these expungements.

At this point Steele announced that the group had been purged of naysayers and was now closed so that only members could comment. He also made the group SECRET which restricts anyone not a member from seeing the page as well as eliminating the page from search results. Very odd behavior for someone trying to rally public support to re-take Wilmer politically.

What happens next is interesting: Now that the group was CLOSED and SECRET, former mayor Steele invited a number of folks to join the group and a number of them accepted: Alice(& J?) Holloway, Vicky Vandygriff, Anita Camehl, Eric Pon Victor Kemp, and Ellis County Press reporter Megan Gray. Of course, whomever rejected his invitation to join the group wasn't listed, but there was obviously someone that did not accept as Steele commented that he'd inadvertently invited a naysayer to the group. Fortunately, this reporter was not expunged at that time.

Vicky Vandygriff took the opportunity to comment about the upcoming City Council Meeting and budget workshop on 5 January. She commented, somewhat sarcastically, on having a productive 15 minute workshop and then stated that there wouldn't be a workshop. Whether she planned not to attend, to disrupt the workshop, or immplied that the content of the session wouldn't be workshop material is unknown. However she did publicly state that the Budget Workshop would not happen. Upon disclosing this information to City Hall, this reporter's access to the group was also eliminated.

So it seems that Mayor Steele is content to have his core supporters networking together on facebook to make their plans for the takeover and domination of the political subdivision called Wilmer. It's a good thing we've got members of our local police force watching this group - but it does look bad for those civil servants still answerable to the public and dependent upon taxpayer support to be recruited by former-resigned-in-disgrace-mayor Jeff Steele for his political ambition of re-taking the town. It's a good thing all those blackberrys, smart phones, computers and stuff owned by the city are subject to open records so we can see what our taxpayer dollars are subsidizing and what kind of online activities are considered necessary expenses and appropriate uses of time. Then we can clean house.

Read more!

Mayor Steele's New Blog

Former Mayor Jeff Steele has a new blog at itrustbutverify.blogspot.com (Click Here)


Apparently former Mayor Steele believes the budget posted on the City's website isn't true and complete as passed and or filed with Dallas County. Read more!

Pioneer Days October 14-16

The City of Wilmer Pioneer Days Celebration begins Friday October 14 at 6:30PM.

Click Here to View the Flyer

Events Friday Saturday and Sunday!
Read more!

MAYOR STEELE RESIGNS

Last night, Thursday, September 15, 2011 at 9:21pm Jeffery Steele resigned as Mayor of the City of Wilmer. The City Council scheduled action on the Mayor's resignation at the next City Council Meeting on September 19.


Apparently, the move was not a complete surprise to everyone. Vicky Vandygriff had a motion to accept Steele's resignation and appoint Hector Pena to the position. Lacking adequate notice for City Council action, the matter of the mayor's resignation and potential appointment of an interim mayor must wait for the September 19 meeting.

More News to come.... Read more!

Agenda Wars: The Initial Flames

Open Records Requests produced this email exchange between Mayor Steele and Alderman Pena regarding motions, agenda scheduling issues and authority. Note I've added my comments in blue and used bold to highlight important passages in the email. I invite readers to make their own assessments of the personalities involved and the issues to be resolved.


Thank you Alderman Pena for your timely response to my open records request. I will "re-order" the emails in ascending chronological order so that a historical timeline is evident. Through the use of colors, formatting and bolding I will highlight areas to which my comments will be addressed.

I appreciate that Mayor Steele has asked for my opinion based on the research I've completed thus far into the city's records.

The Agenda for the July 7, 2011 Meeting in question can be found at cityofwilmer.com:
 Click Here to View the Agenda of July 7

============================

from hpena@cityofwilmer.com
to joealdrich@gmail.com
date Sat, Aug 6, 2011 at 3:11 PM
subject FW: Re: Agenda Items For Special Called Meeting Monday, July 11, 2011

Joe, here is the email you asked for.

-----Original Message-----

On Jul 8, 2011, at 3:11 PM, hpena@cityofwilmer.com wrote:

Dear Mayor Steele:

As voted on and passed by council on the July 7, 2011 meeting to hold a Special Called Meeting Monday, July 11, 2011, below is a list of Agenda Items to be placed thereon:

A. DISCUSS AND CONSIDER THE RESIGNATION OF CITY SECRETARY ALICE HOLLOWAY. (ACTION AS REQUIRED)
B. EXECUTIVE SESSION: PURSUANT TO TEXAS GOV’T. CODE §551.074,
( A) (1) PERSONNEL: TO DELIBERATE THE APPOINTMENT, EMPLOYMENT, EVALUATION, REASSIGNMENT, DUTIES, DISCIPLINE OR DISMISSAL OF A PUBLIC OFFICER OR EMPLOYEE: CITY SECRETARY MARCUS SMITH.
C. EXECUTIVE SESSION: PURSUANT TO TEXAS GOV’T. CODE §551.074,
(A) (1) PERSONNEL: TO DELIBERATE THE APPOINTMENT, EMPLOYMENT, EVALUATION, REASSIGNMENT, DUTIES, DISCIPLINE OR DISMISSAL OF A PUBLIC OFFICER OR EMPLOYEE: APPOINTMENT OF CITY SECRETARY/ADMINISTRATOR.
D. ANY ACTION NECESSARY AS A RESULT OF THE EXECUTIVE SESSION.
E. DISCUSS AND CONSIDER RESOLUTION NO. 0711-11 DESIGNATING THE AUTHORIZED SIGNATURES FOR ALL CITY BANK DEPOSITORY ACCOUNTS REMOVING ALICE HOLLOWAY FROM ALL CITY BANK DEPOSITORY ACCOUNTS AND ADDING A NEW CITY SECRETARY. (ACTION AS REQUIRED)
F. REVIEW AND CONSIDER AMENDING THE 2010-2011 BUDGET CHANGING THE CITY SECRETARY LINE ITEM TO READ CITY SECRETARY/ADMINISTRATOR.
(ACTION AS REQUIRED)

Sincerly,

Hector Pena
Mayor Pro-Tem
There is Pena's request for a special meeting, claimed as a result of a council vote on Madrigal's motion. I would call Alderman Pena's attention to the statutory requirement for a City Secretary and a City Ordinance mandating a City Administrator are two different functions and cannot, by law, be combined.

From: "Mayor Steele"
Sent: Friday, July 8, 2011 10:36pm
To: "hpena@cityofwilmer.com"

Subject: Re: Agenda Items For Special Called Meeting Monday, July 11, 2011

I am happy to discuss these items with you. Especially city secretary.
Is there a candidate name?
The Mayor has stated he is aware of numerous candidates for the position. The appropriate venue for discussion is in an Executive Session to deliberate on the candidates. The fact that two people occupy the position currently must be resolved before considering or naming a replacement.

i dont understand you stating there was a vote for a special meeting.
Did you have a vote.
Where was it located?
At the meeting, the motion Alderman Madrigal put to a vote was abbreviated by the Mayor in his restatement when the vote result was called and may not have accurately reflected Alderman's actual statements. Mayor Steele is attempting to ridicule Alderman Pena's assertion, denying the original motion's existence, rather than its' validity.

What is the grounds of discussion for marcus smith?
Is there reason to discuss an officer of the city that i have not heard one council member state any grounds to intimidate an employee of the city?
Why does the Mayor refer to intimidation, when none is implied or intended? Indeed, is this not more self relevation, Mayor Steele inserting his bias into the motivational aspects of Alderman Pena's request? The grounds for discussing Smith have everything to do with his position and contract as City Secretary - the Mayor should notice the personnel action discusses "City Secretary Marcus Smith" referring to the fraudulent contract executed by the Mayor at the City Council's direction. Smith was an employee before the contract and still will be after the contract is quashed. He just won't have any claim to the statutory position of City Secretary.

There is not a position of city administrator so I dont understand this
item. your item e is redundant.
According to Wilmer City Codes Section 2-6 there is by ordinance a City Administrator position, although it is temporarily unfilled and the Mayor has assumed the duties, responsibilities, and authorities thereof, whether or not specifically empowered by statute or ordinance.

The secretary can be authorized to sign at time of appointment.
Prior banking signatory authorizations have been completed by resolution of the City Council, appointed boards must make resolutions approving any change in bank account administration. Fiduciary procedures require the City Council act in order to change the banking signatories, as they are the empowered authority of funds for the municipality.

Finally, you item f dealing with the budget will have to be researched. As i understand any change of the budget requires notice and possible public hearing. I will check and you can too
Mayor Steele's understanding of budgetary process is less-than-rudimentary and definitely non-compliant, but this time he errs on being overly cautious. Conducting a regularly noticed city council meeting is all that's required for a budget amendment, just like last year in case the Mayor has forgotten.

Last thing Mr Pena, if this is your idea of leadership, i can only hope that you see the errors that you are making because you are in for a rude awakening by these actions.
What are you trying to do to this city by these immature and irrational actions? I suggest you pick up a book and read it, perhaps the local government code for starters.
The Mayor's belittling comments are Arrogant and Insulting. There is an implied threat by the Mayor of a rude awakening. I would suggest the Mayor look in the mirror for immature and irrational actors in the city government and brush up on his own reading comprehension skills. I understand his best use of the Local Government Code is to hurl it across the City Hall at Mr. Pena.

Jeff Steele


-----Original Message-----
On Wed, Jul 20, 2011 at 6:07 PM, hpena@cityofwilmer.com wrote:

Dear Mayor Steele:

In response to your email wherein you have questions regarding a simple email directing items be placed on a Special Called Meeting agenda which, in my humble opinion, you have no authority to question, I will attempt to answer as briefly as possible.
Sorry Mr. Pena, everybody has a right to question - statute gives three aldermen the right to call a meeting of topics of your choosing in LGC 22.038(b)

These items are not up for discussion with you or anyone else outside of council chambers in a meeting. The Attorney General for the State of Texas has determined that the presiding officer (you) are not authorized to control the content of the agenda, even though by statute you are the presiding officer. Under LGC 22.037(a) By statute and by virtue of our position, any one council member may place any item on the agenda for discussion and action if they so choose. No Reference

As to a Special Called Meeting. I call your attention to the motion made by council woman Madrigal and seconded by myself, passed with a 3-2 vote, wherein the motion was:
I make a motion to approve the consent items with the exception of any legal bills for City Attorney, any City Secretary appointed, interim or otherwise until we can set up a time to appoint a City Secretary that we can work with and possibly have a Special Called Meeting on Monday July 11, 2011 to appoint a City Secretary with action as necessary.

You were present at the meeting, presided over the meeting, and called for the vote of the council on this very motion. It is a fact at this point, you have once again failed and ignored the will of the majority of council and did not call a Special Called Meeting. Am I to exercise my right as Mayor Pro-tem and call the meeting myself, do you leave me another choice? Under LGC 22.037(c) There were no other legal motions that could be taken on the agenda you posted, typed and signed wherein you listed all other agenda items to be "(Discussion Only)" with no other line items for action necessary as a result of executive session. Therefore, any other actions, motions and votes taken after the above motion are null, void and invalid. The motion stands.
??? Evidently there's some disagreement between the Mayor and Alderman Pena on the Motion as passed by the Council!!!
Didn't the Executive Session proceed out-of-order and occur immediately after the discussion of consent items was initiated? Or did any action on the consent items get deferred? The only action item on the agenda was consent items - the only other item that could have resulted in an action would be the motion for adjournment. [ED NOTE: See the Link Above for the Agenda]

Marcus Smith is not to be discussed outside of council chambers and call your attention to 551. Mr. Smith is a personnel matter and shall be dealt with as such. Basic GC 551 compliance on employee matters If you perceive intimidation, no intent is made. Question Mayor how many employment agreements for the position of city secretary were signed and issued to employees?
I have two in my possession, one for Marcus Smith and one for Alice Holloway.

Please Mayor Steele, place items A. thru F. on the August 4, 2011 agenda that I previously emailed to you on July 8, 2011 for the special called meeting on July 11, 2011.

The governing body may change the budget for municipal purposes Mayor Steele. A simple change in wording. Post the agenda items and call the meeting Mayor Steele.

Blatant disrespect and disregard for the council members will not be tolerated by this council as long as I am a part of it. The high handed actions you are exhibiting could be construed as intentional unlawful behavior including an intentional or corrupt failure, refusal, or neglect to perform a duty imposed on you by law. And that would be the definition of official misconduct under LGC 21.022(4)


From: "Mayor Steele"
Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2011 12:15pm
To: hpena@cityofwilmer.com

Subject: Re: Agenda Items For Special Called Meeting Monday, July 11, 2011

Mr. Pena,

First , I would like to address what you are assuming to be the authority that you have. The authority in which you have is null by yourself. It is only within a quorum of the governmental body in which you are a member vote on an issue. I am trouble by your lack of comprehension of the will of the council. You state there was no further action after executive session but sir, you are mistaken. After reconvening into open session, Mr. Turner moved to pay the Interim City Secretary. The motion was seconded by Vicky Vandygriff. The vote was 3-2 in favor of the motion.

As to the special meeting, I direct you to your own words of the motion,
"POSSIBLY have a special called meeting" Mayor Steele has a point on the verb used at the time, once the motion was followed with a written request, intent was clarified and the agenda items should have been accommodated in either a special or regular meeting. Intent of the majority was declared during the meeting. The follow-up email clarified that. Or not as you wish Mayor.
Your refusal to not speak to me and discuss what your issues with the secretary and city attorney are cowardly and immature. You have no authority to call any meeting whether you are mayor pro temp or God himself. I refer you again sir the the Texas Local Government Code.
More rude belittling commentary regarding Alderman Pena. Amusing the use of the phrase "refusal to not speak" which should mean you're getting an ear full! The incredibly blasphemous proclamation from the Mayor assuming authority over God for control of his precious meeting agenda. What else can I say except to remind Mayor Steele that I myself have un-called some of his meetings and unhinged an agenda item or two in the months leading to the election!

As to the governing body may change the budget. If the budget officer of the city (which is me )
The above sentence fragment is unintelligible and redundant.

Sec. 22.042. POWERS AND DUTIES OF MAYOR. (a) The mayor
is the chief executive officer of the municipality. The mayor shall at all times actively ensure that the laws and ordinances of the municipality are properly carried out. The mayor shall perform the duties and exercise the powers prescribed by the governing body of the municipality.
(b) The mayor shall inspect the conduct of each subordinate municipal officer and shall cause any negligence, carelessness, or other violation of duty to be prosecuted and punished.
(c) The mayor shall give to the governing body any information, and shall recommend to the governing body any measure, that relates to improving the finances, police, health, security, cleanliness, comfort, ornament, or good government of the municipality.
(d) The mayor may administer oaths of office.
(e) In the event of a riot or unlawful assembly or to preserve the peace and good order in the municipality, the mayor may order and enforce the closing of a theater, ballroom, or other place of recreation or entertainment, or a public room or building and may order the arrest of a person who violates a state law or a municipal ordinance in the presence of the mayor.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.

Sec. 102.001. BUDGET OFFICER. (a) The mayor of a municipality serves as the budget officer for the governing body of the municipality except as provided by Subsection (b).
b) If the municipality has the city manager form of government, the
city manager serves as the budget officer.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.

In summation I will say, how dare you accuse me of intentional unlawful behavior and you or Joe Alderich may visit and speak to me on your issues.

I observed no accusations from Mr. Pena, although he mentions the possibility of an appearance of intentional (mis)conduct. The second rule of disinformation is the Mayor's oft used "how dare you" ploy; it has no effect on matters of fact.

[ED NOTE: "2. Become incredulous and indignant. Avoid discussing key issues and instead focus on side issues which can be used show the topic as being critical of some otherwise sacrosanct group or theme. This is also known as the 'How dare you!' gambit." from 25 Rules of Disinformation at http://www.whale.to/m/disin.html]

My observation is that Mayor Steele maintains his ignorance of propriety and the obligations of his office to the detriment of the City and the taxpayers. IMHO it amounts to "Criminal Stupidity".

And I thank Mayor Steele for inviting me to share my comments on his issues with you all. I would remind the Mayor that I will speak on these and any other issues I may have regardless of Mr. Pena's stance on matters, although I'd prefer not to subjugate myself to a personal visit with the Mayor!
Read more!

School Zone Speeding Ticket? Apply for a Refund!

Wilmer Citizen Activist, in public information requests has determined that the City of Wilmer has prosecuted 529 individuals for the crime of "Speeding in a School Zone" to the tune of $165,852since Wilmer Academy began operation in August 2009 - WITHOUT an ordinance creating a school zone. YOU COULD BE DUE A REFUND AND CLEANED DRIVING RECORD.


What if the City Council never adopted an ordinance declaring a school zone and just threw up some new signs and started issuing tickets and collecting money? What if the City did declare just one School Zone in an ordinance - where the old elementary school is on Walnut Street - but definitely not on Belt Line or Dallas Avenue where you got your ticket?

This is EXACTLY what happened, the charter school came in, new school zone signs were erected near the intersection of Belt Line Road & Dallas Avenue, the old signs were removed from Dallas Ave, Walnut Street and College/Kissell. The ordinance declaring the Walnut Street school zone was left intact, nothing was repealed, no new ordinance was created to replace the existing school zone ordinance.

"Unlawful Prosecution" doesn't even rate as a crime, but this situation is definitely one of unlawful prosecution because there is no violation of law. The depth of the collusion implicates both the entire Municipal Court and Police Department - as well as any attorney acting to prosecute the charges. Obviously, this is just a mere oversight, a clerical error, an exigent circumstance to be waived away as a minor inconvenience. We all know ignorance of the law is no excuse - that applies equally to those who uphold the law as well as those who violate it.

At a minimum, we've discovered egregious violations of due process rights for at least 529 individuals - roughly equivalent to one-in-six Wilmer residents!

This is nothing less than racketeering, an ongoing criminal enterprise, denying the citizens of due process, unlawfully collecting penalties for non-violations, defrauding the tax payers, generally obstructing justice and intentionally tampering with government records. Couple this with an unknown number of additional charges and a few custodial arrests and the potential liability claims of the victims of the City's unlawful acts are extreme.

As a potential victim, you have a choice of whether to join a class of similar victims in a class action against the City of Wilmer, or complain to the criminal authorities about the civil rights violations. Then there's always the State's Victim Fund.

Having discovered the current state of the City's finances, any class action litigation probably wouldn't net enough funds to cover the cost of litigation. Besides, any settlements are going to have to come out of the taxpayers' pocket - probably your own pocket eventually.

There are a number of remedies which seem appropriate in this matter:
EXPUNCTION - fix the victims's driving & court records eliminating the conviction,
REFUND any fines, fees & court costs,
CEASE the enforcement of school zone speeding and remove all the signs from the streets.

THEN perhaps the City can work on actually solving the legal dilemma by writing a new school zone ordinance and repealing the old one. Whatever the resolution, it's never going to be enough in my mind to adequately compensate the victims of this travesty for their time, money and continuing expense in increased insurance premiums, not to mention the emotional trauma and other damages sustained by the City of Wilmer's capricious administration.

Read more!

Aug 18 City Council Meeting - NO BUDGET!

Here it is the middle of August only 45 days before the end of the fiscal year and the Mayor hasn't submitted a budget workshop agenda. We are running out of time and this week's meeting is packed with rehash topics and single source contracts.
Click Here to View the Agenda Online



The proposed budget that comes out of the budget workshop for public inspection is required to be available (sit on the clerk's desk) for 30 continuous days before it can be acted upon. During that time, the budget is made available for public review and public hearings are scheduled so that there is plenty of time to review the budget and make appropriate public comments. Any revisions as a result of the public hearings should be made before the revised proposed budget is acted upon by the city council for approval or rejection or revision. The entire process has to be completed before the City makes its' annual tax levy as the tax revenues should be reflected in the budget's ad valorum tax income. Our current fiscal year ends September 30, when all of these tasks must be completed.

Other local governments have completed or scheduled budget workshops this week. The City of Seagoville completed their workshop on August 6 and have published the proposed budget for review online.
Combine's budget workshop was completed on August 12.
Ferris holds their budget workshop today August 15.
Lancaster concludes their budget workshop tomorrow August 16.
Greenville Texas is waiting until the 19th to hold their budget workshop.
The City of Hutchins scheduled budget meetings could not be determined online at press time.

We'll be looking for a Called Meeting before the first of September. Read more!

Dual Office Holding - The May 19 Conspiracy

The Mayor and past City Council, with the complicity of City Secretary Alice Holloway did evade and ignore the Dual Office Holding prohibitions in the Texas Constitution and violate Texas Government Code Section 574 as a result of deliberations in an Executive Session during the May 19 City Council Meeting.
See Our Documents Online Section at the end of this Article for copies of all the documents.


As a result of deliberations in CLOSED Executive Session with the City Attorney, the City of Wilmer conferred, by ordinance, dual offices on Marcus Smith in violation of Article XVI, Section 40, of the Texas Constitution and Texas Government Code Chapter 574 Dual Office Holding prohibitions. The City, engaged in fraudulent employment contracts, awarding the City Secretary job to both Smith and Holloway and obligating the City's funds on all contracts beyond the current fiscal period. As a result, employment agreements were executed with Marcus Smith enjoying the positions of City Secretary by contract - and Fire Chief and Code Enforcement Officer by appointment statement and oath.

Mayor Steele has maintained that the signing of the employment agreement with Marcus Smith as City Secretary was merely a clerical error and has refused to deal with the issue. However, since Alice Holloway occupied that position at the time the agreement with Marcus Smith was executed, a fraudulent contract was executed with both Smith and Holloway at the direction of the City Council - without the advice of the City Attorney. The fact that until the acceptance of her resignation as City Secretary at the August 4 City Council meeting, Alice Holloway retained some statutory standing as City Secretary, clouded by the contractual claim held by Marcus Smith. The expenditure of taxpayer funds for an interim replacement while allowing two conflicting claims by contract as well as statute doesn't seem to fit any reasonable standard of accountability.

Judicial action on dual office holding violations requires an "emolument" be received in more than one position. Perhaps Alice Holloway receives some benefits from Wilmer while serving in her new post, a cell phone perhaps or Internet device or service, an insurance benefit, anything of value? We have no idea what kind of severance package she may have enjoyed.

The City may claim Marcus Smith is not, does not and will not assume the duties of the City Secretary, however, the City has not invalidated his employment contract. The City may claim the Marcus Smith received only one salary as Fire Chief although the executed contract clearly indicates his salary as City Secretary. The City Administration may have planned this as part of some "fraud conspiracy" as there is no enabling ordinance or authority for a fire department nor fire chief in the City of Wilmer and one way to ensure Chief-Enforcer Smith's continued employment would be to execute a contract for a position authorized by statute.

The City also furnishes a take home vehicle for Smith's use.  All of Smith's "code enforcement" activities are conducted using this vehicle. Mr. Smith obviously uses this taxpayer furnished resource outside the confines of his official duties as we've all seen him shopping and other errands while driving the vehicle. No matter, the mere fact that the City furnishes a vehicle for his convenience while acting as the "unpaid" Code Enforcement Officer constitutes an "emolument" by most standards.

Public Information Requests regarding Mr. Smith's financial records with the City of Wilmer have thus far only yielded expenses in the role of Code Enforcement Officer. There have not been any other records yet returned as the result of our public information inquiries. Interesting to note that although the City furnishes a vehicle for Mr. Smith's take-home use, Smith's expense reports show he uses his personal vehicle and receives a mileage allowance when traveling on the City's business for training. Strange that one would choose to use a personal vehicle rather than one supplied by one's employer for job related travel unless there was a pecuniary gain or advantage.

The dismissal of Fire Chief/Code Enforcer/Secretary Marcus Smith might seem to solve the immediate problem. Unfortunately, the collusion among the city council and other city officers to defraud the taxpayers (by contract) and violate the Texas Constitution (GC 574, PC 39.02) by naming one person to two of the four "officer positions" created by ordinance is an unavoidably intentional and willfull act not in accordance with statute or other law.

The City then executed two Oath and Affirmation statements for Mr. Smith's dual offices in the official government documents in the public record. Certainly, our elected officials have every right to claim ignorance of the law - although perhaps criminal stupidity in this instance. With an officer of the court present the council should have received something remotely resembling competent legal counsel - which of course the council is free to ignore and stumble over statute blindly and willingly. According to the City Attorney, he didn't draft or review the contracts, so it appears that Holloway and the Council made all the clerical errors.

The good taxpayers of Wilmer demand the ouster of Marcus Smith for these reasons.

The good taxpayers also DEMAND that our elected officials pay the price for their intentional wanton disregard for the Constitution and Laws of the State of Texas which they have all sworn to uphold and by their acts violated that oath and the public trust.

Finally, the taxpayers and citizens of Wilmer demand that the City retain COMPETENT LEGAL COUNSEL to protect us from the ignorant acts of our elected officials and the consequences of these acts on the taxpayers and residents.

[ED NOTE: Some of our references in preparing this article]

Public Officers: Traps for the Unwary
Office of the Attorney General (2004)
page 3 Common Law Conflict of Interest Meyers v. Walker
pages 32-47 Dual Office Holding

Texas Government Code TITLE 5. SUBTITLE B. Ethics
Chapter 574. Dual Office Holding

DOCUMENTS ONLINE
Ordinance Declaring Municipal Officers
Smith City Secretary Contract
Smith Oath Affirmation Fire Chief
Smith Oath Affirmation Code Enforcement
Holloway Oath Affirmation City Secretary
Holloway City Secretary Contract
Burns Oath Affirmation Building Official
Burns Building Official Contract
Kemp Oath Affirmation Police Chief
Kemp Police Chief Contract Read more!

WANTED: New Mayor & New Council Members

An anonymous letter arrived today, August 6, 2011 requesting that we list WANT ADS for a New Mayor and New City Council Members and publish any credentials or applications submitted for the posted jobs.
Click Here to Read the Letter!


The letter announcing these positions was addressed to the Wilmer Citizen Activist and was From "TAXPAYERS TIRED OF CITY LEADERS MISAPPROPRIATING FUNDS. VIOLATING LAWS, MAKING FALSE STATEMENTS TO THE CITIZENS. NOT REPRESENTING THE CITIZENS. AND NOT DOING WHAT IS BEST FOR THE CITY".

Both positions for the Mayor and City Council advertise the exact same qualifications in the letter we received.

"Requirements: honest, intelligent, complies with laws, financially competent, team player, willing to continuously learn, does what is best for the city, respects the citizens, represents the citizens, and resides in Wilmer. If qualified, contact the editor of this website so the editor can publish your credentials. The citizens of Wilmer will then contact you and create an immediate opening for you if you meet the requirements."

Needless to say this is a bit unusual for a job application process, but Wilmer Citizen Activist will do its' part as requested.
Bring on the credentials, applications, resumes, etc.!
Read more!

Mayoral Conduct Stuns Citizens at Meeting

The City Council Meeting of August 4th was a hot one indeed. The new City Council exercised it's powers and authority, questioning the accuracy of the recorded minutes, and standing firm on certain expenses - the Mayor's "lividity" was evident to everyone after ejecting two citizens, slandering a third and threatening to have Alderman Pena forcibly removed from the dais. The Mayor left the dais along with Vandygriff and Turner, leaving a seated quorum to conclude the public business.


The citizens assembled didn't appreciate the Mayor's comportment from the very beginning of the meeting. The Citizen's comments were somewhat lengthy and protracted due to a procession of complainants regarding the City's excessive permits, fees & requirements. One speaker, later ejected by the Mayor, researched the CDBG grant funds and found they could be used for water improvements and wanted the Council to have that information as there was an agenda item regarding those funds. The Spanish language petitioner with Alderman Pena translating took quite some time in relation to other speakers. At the beginning of Steele's administration the minimum residential building permit was $25, today it is $750 given the resident's accounts of statements from the City's Building Official.

After admitting in the August 4th issue of the Ellis County Press that he "paid the bills" without City Council approval to save the city $11,000 in late payment fees to the State Comptroller, Mayor Steele should have understood that there would be no "consent" on the consent items.
[ED NOTE: CLICK HERE to read our companion story "ECP: Steele Pays Bills Without Council Approval]

He joined the consideration of the two regular consent items, approval of minutes of prior meetings and the expenses items, only to have Vandygriff move to discuss the issues separately when the approval of the minutes lead to an extended discussion of their accuracy and portrayal of the events in question at the prior meetings, specifically motions and the paying of certain expenses.

It was during Alderman Pena's briefing on progress with the Water Task Force highlighting the lack of cooperation from City Hall in establishing the planning groundwork for proceeding with water improvements task force that the crowd began to percolate. One woman was ejected by Officer Sawyer at the Mayor's insistence and threatened with a citation.

Another woman seated near the woman ejected was told by the Mayor that the City has two jail cells and he was sure she had already seen the inside of them, whereupon Mr. Pena demanded an apology for such an insulting affront to a citizen among a group of citizens assembled. The mayor requested the woman apologize for "calling me a son of a bitch" whereupon again Alderman Pena remonstrated him for offensive language and Steele replied that "son of a bitch" wasn't a bad word or offensive enough to be considered disorderly conduct. The woman who had been insulted corrected the mayor and replied that she hadn't used that phrase, she just agreed with the previously ejected woman who had used the term. Steele insincerely apologized.

In short order, comments from the citizens assembled resulted in more persons being ejected from the council chambers over Alderman Pena's repeated objections. The Mayor stated that he would have Mr Pena removed if he so desired, citing some recent event in the City of Duncanville.

ED NOTE:
No reporter was present after the second citizen was ejected until the meeting recessed for Executive Session.


After returning from the Executive Session, the Mayor called for motions resulting from the closed deliberations whereupon the temporary services contract for the interim city secretary was terminated and Crystol Birdwell was reappointed to the position of City Secretary beginning August 5, 2011. Alderman Pena, retaining the floor after the vote and making additional motions as the result of  the Executive Session deliberations, was then called out of order. The Mayor called for a motion to adjourn over Pena's objection and received the expected responses from Vandygriff and Turner (motion and second) and called the meeting adjourned and left the council chambers with VandyTurner in tow. However, Steele never called the question on the motion to adjourn, there was no vote, and a quorum of the City Council retained the dais and continued with the post executive session motions until they had concluded the public business, at which time the meeting was properly adjourned upon unanimous consent of the assembled quorum present.

Read more!

Mayor & Past Council Violated Open Meetings Act

Mayor Jeff Steele admitted in an interview to the Ellis County Press (Click Here to View the Article) that he and the members of the City Council intentionally deliberated in private to determine the appointment of Vicky Vandygriff to Matias Leal's vacated unexpired term on May 19, 2011, in violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act.


The Ellis County Press (May 26) described the open City Council meeting when Vandygriff was appointed:
"Vandygriff, after just resigning, was appointed by the council unanimously to fulfill the remainder of Leal’s term to the mixed crowd of booing and cheering."

The process Major Jeff Steele described to arrive at the post-election appointment of Vandygriff to another term constitutes a "Walking Quorum" or "Straw Poll" - intent to deliberate in private to avoid discussion in public in violation of the Act is specifically prohibited and criminal sanctions may apply, as well as voiding of whatever action was taken. Intentional and unintentional acts of Avoidance to the TXOMA have resulted in prosecutions and convictions in Texas.

To further quote the May 26 edition of the Ellis County Press regarding Mayor Steele's description of the process:

“There was no group discussion,” said Steele about the vote.
“I spoke to each one of them individually.”
“I assure you, everything has been done by the letter of the law to the T.”

By Mayor Steele's own admission, the Council conducted their actual deliberations, if any, in PRIVATE, CLOSED meetings in numbers less than a quorum to avoid public discussion and then "ratified" their previously decided and agreed upon course of action in the OPEN public meeting. One would be hard pressed to find a more "textbook like" Conspiracy to Violate the Open Meetings Act case given the Mayor's published admission, the audacity of the action undertaked in these closed deliberations and the public's reaction in response. The Spirit of the Law is not in evidence here and the Letter of the Law seems to have been intentionally mislaid somewhere.

To quote "The Open Meetings Act At a Glance" (2006) published by the Texas Municipal League:
"An official can be convicted for participating in an illegal closed meeting, even if unaware of the illegality of the meeting. It is an affirmative defense that the member or the official acted in reasonable reliance on a: (1) court order; (2) written opinion of a court of record; (3) written attorney general’s opinion; or (4) written opinion of the attorney for the governing body."

This is one of the reasons that all elected officials are required under GC 551.005 to attend and certify training completion for provisions of the Texas Open Meetings Act - which by the way, both Mayor Steele and Vicky Vandygriff have certificates on file (oops, there goes culpable deniability). The same training requirements are documented in GC 552.012 for the Texas Public Information Act which none of our elected officials seem to have completed in the manner proscribed by law.

The Texas Municipal League advises:
"Despite the lack of a penalty provision, officials should be cautioned that a deliberate failure to attend training may result in an increased risk of criminal conviction should they be accused of violating the Act.".

Regardless of whether the criminal charges are pursued against the Mayor, Bell, Leal, Dyess, Turner, and Vandygriff for their complicity and enabling, at least the current City Council could act on this one violation State Law and remove the Mayor from office before any more harm is done to the taxpaying citizens of this community.

And in case any of our readers were wondering: Yes, we have verified that this type of polling is considered by the current Texas Attorney General staff to be a walking quorum and subject to criminal prosecution as of the date of publication (29 July 2011).

Some of our Open Meetings Act References from the State of Texas Office of Attorney General:

"Open Meetings 2006 Handbook"
page 5 Judicial Decisions
Esperanza Peace and Justice Center v. City of San Antonio
page 5 Attorney General Opinions

"Open Meetings Handbook 2004"
page 51 Porth v. Morgan
page 53-54 Section 551.143-551.144

"Texas Open Meetings Act Made Easy (2002)
ANSWERS TO THE MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE OPEN MEETINGS ACT
pages 35-38 Questions #90 through #97.

Read more!

FINALLY - A Solution to the Water Problem

Many things can be said of the no-action city council meeting of July 6, but the Mayor and "senior aldermen" relieved themselves (pun intended) of anything to do with Wilmer's water service making progress on the problem at least possible.


There were several memorable quotes in the exchanges between Alderman Pena and the Mayor, but it was telling that Mayor Steele foisted all responsibility for solving the problem on Mr. Pena and then proceeded to castigate the voters, Mr. Pena's published opposition to the bond proposal - while emphasizing his own political agenda of connecting at Bonnie View to service the needs of the Allen Group.

WELL! MR. MAYOR LET IT BE KNOWN that there will be no solution to the water problem that includes anything to do with connecting at Bonnie View and running lines as planned in the bond package. Past Council's inability to reframe the parameters of the problem are completely at fault. Although the newly elected have not yet shown their capabilities, at least the imbecilic options presented by the past council are free to be given no consideration at all since fresh minds are engaging the problem.

The most mediocre high school graduate knows that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and it takes a pretty strong mathematician to prove them wrong in a Riemann Space. The epic fail of the proposed piping plan was to bring any line down from Wintergreen at Pinto or Sunrise when ultimately it was to connect to well #2 at Millers Ferry north of Pleasant Run. Any geometry student with a ruler would properly indicate the best route straight from the source, down Wintergreen and then to Well #2, rather than proceeding farther South than necessary and return back north to connect. So other than to benefit the Allen Group properties and potentially certin sitting and recently departed members of the City Council, what justifiable explanation is there for this solution?

Not to mention that "Well #2" isn't particularly functional at the moment even as a transfer station. The "well" isn't usable at all since there's no structure to support the cooling tower that is needed to cool the water drawn from the deep well - the existing pump for water transfer isn't working so great either as there have been several outages of water service in the past weeks.

So what are some of the options?
Wilmer could participate with NTCOG in the 120 plan to bring a huge main off I20 down I45 - which somehow the mayor neglected to retain as he attended those South Dallas Infrastructure meetings (see the City of Wilmer web site).
Wilmer could cooperate in regional planning for future water resources. Wilmer could eliminate their dependence on outside water and operate an self sufficient Water Department.
Wilmer could dedicate all our facilities to Dallas Water and get out of the business of losing money for the taxpayers while providing marginal service to the customers.

At least we have VIABLE options that can be considered instead of preconceived boondoggles with no apparent benefit to the public. Read more!

Mayor, Vandygriff & Council "Flip the Bird" to Voters *UPDATE*

In an overwhelming display of hubris, Mayor Steele, Vicky and the City Council saluted the entire electorate with upraised middle finger Thursday night... figuratively speaking.  Just look at the coverage on Channel 23 and see for yourself.

Click Here to View the Univision Channel 23 Media Coverage part 1

Click Here to View the Univision Channel 23 Media Coverage part 2

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE ELLIS COUNTY PRESS ARTICLE WITH 9 MINUTE VIDEO
Click Here to View the YouTube Video Only.


A very self-congratulatory, brazen and smug city council convened before a crowd of at least sixty to defecate on the citizenry and push forth their "final agenda". In their wisdom, they re-ordered the agenda to consider the resignations and replacements for the Leal and Vandygriff positions on the council BEFORE considering the other agenda items. The crowd responded approvingly when Vandygriff resigned. Jean Landrum was placed in Vandygriff's vacated seat and Vandygriff was placed in Leal's seat and given another year to bolster the mayor's agenda and "represent" the people expressly against their mandate from the polls and collective better judgment. And the crowd went wild vehemently denouncing the action by the City Council, the wanton disregard for the voters who wanted Vandygriff out and the insult to the entire electorate by extending Vandygriff's term. Vandygriff's swearing in was protested so loudly in the room that the Mayor threatened to arrest folks - which got a huge laugh from the citizens assembled. When he scolded the group that "this is not a joke folks" - never has such truth been told by one so ignorant of what was being said. Nevertheless, when citizens started being escorted from the Hall, many residents left en masse with the TV cameras to take their complaints and frustrations to the streets (parking lot).

When the group reconvened after the executive session where contract deals were inked between the City and their favored henchmen which ascended to positions of becoming "city officers" - with all the privileges and liabilities that distinction entails. Vicky Vandygriff joyously, maliciously and very in-your-face to the citizens assembled - took on the task of making all the motions to create four new city officers Building Official Bill Burns, Code Enforcer and Fire Chief Marcus Smith, Police Chief Victor Kemp and provide employment contracts to those three as well as City Secretary Alice Holloway.

Evidently, the city council never read those contracts because Stan Bell stated after the meeting he didn't know what the contracts said in response to a question about contract termination clauses. A citizen pointed out that - as is typical for Stan - the meeting was over and Stan still didn't know what had happened - thank you Stan for your "service" and good riddance.

The City Council NEVER DISCLOSED the amount of taxpayer funds committed with these new employment contracts or the contract term/duration when asked by the public from the floor. Evidently, Council members were under orders not to discuss those items with the public, as disclosed by councilman Bob Turner in an after meeting conversation. Read more!

Outgoing City Council Posts May 19 Agenda

Click Here to View the May 19 City Council Agenda from the City of Wilmer Web Site


UNBELIEVEABLE...

The City Council plans to modify the tax abatement agreement with Whirlpool - we don't know why or how, but this is the biggest pot of tax revenue in our district and the outgoing council is going to change something.

Your outgoing City Council is then going to create six new "City Officers" with employment contracts to protect their jobs from the newly elected council members:
BUILDING INSPECTOR BILL BURNS
CODE ENFORCER MARCUS SMITH
FIRE CHIEF MARCUS SMITH
CITY SECRETARY ALICE HOLLOWAY
MIKE HALLA (attorney) and
POLICE CHIEF VICTOR KEMP

Outgoing and definitely not re-elected councilman VICKY VANDYGRIFF will resign just days before she is unseated - the council might appoint someone to fill her last few days in office.

Then the council will accept MATIAS LEAL's resignation and most likely fill the position with - VICKY VANDYGRIFF, giving the ousted council member another year to "represent" the people.

(ED NOTE: BRING YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS TO WATCH THE FOLKS YOU THREW OUT OF OFFICE PUSH YOUR FACE BACK IN THE DIRT FOR ANOTHER YEAR OF STEWARDSHIP UNDER THEIR WATCH - 200 to 300 RESIDENTS WOULD BE GREAT)

Read more!

Mayor Endorses Candidates

Well it looks as if the true colors are showing as the Mayor was campaigning with Dyess and Phinney last night at the gas stations and today the Mayor has provided a written endorsement of the John Eggen campaign candidates.

Click Here to View the Mayor's Candidate Endorsement Letter


There you have it folks, the Mayor's people with the purple signs aren't going to change anything, they're statisfied with and fully support the way the Mayor runs roughshod over the citizenry in this town gouging fees from businesses and homeowners - raising taxes just like the Sheriff of Nottingham back in the time of Robin Hood.

I guess this has become a popularity contest:
IF YOU LIKE THE MAYOR, VOTE FOR THE PURPLE SIGNS!

If you think the Mayor and his henchmen need to be replaced -
vote for Pena Madrigal and Wells.

And if you're thinking about voting for Abney... just say no. Read more!