Web Posted: 03/26/2009 12:00 CDT
By Christine Stanley - Contributing Writer
Hollywood Park City Council members and city attorney Ryan Henry say there's a good reason behind amending the town's personnel policy to ban city employees from using recording devices while on duty, but a Houston attorney and at least one resident are afraid the rule could be used to stop potential whistleblowers.
On March 17, the council unanimously approved Section 2.13 of the city personnel policy, prohibiting employees from using any form of recording device for gathering audio or video information during normal business hours or while on duty.
There are several exceptions to the new rule that allow recording when it's required by law, according to the amendment. Recording is also allowed during criminal or civil investigations, open meetings and for specific purposes that have been approved by the council, such as voicemail or surveillance cameras at the city pool or in the municipal clerk's office.
Council candidate Bob Sartor addressed current council members before their vote, asking for their rationale behind the rule.
"If the powers that be are afraid that something they might say or do will be recorded and then heaven forbid be held against them, then it's not the recording activity that's in question, it's the powers that be that are in question," Sartor said.
Henry said the ordinance is meant to keep lines of communication open in city departments so employees won't be afraid to voice their opinions when strategizing to solve problems as they arise. But Freedom of Information Foundation attorney Joe Larsen said that rationale is unwarranted.
"Maybe this is to shut up whistleblowers," Larsen said. "Why would someone be hesitant to talk about how to solve a problem? Are some people embarrassed because they're afraid they'll look stupid? I think the danger is on the other side. People who are aware of things that are being done in a government body that are wrong who are looking for evidence. That's who this is targeted to."
Councilman Bruce Graham said the idea for the recording ban came out of a "personnel issue" involving a city employee who was recording coworkers. He declined to give further details, adding that council members have had several executive sessions during the last six months where this recording was discussed.
On Friday Henry said he couldn't elaborate on Graham's comments because there's "potential litigation" involved. He confirmed that an employee was recording conversations, saying it shut down communication within certain departments.
"People weren't communicating as they were supposed to," Henry said. "When you have someone who's looking to cause problems intentionally, you have an intimidation factor."
Graham and Henry said Hollywood Park's personnel policy provides several ways for all employees to report concerns, so prohibiting recording devices should not affect someone's decision to step forward should they have knowledge of illegal or unethical behavior.
The council also approved a $350,000 bid from R.L. Rhode General Contracting for renovations to Triangle Park, including a new playground facility, a walking trail with exercise stations, more parking and trees and a redesigned baseball field that will relocate home plate.
Web Posted: 12/27/2008 12:00 CST
Mayor says public comment time is inefficient
By Colin McDonald - Express-News
There is power in addressing city officials before a room full of residents. In small towns it can be the most effective way to have a stop sign installed or a drainage ditch repaired.
But those public comment periods at city meetings can last hours. For staff and elected officials it means less time with family, less sleep and an ever-growing portion of their lives spent sitting in town hall.
Richard McIlveen, the mayor of Hollywood Park, thought he had a solution: he removed the “citizens to be heard” item on the agenda.
“The laws we have to operate under for council meetings do not allow us (to) address the residents concerns,” he wrote in an e-mail. “It is a very poor system of communication between the elected officials and citizens.”
Arguing that residents could always reach him and the council via e-mail, he now limits public comments only to items on the agenda before they are discussed by they council.
The problem with that, said resident Bob Sartor, is the citizens do not know what the issues are from the single sentence that describes an agenda item.
More importantly to Sartor, an e-mail does not have the same heft as talking to the council directly, with others present.
“The citizens comment at the beginning of the session were the only official means citizens had to bring up issues/topics, on the record, for all citizens and the mayor and council to hear or be exposed to,” he wrote to mayor and council.
And, he said, there is plenty to talk about that the mayor is not including on the agenda. The council recently granted a special use permit for the construction of an extended-stay hotel without informing all of the residents who live near it. The council is also renting a $200,000 city-owned home to the president of its economic development corporation for $500 a month.
By Texas law, as mayor McIlveen sets the agenda and his decision is legal as long as the public can comment on the individual items on the agenda.
Most city councils in the San Antonio area, however, have a public comment period at their meetings and then allow residents to address each item on the agenda after it is presented and discussed.
“Even though it may lengthen our meeting dramatically, we think it is worth it for everyone to feel that they have been thoroughly heard,” said Louis Cooper, the mayor of Alamo Heights. “Nothing is worse than hearing, ‘No, you can't talk about that issue, it's closed.'
That's not good customer service.” Alamo Heights meetings start at 5:30 p.m. and can go till 11:30 p.m.
Ellen Alkire is the only Hollywood Park City Council member who asked the mayor to bring back public comments.
“The meetings are still about the same length as before,” she said, while residents are just more frustrated. The public comment period was something they were eager to sign up for, in which “they can talk about anything they want — as they should.”
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/Mayor_says_public_comment_time_is_inefficient.html
Hollywood Park council nixes recording among workers
Public didn't get crack at 3BR/3BA for $500
By Colin McDonald - Express-News
Hollywood Park bought a house next to City Hall for $229,900 that the city is renting to the president of its Economic Development Corp. for $500 a month, according to the lease. Comparable homes in the small city rent for $1,300 to $1,700 a month.
“I do not understand the council approving this, because we have a fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers,” said Ellen Alkire, the only council member to vote against the rental agreement with David Ballard.
The Multiple Listing Service describes the three-bedroom, three-bath house on an acre lot as a “lovely ranch style home!” “Deco paint Thru-out!,” the listing continues. “Beautiful wood floors invite you into the family room that features box window!”
Alkire said the city could have rented the place through a leasing agency and gotten two to three times the income.
Mayor Richard McIlveen, who set up the initial agreement with Ballard, said the 1955 house was not in condition to rent and needed wiring and plumbing. “The house is not in good shape and it's not like we are going to go into the rental business,” McIlveen said. “The opportunity presented itself for us to make some money and to help him out ... He just offered to pay X amount of dollars and I said fine.”
David Ballard, who is also an assistant vice president at Reata Real Estate Services, did not return phone calls seeking comment.
“I did not have anything to do with it,” said his father, Ken Ballard, mayor pro tem of the city. It's not that he thinks it's a bad idea, but “that was a deal between the mayor and my son,” he said.
The 2,380-square-foot home sits back from Sunway Drive. It was purchased in May by the Hollywood Park Economic Development Corp. under David Ballard's direction and then given to the city.
McIlveen said the house was bought because the Fire Department eventually wants to expand its facilities, which are part of the City Hall complex next door. However, the city currently has no plans or funding for an expansion project.
Ballard and his wife moved into the house this fall before contractors began remodeling the Hollywood Park house they own. At the time there was no lease.
In October, the City Council, in a 3-1 vote, approved a five-month lease calling for a $500 deposit and $500-a-month rent. Ken Ballard was not at the meeting. Either party can terminate the lease at any time with 30 days' notice, and the rental can be extended on a monthly basis.
“If he had been renting that house for $1,500 a month, that would have been harder to say it was inappropriate,” said Timothy McCallum, president of the Hollywood Park Home Owners Association.
“What it really is is stealing from the citizens of Hollywood Park.”
There is nothing illegal about the agreement, but Alkire and McCallum said it creates the appearance of a conflict over city-owned property that was not made available or advertised to the public.
“That deal stinks so much you begin to wonder what else is happening,” McCallum said.
“There is just such a huge lack of transparency.”
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/Public_didnt_get_crack_at_3BR3BA_for_500.html
ALSO REPORTED IN COMMENTS BY READERS:
mikes12:57 PM
My wife and I are the ones that sold this house to HP, so I just wanted to comment on what the mayor said. “The house is not in good shape...the 1955 house was not in condition to rent and needed wiring and plumbing." According to the inspection report the house is in great shape. Sure new wiring would be great and some of the plumbing is original and maybe not up to current code (most houses aren't), but overall the house is in great shape for its age. In fact, it has a brand new roof, new exterior paint, freshly painted throughout inside, new carpet in bedrooms and living room, new tile in kithcen, hardwood floors in family room are refinished, new front door, all trees professionally trimmed, AC/Heat works great and the house is on city sewer not septic...I could go on. Plus, the city paid list price so it must have not been in that bad of shape. Anyway, I just thought I would share the truth with you.