Council doesn't take action against Hasty following complaint

The Bandera City Council voted last Tuesday to not take action against Councilwoman Darcy Hasty for her conduct at last year’s Flying L PUD board meetings, as alleged by Steve Childers of said PUD.

Council first deliberated with their attorney in a closed session regarding Hasty’s alleged conduct that could be in violation of the City Code Section 1.03.255 regarding Conduct of City Officials and Employees, which states: “The professional and personal conduct of city officials and employees shall refrain from abusive conduct, personal charges or verbal attacks upon the character or motives of other city officials and employees, board, commission, and committee members and the public.”

Mayor Suzanne Schauman reminded council removal of a council person or city officer can only be done in District court. Other types of action can be discussed and made by the council. The mayor can recommend a reprimand or something similar.

Several citizens spoke on behalf of Hasty, one of which stated Darcy made it very clear she was a member of City Council and never identified as speaking for them.

Another citizen said, “She received cool and tasteless treatment. Why is the board so threatened by her?”

One speaker said, “Ms. Hasty acted as a well-informed citizen and only pressed the PUD for transparency.”

Hasty said, “I stand before you having been accused of violating code 1.03.255.

She added Mr. Childers was not a member of the PUD board, did not have permission to file a complaint for the PUD and this complaint is from Childers himself as a citizen.

Councilman Jerry Russe said this complaint was not against the PUD or Childers and the focus should not be on them or their internal disputes.

Hasty went on to show Childers had introduced himself as the PUD Administrator.

The mayor interjected this was not about Childers’ actions.

Hasty said, “It shows you who he is and why he’s doing this.”

“I don’t think his motive is relevant,” Schauman responded.

Hasty went on to read some of Childers’ statements from the meeting while several council members made comments about relevance.

“Can I just read my statement?” said Hasty. “I did say that I believed the PUD board was in a heap of crap. I told them they were in violation of the Open Meetings Act and how to fix it. I was trying to help them. I did hand Childers and every board member a letter of resignation. I never threatened to go to the attorney general’s office.

“I did misspeak when I was trying to explain that Mr. Childers told a developer to add an additional $5000 to the original offer and that would get another board member to vote yes. That was immediately corrected as soon as it came out of my mouth.

“I also said at another meeting that I never said there were any personal bribes. I just tried to do right by the community. I never questioned the legality of the deputy marshal being there.

“I never introduced myself as a city council member, nor did I state that I was acting on behalf of the City Council. However, I cannot control how other people describe me. I repeatedly stated that I was there as a concerned citizen. I ask the council to not set a precedent by acting against someone for exercising their First Amendments rights.”

Mayor Pro Tem Rebeca Gibson said Hasty representing herself as a city council member was not the only issue, but also alleged abusive conduct, personal charges and verbal attack on character.

“If she were not on council, this wouldn’t even be an issue,” Schauman commented. “It would be a shit show, but not an issue.”

Russe cited code 1.03.266, stating a city official shall explicitly state they do not represent the city, and asked Hasty if she had done that.

Hasty asked Russe to look at her shirt and the shirt of two other women in the audience and explained they were there representing the group they are a part of and not the City Council.

“I’m not being charged with that.” said Hasty.

“But we can ask you. We can bring up anything about your code of conduct that we’d like.” responded Russe.

“Then can we recess so I can find multiple places where I stated that I did not represent the City Council? I did not know that I’d have to jump through hoops for Jerry,” said Hasty.

Gibson told Hasty she was an incredible community advocate, but there has to be a break in the link between being on the city council and other organizations.

“We all know that we have to all walk a thin line and provide a lot of clarity when we attend these things,” she said. “How do we move forward from here and what is satisfactory for everyone? And we all need to think about the rules. I wasn’t at that meeting and there are a lot of varying opinions. What, if anything, do we want to ask of Darcy?”

Hasty responded, “I’m sitting here as a City Council member giving you my word that I never represented myself as a member of the City Council, but it is common knowledge.”

Gibson said she didn’t see Hasty’s behavior as a direct code violation.

Russe asked if council was going to hear from Childers, to which Schauman responded they had already heard from him when he presented his complaint at a previous meeting.

Councilwoman Toni Kunz said, “There was perception that you were the representing the council. That disturbs me greatly. But you certainly thought you did everything correctly. We are here not to just hear Mr. Childers’ complaint but to also learn from this. I’m over the bantering and the hearsay.”

Schauman concluded, “If nothing else comes out of this, we will all think more carefully about our public communications or attendances or how we respond and how we can better improve ourselves. Council do you want to take an action?”

A motion was made to not sustain the complaint against Hasty. Council members Gibson, Kunz, and Morse voted in favor to not sustain. Russe was opposed.

In response to the decision, Childers said, “What I had to say really didn’t matter because it was the same crowd from our meeting who had their own set of facts and I believe the city had already decided. The thing that got me was, it was never a question as to whether she represented the city. The issue was she clearly violated the City’s Code of Conduct by being as disruptive as possible at our PUD meetings at the request of Bob and Lynn Haueter.”