The real story of how the gold rush on development and water in Texas can also bring in bad political actors, is on stage this Tuesday night, August 13 at Bastrop City Hall. Come at 6 to grab a seat. Talk to us on the way in.
You can also sign in to speak or to weigh in on an agenda item without speaking here online. The agenda is here. We suggest you speak on Item 14(d) (Charter Amendments) and Item 14(e) (Recall Petition).
Concerned about the open government amendment to the city charter? This excellent post will prepare you for the discussion at Bastropians for Open Government here.
Live in Bastrop? Reserve a seat at Lyle Nelson and Friends meeting -- with open government attorney, Bill Aleshire -- on Monday, Aug. 19, 6:30 pm at Lyle's website here.
Tuesday Night
On stage -- the dais -- among others will be Mayor Pro Tem John Kirkland for one. It was Kirkland who made fast friends with the City Manager, Sylvia Carrillo.
The Kirkland gang and City Manager have been thick as thieves over the staged recall petition conducted by City Council members and those who lost in recent elections. They aimed at Bastrop Mayor Lyle Nelson, but so far, they keep missing. This includes plenty of missing public funds spent on their charade.
The Kirkland Gang has caused over $137,070 in public funds to be spent for investigations, audits, and attorney fees that turned up no wrongdoing whatsoever by Lyle Nelson. Yet they continue the effort to remove Mayor Nelson from office crying wolf about "misuse of funds."
According to one of the leading expert attorneys on the Texas Open Meetings Act, Bill Aleshire, who spoke to KVUE News last week, the petition was filed too late to make the November ballot. Aleshire also explained why the petition does not meet the requirements of recall petitions stated in the Bastrop city charter.
The city charter recall provisions require petitioners to have a signer on each petition page swear that what they have signed is "true." On 91 of the 96 pages filed by the recallers, there is no such attestation.
To boot, if their agenda prevails on Tuesday night, they're even trying to completely rewrite the city charter provisions on citizen's petitions to put them under the control of the very body being petitioned -- the City Council! (See Item 14d, see the 1700+ words.)
Yes, they have turned into a bit of an unruly mob.
But Lyle is leading a fight that we believe the citizens will win in the end. That's because the recall isn't really about him. It is a graceless attack on the rights of Bastrop residents to have genuine input into how their city is managed and led.
Right now, petitioners and signers have the opportunity to end this.
Petitioners can withdraw the recall petition. And signers may soon be able to remove their signatures if this recall is pursued.
Signers can use this form to remove their signature, but talk to us about it.
Contact us at 512.697.8809 or see us outside City Hall on Tuesday. We will have forms for you to use to remove your signature.
This coming Tuesday, August 13, where citizen's right to petition is at stake! See agenda here
Note: Don't be surprised if some of the items on this agenda
disappear before your very eyes on Tuesday!
The problem for signers who may now be asked by Kirkland to sign an affidavit -- especially under oath and notarized -- that what they are signing is true, can be seen in the language of the petition itself as follows. It's an "innuendo," not factual case they're making, see?:
"The Bastrop Board of Ethics has unanimously determined that Mayor Lyle Nelson has violated Bastrop’s Ethics Ordinance for Abuse of Position, Interference and been formally reprimanded for interfering in an investigation into misuse of public funds by his girlfriend. The demonstrated lying and other interference have violated the public trust. The undersigned demand the removal of Mayor Lyle Nelson."
At this moment, it appears that recallers are intent on curing their petition mistakes though it's too late for the November ballot. Then, they may push for a Special Election in December. This would not only cost the city at least $25,000, several election attorney experts have stated that recall petitions are only allowed on uniform election dates.
Therefore, the next date for a recall is the next uniform election date -- May 2025.
Ironically, that's the same time Kirkland will be up for reelection. If he so chooses to run, Katy bar the door for a citizen's movement to defeat Kirkland for a big fat waste of taxpayer dollars and time. He must have missed the memo that Bastrop, like all Texas cities, faces real problems with basic city services -- water, flooding, ambulance and other public safety needs.
Oops!
Hope to see you on Tuesday at City Hall.
Y'all come see Lyle's side of the story with leading open government attorney, Bill Aleshire, on Monday, August 19. 6:30 pm. Sign in: KeepMayorNelson.org
Also, read this important update from Bastropians for Open Goverment -- Don't Bog us Down: about the August 13th meeting: https://bastropbog.com/the-agenda-is-up/
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Disclosures: I have lived two blocks outside the City of Bastrop for 23 years. Sylvia Carrillo also lives outside the city. I am a volunteer and retired. Sylvia Carrillo is paid $230,000 a year with an additional $42,000 stipend. The City of Bastrop has a population of approximately 12,000. The Mayor and City Council Members are volunteers. The Mayor is paid only $150 per month. City Council members are paid only $75 per month. There are five sitting city council members. The sixth member is the Mayor who only votes in ties. No one remembers the Mayor ever settling a tie vote.
If you didn't read our original story on this recall, please do here. It went viral for a reason. "Bastrop recall, mob rule or Keystone cops? Crouch spills beans on NextDoor."
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