City Secretary Plays Defense for Mayor and City Council Against the Citizens that Pay Her Salary
Below is the text of a letter sent today in response to a letter received from City Secretary asking for clarification after an open records request was submitted requesting financial disclosures for the Mayor and City Council. The disclosures are required by Texas statute for municipalities with a population over 100,000. The disclosures are submitted to the city secretary and are considered public documents.
As you read the letter, keep this two questions in mind.
1. Why is the City Secretary attempting to thwart transparency on behalf of the Mayor and City Council against the interests of the citizens that pay her salary?
2. Why have none of the major local media outlets reported on these financial disclosures, especially given the lack of transparency/rampant accusations of self-dealing and conflicts of interests for this and previous City Councils?
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Amarillo, TX 79***
June 16, 2018
Frances Hibbs
City Secretary
City of Amarillo
PO Box 1971
Amarillo, TX 79105
RE Financial Disclosure Open Records Request
Dear Secretary Hibbs,
Let me start by recapping the history of this particular open records request.
On May 4, 2018, I wrote and sent a letter addressed to you requesting financial disclosures for the Mayor and City Council members.
When I received no response, I inquired about the lack of response. I was informed that, out of all of the open records requests I have ever sent to the City via the United States Postal Service, this was the only one that had EVER been “lost in the mail”.
On May 29, 2018, I resent the request via USPS certified/restricted delivery.
On May 31, 2018, I received notification that the item had been picked up by a City representative from the USPS.
Also on May 31, 2018, you wrote a letter responding to my request, according to the date at the top of your letter.
Although dated May 31, 2018, the postmark on the envelope in which your response was mailed shows the letter was not mailed until June 11, 2018.
In your letter, rather than supplying the requested financial disclosures, you state that you are perplexed by my request. You even attempt to redirect me to the campaign finance reports contained on the City web site.
Let me clarify this for you. I am not asking for campaign finance reports. I am asking for the financial disclosures. There is nothing vague about my request. You have been City Secretary for many years. You know exactly what I am asking for. Even though you wrote your response on May 31, 2018, you waited until near the 14 day response time set by law for responses to open records requests and both asked for clarification AND tried to redirect me to something entirely different that what I requested.
Just so there is no misunderstanding and no more delay, I am including a packet prepared by the Texas Municipal League (for which former Mayor Debra McCartt (who you served under) served and President AND on who's behalf former Amarillo City Attorney Mick McKamie filed a pro bono lawsuit (while Debra McCartt was president of the TML) that he took all the way to the Supreme Court (losing at every level) at a cost to the firm of $2.5 million, according to published reports)That packet is titled
FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE PACKET
Does that clear up your confusion?
You also ask what dates I would like. Well, at the time I wrote my original letter which was “lost in the mail”, the current Mayor and City Council had been in office for less than one year. I assume that would mean the available disclosures would be limited to that time frame. But since you have succeeded in drawing out this process, let me amend my request to any financial disclosure that was on file at any time from May 4th until the date you respond to my request.
And, since you made me go the extra step to research this issue, I also wish to amend my request to include the financial disclosures submitted by ANY official OR employee required to submit such a disclosure. This includes former City Attorney Mick McKamie.
Please let me know if I can clarify further.
Below is a list of documents enclosed with this letter.
I am also sending copies of this letter to the legal authorities listed below. Perhaps that will help add some clarity for you.
Sincerely,
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Publisher, www.amarilloexposed.com
@amarilloexposed, minds.com
1. A copy of my original request with an update after the original was “lost in the mail”.
2. USPS confirmation of receipt of my second request.
3. A copy of your response and request for clarification dated May 31, 2018.
4. A copy of the envelope in which your response was enclosed. Postmarked June 11, 2018.
5. A copy of the TML Financial Disclosure Packet.
6. Bonus: A copy of an article posted on @AmarilloExposed, minds.com, detailing other criminal activity in which the City of Amarillo has been engaged in with regard to open records requests.
cc: Federal Bureau of Investigation
Texas Representative Tony Tinderholt, Member of the Government Transparency and Operation Committee
Texas Attorney General
Texas Rangers
Potter County Attorney's Office (For informational purposes only. I am fully aware that it has been a decades long policy of the Potter County Attorney's Office that you do not prosecute politically connected individuals, instead choosing to focus your prosecutions on the disadvantaged, those without political connections, and retaliatory/personal vendettas/political prosecutions of anyone who exposes criminal activity by wealthy and/or politically connected individuals.)