HUTTO – The city recently discovered that legally-required city council executive session recordings are missing. According to statements made at the March 2 council meeting, exactly how many, how and when they disappeared is unknown.
“During preparation for a mediation, there were a lot of concerns about some items that occurred in an executive session,” said Mayor Mike Snyder. “We’ve had motions made by council members to pull those items out into the open previously, and in the preparation for that the city secretary’s office was asked to present the record- ings and the recordings are missing.”
The executive sessions are recorded on a micro-digital recorder then transferred to thumb drives, according to city secretary Angela Lewis.
During the meeting, the city manager stated that the city secretary had just completed an initial audit. At least three recordings are known to be missing.
City spokesperson Allison Strupeck said that as of March 6, the written report of the audit was not completed but should be finished and released within a month.
Executive session recordings can be used as legal evidence and may contain confidential information so their access is restricted. According to the Texas government code 551.104, the city must keep recordings of closed meetings, such as executive sessions for at least two years after the meeting, or longer if they are part of a legal action.
“It’s alarming that tapes are missing,” said council member Krystal Kinsey. “How are we essentially opening ourselves up if they were ever subpoenaed, and we can’t produce them?”
The council asked city staff to research hiring an outside auditor to investigate. Developing a more secure process for storing and accessing the recordings was also discussed. The city manager agreed to present a proposal for hiring an auditor at the April 6 meeting.
“First we need to find out what exactly happened,” Snyder said, “and then my hope is that we can also figure out the best way to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
