Verbal darts lobbed, mayor offers apology
City Council members didn’t hold back during a meeting originally planned to discuss respect and integrity among the governing body.
Thursday’s special-called session centered around a single issue — updating a code of conduct to stress etiquette and good manners among the elected leaders.
During the last few months, City Hall observers have said, interchanges between some of the officeholders have grown quite heated both in person and on social media.
“The current policy has been in place since 2010, and it’s designed to make the meetings run smoothly, the governance process run smoothly,” said Deputy City Manager Jeff Jenkins. “It’s intended to maintain a high level of integrity, and it’s demonstrating respect for everyone. That’s a key thing you’ll find throughout, is respect for everyone.”
Jenkins said city staff would take the council’s comments into consideration in crafting an updated policy, including the addition of socialmedia guidelines. District 4 Councilman Robert Garcia suggested the Texas Municipal League would be a resource for best practices and wording to consider.
The policy is a guideline for how the five council members including the mayor should interact with staffers, the public, boards and commissions, the media and each other. It defines the roles of the council, including being prepared in advance of gatherings, being respectful of other people’s time and serving as models of civility and leadership. “Council members should not make belligerent, personal, impertinent, slanderous, threatening, abusive or disparaging comments,” the policy states, adding that members should continue respectful behavior in private.
While the current policy cautions against showing antagonism, lying or misleading, speaking recklessly, spreading rumors and stirring up bad feelings, comments from veteran council members showed sentiments have been simmering for a while.
Mayor Dwayne Ariola faced most of the criticism, coming from fellow council members Gerald Anderson and Garcia.
The city’s elected leaders currently pick the mayor from among their own ranks after a municipal election, although a change to the City Charter in the future will have the city’s top official elected at large.
Anderson asked whether the revamped policy could address organized groups of residents who spoke during the open-comment period. He said Ariola’s supporters have been coming to City Hall sessions the past three years to belittle specific council members.
The mayor said he has asked those supporters to stop the practice.
Ariola did acknowledge that his rule against criticism from the public faces some First Amendment challenges.
“We have 16,000 citizens in Taylor and they all have the right to speak their mind, but I think it’s just up to all of us to grow thicker skin, and let’s work as a team for what’s better for the citizens of Taylor,” the mayor said.
Garcia and Anderson also took Ariola to task for what they perceived as military-style treatment of city staffers, which they feel may have led to the loss of several key personnel.
Garcia also criticized Ariola on several other issues.
“There’s no way you can burn a town down, separate a community, walk in the door and then say, ‘Let’s forget about everything and just move forward,’” Garcia told the mayor. “We can have a policy in place all we want, but if you’re doing things behind the scenes, back doors, it really doesn’t matter if we have a policy.”
Other members on the dais wanted to steer the conversation back to the issue at hand — focusing on a revamp of the interpersonalrelations policy.
“I don’t think any of this is productive,”
said District 2 Councilwoman Shelli Cobb. “Take the hits when they come because that’s part of the job. It’s over. Please let’s just stop dredging up the past and move forward in a productive way.”
Before adjourning, the mayor took a moment to apologize to Anderson and Garcia.
“I want to say in a public forum, I want to apologize for my supporters. I sincerely want it to stop. I know it’s been three years of hell,” the mayor said. “I’m ready to let bygones be bygones.”
Garcia was not moved. “I don’t accept your apology. I know it’s not true. It’s fake. You show a public front to everybody and behind the scene you do something else,” the District 4 councilman said.
“
I know it’s been three years of hell. I’m ready to let bygones be bygones.”
-Mayor Dwayne Ariola
