A Tarrant County Commissioners Court meeting scheduled for Tuesday was cancelled because three out of five commissioners were not present.
About 90 minutes before the meeting was supposed to begin, a county spokesperson notified KERA the meeting would be cancelled due to a lack of quorum. That means a majority of commissioners would not be present, as required by law.
This Commissioners Court meeting, which coincided with Election Day, had been listed online for weeks. The court's three Republicans, County Judge Tim O'Hare, Commissioner Manny Ramirez and Commissioner Gary Fickes did not attend.
Fickes wasn't there because he is in the hospital with COVID, according to Ruth Ray, a spokesperson for County Judge Tim O'Hare's office. KERA has reached out to Fickes' office for more information.
O'Hare wasn't there because of Election Day, Ray continued in an emailed statement.
"With the significant role the Judge and his staff have in the election, it requires our full attention. We expect to receive multiple calls, requests for assistance and media inquiries all day long that need immediate attention in what is the most important election of our lifetimes," Ray said.
Ramirez and his chief of staff, Tracey Knight, did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
Knight told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Ramirez had to miss court for personal reasons.
The court's two Democratic commissioners, Alisa Simmons and Roy Charles Brooks, were in the commissioners courtroom Tuesday to start the meeting, establish the fact there was no quorum, and adjourn.
“There is some question, at least in my mind, about whether or not there is sufficient authority in the Local Government Code and in the Open Meetings Act to cancel a duly scheduled meeting of Commissioners Court,” Brooks said.
The Open Meetings Act lays out how government meetings must be announced and conducted, to ensure transparency.
According to the Texas Secretary of State’s Office and the Texas Municipal League, the law doesn't require notice for cancelling a meeting.
“The Act requires notice of meetings to be properly posted, but it does not require that a meeting actually be held once the notice of the meeting has been posted,” the Texas Municipal League’s Open Meetings Act handbook states.
Meeting cancellations could still be a problem if they violate "some other provision of law," like a city charter, according to the handbook.
In a press release, Simmons accused her Republican colleagues of canceling the meeting to shield Republican Sheriff Bill Waybourn from public scrutiny. Waybourn is on the ballot Tuesday, and several items on the Commissioners Court agenda pertained to the sheriff’s office.
Commissioners were set to vote on hiring attorneys for detention officers being sued over the killing of Anthony Johnson Jr., who died after jailers pepper sprayed him and one knelt on his back. Commissioners were also scheduled to hear a briefing about a third-party report on healthcare in the jail.
Ray responded by saying Waybourn will be reelected Tuesday.
"This claim should be seen for what it is, another desperate political stunt," she wrote in the emailed statement.
Dallas County held its scheduled Commissioners Court meeting Tuesday.
This story has been updated with comments from County Judge Tim O'Hare's office.
Got a tip? Email Miranda Suarez at msuarez@kera.org. You can follow Miranda on X @MirandaRSuarez.
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