“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” is an old adage that could be applied to Mayor Gerard Hudspeth’s quest against a fellow council member over a possible ethics violation during a September council discussion about solar panel rates with Denton Municipal Electric.
Two days before Christmas, Hudspeth refiled his ethics complaint against council member Brian Beck, stating Beck should not have been able to participate in council’s discussion because he has solar panels on his house.
“He has solar panels on his home and directly benefits [financially] from the rate discussion,” Hudspeth wrote in his Dec. 23 complaint, which included an image of Beck’s property with solar panels on Google Maps.
“I am mandated and duty bound to report this conduct.”
Late Monday afternoon, a three-member panel of the Board of Ethics dismissed Hudspeth’s complaint at a special-called meeting, pointing out that the benefit is available to all DME customers with solar panels and not only to Beck.
A few hours later, Beck wrote in a message to the Denton Record-Chronicle that he was surprised the mayor would “double down on using government resources, staff time and citizen volunteer hours to further weaponize ethics in an effort to divide our community.”
“His literal duplicating of prior failed efforts to squash dialogue about Sustainable Energy especially makes no sense for a complaint the Board of Ethics previously took no action on,” Beck wrote. “I appreciate the BOE Panel’s unanimous dismissal, and I will be continuing to fight for solutions to the problems facing our city.”
Hudspeth’s duty-bound quest against Beck began in late August, when the mayor sought an advisory opinion from the Board of Ethics on whether the mayor should recuse himself from a discussion about solar panel rates if he had solar panels on his home.
The board found that while no conflicts of interest would occur, there could be improper influence if Hudspeth participated in the discussion.
Beck, however, didn’t recuse himself from the solar panel discussion with DME at the Sept. 17 meeting. DME was requesting lowering the payout rate for the energy it receives from about 1,300 residents who have solar panels.
The council later approved lowering it to 5 cents per kilowatt-hour at the Oct. 22 meeting.
“The discussion here for the value of solar revolves around increasing participation to a program that is a citywide program open to every single Dentonite,” Beck told Hudspeth in September.
An ethics complaint from Hudspeth soon followed.
Hudspeth’s initial complaint never received a hearing from the Board of Ethics due to lack of quorum in late October. He then refiled the complaint on Dec. 23.
Since Hudspeth filed a new complaint, a three-member panel of the Board of Ethics was formed to determine the merits of Hudspeth’s complaint. Those members were Kenneth Ferguson, who was appointed by council member Joe Holland in November, and Andrea Eberhard and Dianne Baker, who were appointed by council member Jill Jester in November.
On Monday, Eberhard told panel members that Beck didn’t receive any special privileges, and the solar panel rates go toward every citizen who “has the right to get solar panels.”
Ferguson and Baker reiterated that Hudspeth’s complaint wasn’t actionable and was baseless.
“After reading all this, I do not think there was intent,” Baker said. “I do not know the person [Beck], but I do not believe there was intent to break the rules. … Council people are human beings. … They have a life. It’s no wonder that no one wants to run for office.”