Four Dallas City Council members on the Housing and Homelessness Solutions committee met with an outside group Tuesday morning without posting a public notice. Now, two other council members allege they violated the Texas Open Meetings Act.
Council members Cara Mendelsohn, Zarin Gracey, Lorie Blair, and Mayor Pro Tem Jesse Moreno met with a group of philanthropists who wanted to pitch an idea for homelessness services, Mendelsohn told KERA.
The meeting started at 10:23 a.m. with introductions lasting until 10:45 a.m, when Council Members Adam Bazaldua and Paula Blackmon entered the room, Mendelsohn said.
Mendelsohn, Gracey, Blair, Moreno, and Bazaldua are all on the Housing and Homelessness Solutions committee. Because four of the seven council members on the same committee were meeting at once, Bazaldua and Blackmon said in a joint statement that it constituted a quorum.
The Texas Open Meetings Act requires notice of meetings to be publicly posted at least three days prior to the meeting. There was no notice of a Housing and Homelessness Solutions committee meeting posted as of Tuesday morning.
"The public has every right to expect decisions to be made openly, where they can take part in the policymaking process, and not behind closed doors on the fifth floor, especially on an issue as critical as homelessness," Bazaldua and Blackmon said in their statement.
They added that they expect city attorneys — and possibly the Dallas County district attorney — to investigate the situation and hold any necessary parties accountable.
But Mendelsohn, who is chair of the committee, maintains it was not a committee meeting and that council members meet with third party groups all the time.
"There were no meeting material discussed while a quorum was present," Mendelsohn said in a text. She added that there was no deliberation, vote, or agreements on any course of action.
Blackmon told KERA that it was still a violation, even if no action was taken.
"If it's an issue that can be discussed in the public and it's relating to that committee, then it should not have a quorum of your committee behind closed doors meeting with private sector people," Blackmon said.
The Texas Open Meetings Act says a member of a governmental body commits an offense if they knowingly engage in communication that concern an issue within the jurisdiction of their governmental body while constituting a quorum.
Blair said in a statement that she was asked to join the meeting by Mendelsohn on Monday.
"This meeting was held in her office," Blair said in the statement. "There was no agenda nor notification of who was invited to this meeting. I was not sitting in nor acting in any official capacity."
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