Tarrant County Judge Tim O'Hare wants to prevent topics he considers "misleading and inaccurate" to be discussed during commissioners court meetings.
O'Hare's agenda item for Tuesday's meeting also requests commissioners to identify gaps that could "allow misleading, unclear, or inaccurate agenda topic descriptions," and consider implementing measures to help further prevent such topics be published on the agenda.
In a statement to KERA News, O'Hare said it's the court's responsibility to ensure Tarrant County residents aren’t misled by agenda item language.
"Last month, an item was placed on the agenda and the language used to describe the item grossly mischaracterized the actual facts and data," O'Hare's statement read. "The official Tarrant County Commissioners Court agenda is no place for misleading the public to try to score political points, and especially not when the facts alleged are false. The public deserves better.”
In a statement, Precinct 2 Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons said this discussion raises questions about what gets discussed during meetings.
"When legitimate and vetted agenda items start being labeled ‘misleading,’ it raises a bigger question," Simmons said. "Are we trying to ensure accuracy, or limit what gets discussed in public? I believe this is connected to O’Hare’s ongoing efforts to avoid open briefings designed to educate the electorate and add information items at the request of constituents."
During February's meeting, in a 3-2 vote, it was approved to prohibit commissioners from requesting public briefings on specific topics, including ongoing jail deaths, law enforcement investigations, active criminal prosecutions or pending civil lawsuits against the county. It also limited time allowed for residents that sign up to speak on agenda items. Simmons and Precinct 1 Commissioner Roderick Miles, Jr. voted against the policy.
Simmons also said transparency is crucial during commissioners court, pointing to a briefing she requested at last month's meeting about the county's financial reserves.
Also known as "rainy day funds," financial reserves is money set aside and can be used during emergencies like unexpected deficits.
Last month's briefing showed $7.79 million was used to cover negative salaries by departmental overtime with a majority coming from the sheriff's office, retirement budgeting changes, and other unbudgeted personnel actions.
In the statement, Simmons said she included an agenda item for the March 10th meeting for a briefing on the health of Tarrant County’s Financial Reserves.
Simmons said, "During that presentation from the budget department, the public learned that in November we dipped into the county reserve fund for nearly 7.8 million. It was also revealed that the budget office will soon go back to reserves for an additional 10 million dollars.”
She said she expected this would happen when the court’s majority voted to go below the no-new-revenue rate during budget deliberations in August.
“I was a bit taken aback that we had to run to reserves only one month after the beginning of the new fiscal year,” Simmons said in the statement. “Had we maintained the FY25 tax rate, we wouldn’t be in this financial predicament.”
Simmons considered this eye-opening for many.
“I believe we are elected to conduct county business on behalf of the people who elected us. The public expects transparency, and we should not be moving away from that," the statement read.
This story was updated to include a statement from Tarrant County Judge Tim O'Hare.
Penelope Rivera is KERA's Tarrant County Accountability Reporter. Got a tip? Email Penelope Rivera at privera@kera.org.
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