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ARCOLA – Three Arcola City Council members allege that the mayor and city officials are disobeying a court’s order to not interfere with their official duties. They are now asking the court to find the city in contempt and pushing for extra protections.
On March 26, Fort Bend County District Judge Surendran Pattel ordered Mayor Fred Burton and other Arcola city officials to not interfere with the official duties of council members who have clashed with the mayor: Ebony Sanco, Rosemary Bigby and Evelyn Jones.
Despite the judge's order last week, the three council members allege in a new motion that they still have been prevented from doing their official duties.
After the judge granted the temporary injunction against the city on March 26, Sanco left for City Hall to participate in a scheduled council meeting that evening. Council members Bigby and Jones were waiting for Sanco and Burton’s arrival. But before Sanco could make it to City Hall, the meeting was called off by City Attorney Debra Mergel, the motion alleges.
“City council meetings are how you exercise your office,” said Stephen Dockery, the council members' attorney. “Your power is your vote at the city council meeting.
So when you take that ability to have city council, the ability to vote at city council, you're taking away the power of the city council member.”
In addition to the cancellation of the city council meeting, Sanco said she’s encountered barriers preventing her from gaining access to City Hall and her pay.
Sanco alleges she was stopped at City Hall on March 28 by front desk staff who told her she could not enter the building without permission. She was eventually allowed in, and Sanco asked police chief Arika Carr to re-activate key card access to City Hall. Carr told her no, according to the motion. When she asked to speak with someone about how to obtain her missed stipend checks, she was told there was no one at City Hall available to speak to her, according to the motion.
The mayor and city officials submitted an appeal late last week asking the court to put a stop to the judge's order that was granted until the trial in May. They claim the order was “improper.” The appeal has yet to be ruled on.
Being found in contempt could result in fines or even jail time, according to the Texas Government code.
City administrator Annette Goldberg and Mayor Fred Burton did not immediately return calls for comment.
This dispute began in February when the mayor and other city officials claimed that Sanco lived in Missouri City, not Arcola, and therefore had to vacate her seat.
Efforts to prove Sanco does not live in Arcola have gone as far as the mayor’s office hiring a private investigator to follow Sanco and her children as well as obtaining a lease to a Missouri City home they claim is in Sanco’s name.
Associate professor Kellen Zale from the University of Houston Law Center said that the topic of residency is a tricky one that only a court can decide. She referenced a 1964 Texas Supreme court decision that referred to residency as an elastic term that is “extremely difficult to define.”
“It can’t be decided by the mayor on his own, saying, ‘I know for sure this person doesn’t live here,’” she said. “There's a legal question about her residency. So that's why there has to be a court action.”
Because of the dispute, the council hasn’t had a full meeting since January, causing city business to be delayed. Recent council meetings, while short, have been tense and surrounded by several officers of the Arcola Police Department.
Council members are also asking the judge to require the city to seek new legal representation. They allege the Randle Law Office representing Arcola officials in court faces a conflict of interest. Arcola city attorneys Grady Randle, the law firm's owner, and Debra Mergel are listed as defendants in the lawsuit.
Arcola’s city attorneys Randle and Mergel represent the city council as a group and as individuals. The lawsuit does not dissolve the lawyer's attorney-client relationship with the three council members, the motion alleges.
To take on a case that is opposite to their clients would violate a Texas Disciplinary Rule of Professional Conduct that states: “A lawyer shall not represent opposing parties to the same litigation.”
During an emergency hearing on March 26, an attorney from Randle’s law firm, Scott Francis, identified himself as lead counsel for Arcola city officials. But Randle took much of the lead during the hearing by answering most of the judge’s questions on behalf of the city.
In a motion to disqualify counsel, the plaintiffs argue that in similar circumstances that the Texas Supreme Court has ruled that lawyers who violate conflict of interest rules must be disqualified because “there is an irebuttable presumption that a lawyer obtains a client’s confidential information during representation.”
“The reason that we have rules of disqualification and the ethical rules is so that the public has confidence in the proceeding,” Dockery said. “And when there's conflicted counsel, that raises the specter of that can cause people to lose confidence in the system.”
Grady Randle could not be immediately reached for comment.
Arcola’s next city council meeting is scheduled for April 9 at 6 p.m.
Briah Lumpkins is a suburban reporter for the Abdelraoufsinno covering Fort Bend, Brazoria and Galveston counties. If you have any story ideas or tips for Briah, feel free to send her an email at [email protected].
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