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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN JAN 28 2003 M I N U T E S - CITY OF BEAUMONT Lulu L. Smith, Mayor Pro Tern EVELYN M. LORD, MAYOR Guy N. Goodson Andrew P. Cokinos CITY COUNCIL MEETING Becky Ames Bobbie J. Patterson January 28,2003 Audwin Samuel Lane Nichols, City Attorney Kyle Hayes, City Manager Susan Henderson, City Clerk The City Council of the City of Beaumont, Texas, met in a regular session on January 28, 2003, at the City Hall Council Chambers, 801 Main Street, Beaumont, Texas, at 1:30 p.m. to consider the following: OPENING Invocation Pledge of Allegiance Roll Call Presentations, Recognition and Proclamations Public Comment: Persons may speak on scheduled agenda items Consent Agenda Mayor Evelyn Lord called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m. City Attorney Lane Nichols led the invocation. Councilmember Samuel led the pledge of allegiance. Roll call was made by Susan Henderson, City Clerk. Present at the meeting were: Mayor Lord, Mayor Pro Tern Smith, Councilmembers Goodson, Cokinos, Ames, Samuel and Patterson. Also, present was Kyle Hayes, City Manager, Lane Nichols, City Attorney and Tyronne Cooper,Assistant City Attorney; Susan Henderson,City Clerk and Betty Braxton, Deputy Clerk. Proclamations, Presentations and Recognitions None Public Comment: Persons may speak on items listed on the Consent Agenda or on any General Business item. None CONSENT AGENDA Approval of minutes - Minutes of January 21, 2003 Confirmation of committee appointments A) Authorize the City Manager to execute an amendment to the lease agreement with Louisiana Management Group, L.L.C. - Resolution No. 03-026 B) Approve a resolution dedicating resources to support the bid for the 2006 or 2007 Joint Institute and Trade Show of the Texas Recreation & Parks Society (TRAPS) and the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department - Resolution No. 03-027 C) Approve a resolution accepting maintenance of the street, storm sewer, water and sanitary sewer improvements in Barrington Heights Phase V Subdivision - Resolution No. 03-028 D) Approve a resolution authorizing the acceptance of twelve (12) water line easements for the installation of a 20"water main - Resolution No. 03-029 Councilmember Cokinos moved to approve the Consent Agenda. Councilmember Goodson seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Mayor Lord, Mayor Pro Tern Smith, Councilmembers Goodson, Cokinos, Ames, Samuel and Patterson Nays: None GENERAL BUSINESS 1. Consider a request for a zone change from A-R (Agricultural-Residential) to GC-MD (General Commercial-Multiple Family Dwelling) District and GC-MD-2 (General Commercial-Multiple Family Dwelling-2) District for a 28-09 acre tract of land located 100' south of the southeast corner of Folsom and Major Drive. At a joint Public Hearing with City Council held December 16, 2002, the Planning Commission voted 7:0 to approve the rezoning of a 100' wide strip along the rear of the subject property to GC-MD-2 and the rest of the property to GC-MD. Councilmember Cokinos moved to approve Ordinance 03-005 ENTITLED AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 30 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF BEAUMONT, TEXAS, AND IN PARTICULAR THE BOUNDARIES OF THE ZONING DISTRICTS, AS INDICATED UPON THE ZONING MAP OF BEAUMONT, TEXAS, BY CHANGING THE ZONING OF PROPERTY PRESENTLY ZONED A-R (AGRICULTURAL-RESIDENTIAL)TO GC-MD(GENERAL COMMERCIAL-MULTIPLE FAMILY DW ELLING) DISTRICT AND GC-MD-2 (GENERAL COMMERCIAL-MULTIPLE FAMILY DWELLING-2)DISTRICT FOR PROPERTY LOCATED ONE-HUNDRED(100)FEET SOUTH OF THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF FOLSOM AND MAJOR DRIVE, BEAUMONT, JEFFERSON COUNTY, TEXAS; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; PROVIDING FOR REPEAL AND PROVIDING A PENALTY. Mayor Pro Tern Smith seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Mayor Lord, Mayor Pro Tem Smith, Councilmembers Goodson, Cokinos, Ames, Samuel and Patterson Nays: None Minutes -January 28,2003 Page 2 2. Consider a resolution authorizing the City Manager to increase the Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation of Small Diameter Mains Contract-III amount for "extra work." Councilmember Goodson moved to approve Resolution 03-030 authorizing the City Manager to increase the Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation of Small Diameter Mains Contract- III amount for "extra work." Councilmember Cokinos seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Mayor Lord, Mayor Pro Tern Smith, Councilmembers Goodson, Cokinos, Ames, Samuel and Patterson Nays: None At this point, Mayor Lord confirmed with City Clerk that a public hearing was still desired for the evaluation of the City Clerk. After receiving confirmation, Mayor Lord announced those comments from Councilmembers and citizens would be heard at the end of the Public Session. EXECUTIVE OR PUBLIC SESSION Mayor Lord called the Public Session open. Mayor Lord read the procedures to be used for conducting the Public Session. * Consider matters related to appointment, employment, evaluation, re-assignment, duties, discipline or dismissal of a public officer or employee in accordance with Section 551.074 of the Government Code: Specifically: City Clerk The allegations made against the City Clerk's job performance were outlined in a memo written by Mayor Lord. These allegations were addressed separately and are as follows: 1. Minutes - City Clerk could not maintain minutes during Council meetings 2. Minutes - Incorrect grammar, incorrect spellings and incorrect content 3. Ordinances - Misnumbering of ordinances necessitating another signature from Mayor Lord 4. Ordinances - Misnumbering of ordinances occurring as recently as January 2003 5. Training - Unwillingness to receive training 6. Legal Notices - Clerk's office published an incorrect legal notice in September 2002 7. Municipal Court Administrator - City Clerk was resisting hiring a new Court Administrator 8. Clerk's Office - Clerk closed office for lunch without providing proper coverage to leave office open 9. Breach of Confidentiality - City Clerk divulged confidential information following a Department Head meeting on January 15, 2003 Minutes -January 28,2003 Page 3 The Mayor, Councilmembers and administrative staff presented comments or supporting evidence relevant to each area of concern. The City Clerk was also allowed to present comments and supporting documentation relevant to each allegation. After all items of concern were addressed, the following comments were made by each Councilmember before considering the action item listed on the Agenda: Councilmember Samuel:"This has really bothered me forthe pasttwo weeks. I have tried to think about what would be appropriate. The first thing that came to mind was something I heard this past Sunday. It referred to Romans 3:10 and it says as it is written, "There is none righteous, not one." And I realize we all make mistakes and we all say and do things that are not necessarily in our best interest. I do understand that the position of the City Clerk is a very important position. I do understand that confidentiality is very important. I do understand that from this whole process, we as Councilmembers, or speaking for myself, I have been derelict in my duty that we have those things in place necessary for that employee to succeed, or, nor did we have the necessary tools to evaluate or monitor her progress as we moved forward. Nor do we have anything concrete to determine how and when these evaluations will be done. Hindsight also tells me that I better understand why some things are reduced to writing. I understand Mayor, I believe you give your heart and soul to serving on Council, and serving as Mayor, and I applaud that. But I believe your efforts in this situation has somewhat perpetuated the problem, in that we as Councilmembers were not fully aware of everything that had been going on as presented in this letter. With all that said, yes, I do feel Susan, there are some things you have to address. It's necessary and it's crucial they be addressed. I think it's crucial she be provided more assistance to fully understand what is expected of her as our City Clerk. But I will say, and I believe truth is necessary,this is not anything that merits termination, in my opinion. And we can call it like, we can say whatever, but when it came to me, it was my understanding nothing short of termination would be acceptable. Things have been said, bridges have been burned, there have been scars from this whole process. But it was necessary for your survival that you did what you did. You were left no other alternative. I hope that this has been a situation that we, as the community, can learn from, and we can move forward as a City. There were some bad judgements made. But we all are victims of making bad judgements sometimes. Council, yes I think it's been fair. I simply ask that you dig within your heart and make the decisions that are appropriate in this situation. That is all I have to say." Councilmember Patterson: "First of all I want to say that I admire you Susan, and I can appreciate the stand you've taken to protect your job. Secondly I want to say that yes there are some things you maybe had some bad judgements on, but there are some good things that have come out of this as well. Thirdly I want to say, I agree with Councilmember Samuel, that maybe we as Councilmembers have been derelict in our responsibilities in providing you with, number one, and I've said this before, a job description, a specific job description and number two, in our expectations of you as a City Clerk,and/or,our expectations of you filling the position of the Court Administrator position. But at the same time, you did what you could with what you had. Because see, I also understand that this is your first time in this type of position, with no prior training as a City Clerk. All of the City Clerks that have been here in my tenure, from Tu to Patrice, to Barbara to Rebecca, have been afforded at least, at least one person in that office who had been there for a while and had experience or someone they could fall back on. You did not have that. The other thing too, I wanted to say was, that I do believe the Mayor takes her job seriously, as well. We take our jobs seriously. Some of us are afforded the time, we can spend more time down here to see what's going on, some of us have to work. You know, a real paying job. And that's unfortunate, but I'm not saying that to belittle anyone or anything, because I take Minutes -January 28,2003 Page 4 both my jobs seriously, as a Councilmember, as well as a teacher. And I'm sure that you took your position very seriously, and you tried to make the right decisions, and in most cases you did. I don't believe that any of us are perfect. Every one of us has started a job and has made mistakes. But does that merit, does the punishment that we were told that we were here to do fit the mistakes? No, I don't think that it merits dismissal, maybe some type of written reprimand or disciplinary action, maybe. But I really don't believe that we need to terminate you. I think we need to give you a chance. Someone once said "hindsight is 20-20 and experience is the best teacher." If I never believed those sayings before, I do now. What I can say to my Council cohorts, is look at everything, everything that has been said. Look at everything that has not been said. And look into your heart and do the right thing and give Mrs. Henderson a second chance. Thank you Mayor. Councilmember Ames: "I just have to say that today has been really hard. Since I've been on Council,this has probably been one of the hardest days. I think it has been very divisive and that is very disappointing to me, because I don't think, I think not only in the community, but within the Council, some of the statements that have made. I do think that Bobbie, we don't have to look into our hearts, there are some of us who are very, very fair. And I've tried to look at this very, very fairly, and I've mentioned that more than one time. And I don't think what, in all due respect Councilmember Samuel, that what Susan has done here today was necessary for her survival. Because I do believe that there are fair people on Council that would have listened to everything that we heard today and make the right decision. I've said that from the very beginning. Ma'am, did you have something? Okay. Yes, I'm being honest with ya'll. This is not easy, you know. It's hard to sit up here and make these decisions. I'm just going to say that from a Council stand point, I don't enjoy what it's done to this Council. And I don't think that it's productive, but I do think that we have learned something from it. And I will say this, and I mean this, if you had called me last Friday night, Susan, I would have told you that I was in no way of the mind set that I was coming in to terminate you on Tuesday. And that is the honest to God truth. And I've told that to everyone that I talked to, I'm gonna come here today and listen to what I hear. I do think that there's some problems in the Clerk's office. There is no doubt in my mind. I do appreciate the things you said at the end that you said to us that you made some bad judgements. And I understand how the Manager feels when he's in a meeting with his department heads and he says to keep something in the strictest of confidence, especially when it's dealing with other people's jobs. Your job is important to you, but I know you feel their job is important to them, because you are so caring about it. And so are we. And I think part of that confidentiality is because we care about those employees this is happening to, I do anyway. And so, you know, I want to say that it doesn't matter if it's open records or not, or if it could be. If something is said to be held in confidence, you don't divulge it until you have to divulge it or until the law says we have to. That's how it is in my opinion, in that office. No, I'm not gonna vote to terminate to you today. But I am going to ask that you keep this in mind please, and keep in mind that you know you mentioned a lot through this, that you talked to Kyle, and I appreciate that, because he is a good source and he is someone that you can talk to. If you have questions, you have Councilmembers that you can talk to too. And I think that, that was a mistake in judgement too. Maybe this wouldn't have happened had you have done that. I mean this with no disrespect that I agree with a lot of the things the Mayor said. I agree with a lot of the things you said. But I'm very, very strong in saying that none of this is right, I mean, we have to correct mistakes. You might think its nit picky, some people may think it is, but it's the record of the City of Beaumont, and it's a professional office and that's what we have to expect. And I don't think that we can in anyway shape or form, it doesn't matter what mistake it is, it doesn't matter. It can't be"Well, the Mayor is being nit picky," no, all of us should be nit picky, I said that earlier. She mentioned to me, maybe I should have taken more time and looked at that, I admit that. But, I do think we Minutes -January 28,2003 Page 5 need to have some real strong discussions on what needs to happen. I did not mention this earlier, but I also agree that something has to be done at the Municipal Court, with the Municipal Clerk's job. For the first time since I've been on Council, the last few years, we've had no complaints from citizens about the Municipal Clerk, the Municipal Court, excuse me. And I'm afraid that if we let that go where, you have your hands full, you have your hands full with an election, if you let that go, that's poor judgement. And I understand what you said that you were trying to save money and you asked the Manager, but don't ask the Manager,you have to ask the Council. Okay? But I just want to go on record, I wish that we could have done this so it didn't air out everybody's laundry, because I don't think that was productive. Sorry, I just don't. Some people may disagree with me. I knew coming in today not everybody would agree with me. But, I do think that we could have gone through it. I think there's some fair minded people who would have made the right decision. And I strongly believe that. Councilmember Cokinos: "Susan, it's a hard old world isn't it? And I want to hear more about what you did, what you withheld. I'm really puzzled about this whole thing. And it's hard, it's hard sitting up here to be so critical. And so, Guy Goodson, go ahead." Councilmember Goodson: "I'm one of those Becky who would probably disagree with you. I don't think that this was a bad process today. I'm told all the time that government operates in the dark, people don't know what's going on, people don't hear what's going on. I think today shows that not only, that it, that it works as it is written in a book, but it works in practice. I'm not happy Susan that we had to air dirty laundry as it's been phrased, both as to the operations in your office or as to what Councilmembers have felt like or absence of supervision. I want to disagree though with a couple of things. I believe there is an excellent description of your job. When this job was posted, there is a City Clerk's job with a really long detailed explanation of the work, the working conditions, the duties,the responsibilities,the expectations, the qualifications. I don't think that there has been anything that Council has done to limit, change, amend or modify that since you came on board. It also is clear, I believe from this, that it was intended to be with minimal Council supervision. We are your boss,just like we are the City Managers',the City Attorneys',and the Municipal Court and with each of those we will have some intervention. I don't know what your experience was when you were at the County, and that's not important. What is important that you understand, is that this Council has always been willing to work with our City Manager, our City Attorney, our City Clerk, our Municipal judges, to try to provide the most professional management team we could. I'm disappointed because the black eye maybe on the City, but the black-eyed to me is on the Clerk's office. And we have always prided ourselves on having one of the most highly professional, progressive Clerk's office in the state. We have had Clerk's that now serve on the Municipal Clerk's Association board that have moved along. We have had ladies that have gotten their certifications all the way up to the full Municipal Clerk's certifications and not set in that first job. And I'm sorry Terry Hanks left, but she moved onto a job that was an advancement for her in the City of Port Arthur. And it was disappointing that both she and our other Court Administrator, I mean clerk administrative person left you. But that's when you needed to ask for help. And I'm concerned Susan,that's part of the problem. You need to understand whether it's to counsel, whether it is to your fellow workers, or to the Municipal Clerks Association, I think that your problem is, you feel like you can do this all, and I think that's why you didn't make the decision to hire the Municipal Clerk. I'm sorry Susan, but that's my opinion. I don't think you can handle both jobs and it's not you, I wouldn't have expected any of the others ahead of you, and none of them tried and the Court has succeeded very well with a separate Municipal Clerk. I'm disappointed because we're here because of the absence of apparent communication that some people think exist. But I will tell you this, you know, I'm not prepared to take away your job today. But I will tell you that I'm prepared to Minutes -January 28,2003 Page 6 reprimand you and require other actions of you, and bring your job back for review again quicker than six months, because in my opinion, this office will be under a microscope between now and May the sixth, or whatever day we certify the results of the May third election, because you have an extremely difficult job to do. Your staff is very competent, and I know they will work very hard, but they've never run a single municipal election. And for you not to go out and get peer counseling, peer assistance or otherwise, I know Mr. Gard will be of help to you, at the county, I know the county will be, but they don't run this election. You run this election for three other governmental entities, all that expect the highest level of professionalism and that's what I expect after this today. The only person who wins out of all this, ladies and gentlemen, is if things get better. If anybody walks out of here giving each other high fives cause Susan's kept her job, I'm really disappointed in everybody in this crowd today. Because this lady had the opportunity to come in here and present her case for keeping her job, nobody as far as I'm concerned, was gonna tell me how to vote on this, before today. That's not the prerogative of anybody on this Council, and I never felt directed or intimidated by anybody on this Council that I was gonna have to vote in a particular way. There were serious allegations, and I'm still extremely troubled by many of those. And we're going to, if it's the pleasure of Council after today, work through this. But I hope everybody understands that this is the City of Beaumont. This is not the North end of the City of Beaumont or the West end of the City of Beaumont, and sooner or later, everybody better get on board with the idea, if we're going to move this City forward we have to do this as a totality. Thank you." Councilmember Smith: "Well, I think, Susan, I've been very disappointed with you. You were highly recommended, that you could come in and run these departments, that you had all the skills and that you could just hit the ground running. Well, six months have passed, and that has not transpired. I'm very unhappy about that. And maybe confidentiality is not important to you, maybe it isn't important to a lot of you sitting in the audience, but I think it's extremely important that we be honest and that we have some credibility in everything we do. I'm for terminating you, but I don't think I have four votes,three votes. And that, but I do hope that if this Council does not vote to terminate you,that we would put some severe demands on you and how you handle the departments and to be sure that this does not go any further. But you're gonna have a very difficult time. You have three months to this election and I don't see that there's that much going on. I don't know how much your clerks in your office are doing. None of them have, two of those people have not had any experience. And I think what Guy has said about the getting the City has to come together. We're not four entities with a ward, we are a City and we need to work together. And if we don't do that, we're going to become a backwater community. We're gonna become stagnant. We cannot continue to look at every situation as a race of racial issues. The race has nothing to do about where you are now, or how to discipline you. And so you've gotten in this position by your own actions, by your own decisions. And I for one, so I'm going to vote for termination. Mayor Lord: "First of all, there's a couple of things I'd like to clarify, is that this litany or problem that was set before you today to answer to, was compiled at the request of Councilmembers. It was also compiled with my best knowledge about what I had been told, not only had been told, but also had more than one witness to, so I had no reason to feel that anybody, had not, wasn't gonna belly right up and verify everything that was within this. There's been a couple of disappointments to me in that today. At no time, and certainly if you look at the litany, the expression is exactly what I said to the City Councilmembers, that I felt that, in the private sector the breach of confidentiality is all that it takes. I managed a law firm for four or five years, and certainly,one breach, it's no such thing as a little breach, it's either confidentiality that's Minutes -January 28,2003 Page 7 Breached, it's trust that's given away or it isn't. Now, I will also say I would certainly stand with Lu, because I am consistent in that. I certainly believe that I would vote to terminate you too, because of that breach of confidentiality. Now emotions were spoken before. I think that Mr. Woods asked the City Manager what was my emotion. I think you remember what I told you my emotion was on Friday night, heartbroken. I think you remember that word. We sat across from the desk from each other and shared that. And so I am, I'm very distressed that this has happened, because I have erred obviously, in not keeping City Council appraised of everything little thing Susan did wrong. I certainly will not let that happen again. I do not want, however, for any of you to accuse me of harassing her, or being unfair to her in anyway, when all we were trying to do was help Susan succeed. It was in everybody's best interest,that Susan succeed and that she do a fine job. Audwin has mentioned that bridges have been burned, bridges can be rebuilt, that there have been scars, scars can be healed, but only if there is good faith and goodwill on the part of everyone. And Lulu and I stand where we do on our own conscious, as I know every member of this Council will do. So I don't know whether the Attorney or the Manager wants to say anything, as they have participated fully." At this point, the City Manager and the City Attorney declined comment. Council moved ahead to consider Agenda Item No. 3. 3. Consider action on the position of the City Clerk Councilmember Goodson moved that a written reprimand be entered into the City Clerk's personnel file for her failure to maintain a confidential matter that was disclosed to her by the City Manager, that she is required to pursue an action plan that would provide Council with the following: her plans as they are now and through to the conclusion for the filling of the Municipal Court Clerk's position, that she will provide Council with a written statement of her procedures, how she will staff and maintain the offices of the City Clerk open during City business hours of 8 am until 5 pm, Monday through Friday, and how she will coordinate with HR or with the Manager's office or otherwise to make sure that's done, and that she immediately review again, the problems noted in the memorandum as provided by the Mayor, provide Council with a list of who will perform duties such as the minutes, and to correct any problems that are deemed as non corrected by the memorandum, and to ask the City Clerk to seek some peer counseling, either alone or by contacting Dr. Joyce Snay, President of the Texas Municipal Clerk's Association,who is willing to provide the City Clerk with names of people in this area who will help her complete a performance evaluation of the Clerk's office, should the City Clerk be willing to seek that help, and that another review of the City Clerk's performance is done sometime in late May or near that time, or as soon as an evaluation can be scheduled after the new Council is seated following the May 3, 2003 elections. Councilmember Ames seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Mayor Lord, Councilmembers Goodson, Cokinos, Ames, Samuel and Patterson Nays: Mayor Pro Tern Smith Minutes -January 28,2003 Page 8 Councilmember Samuel stated he would expect everyone to give the City Clerk the proper respect as a human being that she deserves. Councilmember Samuel pointed out that it is improper for any person to point their finger in the Clerk's face, while telling her what to do. Councilmember Patterson added that to place a finger toward Mrs. Henderson's face while making comments like, "remember who got you there," is also improper. Councilmember Patterson wanted to clarify that since the problems listed within the Mayor's prepared litany were not previously handled as official counseling sessions, between Mayor Lord and the City Clerk, Susan Henderson, it was highly unusual for such problems to become official for the Public Session. Councilmember Patterson asked Mayor Lord to confer with each Councilmember should an issue arise warranting future meetings with the City Clerk. Councilmember Ames clarified a statement made during her comments referencing "how hard"the public session had been. She did not want the public to interpret this statement to mean that she did not want the public involved. Councilmember Ames said the statement was mainly intended to describe the apparent hardship endured by the City Clerk and other employees during this process. Public Comments (Persons are limited to three minutes) Alice Ramsey 3440 Goliad Beaumont, TX Mrs. Ramsey addressed Council to commend them on the decision reached on the City Clerk's behalf. Mrs. Ramsey also asked Council to provide the Clerk with the same training afforded to the Clerk's predecessors. Tobe Duhon 2545 Amarillo Beaumont, TX Mr. Duhon admonished Councilmember Samuel and Councilmember Cokinos to shake hands and move ahead toward working together. Maudry Plummer 4315 Bob Beaumont, TX Mrs. Plummerthanked City Council and the community for the support given to Susan Henderson, who is her daughter. Beverly Williams 4465 Diamond Beaumont, TX Mrs. Williams reiterated that if the real reason for today's Public Session had been addressed, a lot of time could have been saved. Jana Henderson 1090 Prairie Beaumont, TX Ms. Henderson thanked City Council for their fairness by allowing her mother, Susan Henderson, to retain her job. Minutes -January 28,2003 Page 9 Raymond Brown 2205 Popular Beaumont, TX Mr. Brown stated that the stipulations placed on Mrs. Henderson were weighty and unfair to re- evaluate her in three months. Bernitta Jackson 8461 Landry Lane Beaumont, TX Mrs. Jackson asked Council to review all the testimony relevant to the Court Administrator's position before continuing to hold the City Clerk solely responsible for the position not being filled. Sue Gabriel 1096 Oregon Beaumont, TX Ms. Gabriel felt that the City Clerk had not broken the law by offering personal prayer. Thelma Felder 2975 Grand Beaumont, TX Mrs. Felder expressed her hurt in what the City Clerk was having to endure. She thanked the City Council for the decision reached on the Clerk's behalf. Deacon J.D. Roberts 5475 Landry Lane Beaumont, TX Deacon Roberts commended Council on the action taken toward the City Clerk. Benny Mendoza 5655 S. Kenneth Beaumont, TX Mr. Mendoza asked Council and other employees of the City to do what is right for the whole of Beaumont when making decisions. Carla Bassette 4355 Coolidge Beaumont, TX Mrs. Bassette addressed Council about the way the Clerk's job performance had been handled, but commended Council on the decision made. Kimberly Nonette 2301 Taylor Beaumont, TX Ms. Nonette thanked Council for the fair decision reached regarding the City Clerk. She commended Councilmember Patterson and Councilmember Samuel for bringing forth many significant points during the process. Terrance Grant Malone 6550 Phelan Beaumont, TX Mr. Malone quoted Dr. Martin Luther King: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." He commended all Council members who helped cut the streams of racism with the decision made on the City Clerk's behalf. Raymond Fontenot 2865 Sarah Beaumont, TX Mr. Fontenot commended the Council on the decision made on the City Clerk's behalf. Mr. Fontenot also asked Council to review all angles of a problem when reaching decisions. Minutes -January 28,2003 Page 10 Carolyn Guidry 4490 Booker Beaumont, TX Mrs. Guidry also thanked Council for the decision made on the City Clerk's behalf. Mrs. Guidry expressed concern aboutwhetherthe Clerk's pending performance evaluation would be handled more fairly, as well as concern about whether the Clerk would receive proper guidance. Mayor Lord interjected at this point to make the following statement: " Number one, is the fact that you can be assured that she will get every assistance that she needs in the things that have been stipulated for her. There's no question about that. Again,we have every reason to want her success. I am distressed about the fact that this word racism keeps coming up. It's very interesting to me to sit here now, and to remember back into my days in the sixties, when I was termed actually, a civil right's activist. In the early sixties, some of you know that I was a State Senator and I sponsored the Public Accommodation's Bill in Delaware. I received vile threats, my children were threatened. I had a cross burned on my lawn for my efforts in that behalf. I have not changed in the way I feel in my heart. I wasn't intimidated then by a white community. I will not be intimidated by a black community, because I know that those of you who come here, have not intimidation in mind. Most of you, you have goodwill and good spirit and I will cling to that. But it distresses me sorely and I think you do nothing to help your cause,those of you who would claim others are racist, when indeed they are not. I know Dr. Smith, I know my own heart. We live very well with ourselves. And we try to treat people equally. Sometimes treating people equally, calls for them to face the same difficulties that another person of another race must face. And I would hope that some of you look at that. And as far as forget Delaware, those of you who knew me in the eighties, as you say you do, then you should remember how I went to Sam Bean and asked him to chair a committee for me,that would involve more minorities in our commissions and our committees. We held a huge breakfast in the Civic Center. And some of you sitting out there now, may still hold commissions because of that meeting. We appointed more members of the Afro American community to City commissions and committees than have been appointed ever before or ever since, and you need to know that, when you speak to people like us on Council, and hint or intimate or even call us racist, they're only trying to be fair." Public Comment Continued Herman Davis 790 Amarillo Beaumont, TX Mr. Davis expressed his appreciation to all of Council for help provided to him over the years that he has known each Councilmember. Mr. Davis also offered encouragement to the City Clerk. Minutes -January 28,2003 Page 11 Audio and video tapes are available upon request in the City Clerk's Office. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 6:20 p.m. Mayor Evelyn ord Susan Henderson, City Clerk Minutes -January 28,2003 Page 12