Case closed: City manager’s ethics complaint against Granbury mayor won’t move forward
Following a tense 90-minute hearing detailing ethics allegations concerning Granbury Mayor Jim Jarratt, the city’s ethics commission decided against holding a second hearing to investigate an official complaint filed by City Manager Chris Coffman.
Steve Roberts and Vickie Lee voted in favor of closing the case — the first ever to be heard by Granbury’s ethics commission since its creation in 2018, according to the Hood County News.
Romeo Bachand supported moving forward with a more formal hearing involving witness testimonies and further investigation into Jarratt’s endorsement of a City Council candidate on his public Facebook page after taking over as mayor in July.
Both Jarratt and Coffman were present at Monday’s hearing, sitting at adjacent tables and accompanied by attorneys who answered the majority of questions from commissioners. A few dozen of the mayor’s supporters were in the audience, letting out loud cheers after the commissioners placed their votes.
Jarratt, who was sworn into office less than two months ago, declined further comment when reached by phone. He celebrated the outcome on Facebook, stating he is “pleased to report no more time or money will be spent” on Coffman’s complaint.
“Now that this issue is settled, I’m back to work for The People; Working to End The Infrastructure Crisis, Increasing Transparency, and delivering on the campaign promises I made to YOU,” Jarratt wrote.
Coffman did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment. In a Monday evening email containing Coffman’s sworn affidavit, deputy city manager Michael Ross said the city manager has an “ethical duty to proceed with actions such as these when he believes violations have occurred.”
Shortly before the commission vote, Coffman said Granbury’s ethics ordinance allows it to be more “restrictive” than state law in governing what elected officials can and cannot do, including giving preferential treatment to any private individual for personal gain.
“When you campaign for someone running for office that you’re wanting to have sit beside you in a council meeting, you are doing government business,” Coffman told the commissioners. “You are campaigning for someone for your benefit because you’re trying to make allies. By campaigning for one person, you’re alienating the rest of your council.”
Facebook endorsement turned sour
At the core of the dispute was Jarratt’s July 14 endorsement of City Council candidate Cathy Reidy on his public Facebook page, which reflected his “official capacity and posted about city-related business,” according to a presentation by attorney Ross Fischer, who represented Coffman at the Monday hearing.
The day after Jarratt shared a photo of himself and Reidy, Coffman told the mayor that the post was an ethics ordinance violation and all posts on the Facebook page should be saved since they would be subject to open records laws, according to Coffman’s sworn affidavit filed on Aug. 13.
Later that day, Coffman’s assistant discovered Jarratt’s Facebook page had been changed from “Mayor of Granbury” to “for Mayor of Granbury” and included a disclaimer that the page was not an official government account. Coffman also alleged that certain posts had been deleted from the account and moved to an “unofficial page.”
In turn, Coffman argued, the mayor intentionally gave the appearance of a conflict of interest by using official status to endorse a political candidate, giving preferential treatment to a private individual and failing to comply with the Public Information Act by destroying public records.
The commission should hold a formal hearing that could investigate who converted Jarratt’s Facebook page from a “campaign” account to a “mayoral” page and if someone other than the mayor was responsible for allegedly deleting posts about city business, Fischer said.
“I don’t disagree that candidates or officeholders have the First Amendment right to endorse another candidate,” Fischer said. “By converting this account to one in the mayor’s official capacity, then it changes the dynamic.”
Jarratt’s attorney, Donna Garcia Davidson of Austin, said the Facebook page was clearly political advertising. When Coffman raised the issue that Jarratt’s account looked like an official government page, Jarratt’s campaign staff changed the page back to its previous language to “avoid misperceptions,” Davidson said.
“Was that tampering with public information? No, it was not,” Davidson said. “It was not public information to begin with … It was deliberately, clearly and unequivocally stated that it was political advertising. For him to make an endorsement on that page is perfectly appropriate.”
Jarratt did not use city resources or staff to run the page, Davidson said. The mayor expressed to Davidson that he is “not even sure how Facebook works” and in turn asked his campaign staff to handle it, she added.
Without evidence of posts, commission ends case
The mayor was also not required to respond to Coffman’s public records request asking for all social media posts Jarratt had created since being sworn into office on July 6, Davidson said. Her reasoning? The Facebook posts were never matters of public record. Jarratt responded to the request by saying he had “no responsive documents,” according to Coffman.
After almost a half hour of discussion behind closed doors, commissioners and their advising attorney Charlie Zech questioned Coffman and Jarratt directly about the allegedly deleted Facebook posts.
Coffman said he scrolled through the posts while in the mayor’s office on July 15, but did not have the chance to save them before they were deleted later that day. Jarratt said that, to his knowledge, there were no other posts on the Facebook page other than the Reidy endorsement, which remains public.
“This is one of the things that me and Mr. Coffman do agree on: We don’t like Facebook,” Jarratt said. “I don’t go on the site at all, and when he introduced this information to me was the first time that I’ve seen that information.”
The commissioners were tasked with determining whether enough evidence existed to justify further investigation and a second hearing.
Fischer, Coffman’s attorney, said the potential destruction of evidence shouldn’t prevent the commissioners from moving forward. But, shortly after hearing from the mayor and city manager about the deleted posts, commissioners voted 2-1 against hosting a formal hearing.
Nathan Criswell, a Hood County political consultant who provided consulting services to Jarratt’s mayoral campaign and was named in Coffman’s complaint, said Coffman should be “fired immediately” by council members. That outcome is unlikely under the current City Council, Criswell said.
“Today was nothing but a distraction made by an incompetent city manager hoping to disrupt Jim’s time as mayor,” Criswell wrote in a message to the Star-Telegram. “Granbury citizens are tired of the failed leadership we’ve had in the past, and I’m confident we will continue electing true Public Servants in upcoming elections.”
