In ‘unorthodox’ decision, mayor in North Tarrant called 911 during disagreement
About five weeks after the new Haslet city administrator started the job, the mayor called 911 in an “unorthodox” way of handling disagreement, City Administrator Joe Ashton said.
The general disturbance call from Haslet City Hall came near the end of the March 24 workday. According to the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office report, there had been no physical or verbal altercation . Mayor Gary Hulsey was trying to kick Ashton out of the secretary’s office, according to the report.
Ashton said before the call was made, he and Hulsey were having a discussion about who was in charge of creating the city council agendas. The responsibility had been the mayor’s until the March 10 City Council meeting when it was handed over to the city administrator by a unanimous vote from the council.
Part of the reason the council opted to hire a city administrator was because Hulsey was not consistently placing council member-requested items on the agenda. At the time, Hulsey said he just wasn’t putting the items on the particular agenda the council members wanted them on.
Before the 911 call was made, Hulsey was trying to insert himself into the agenda-making process.
“I just respectfully made it known that that wasn’t his place,” Ashton said. “He attempted to tell me to leave the room, and I respectfully wouldn’t leave the room, so he called the sheriff’s office.”
The sheriff’s deputy came to City Hall, talked to both of them and determined Hulsey didn’t have the authority to kick Ashton out of the office.
Hulsey’s conflict resolution tactic was a little “unorthodox,” Ashton said.
“I don’t really know what he expected to come of it, or why he thought that that was a good use of time for the sheriff’s office, but that was his call to make, I guess,” Ashton said.
Since then, there haven’t been any issues with making the agenda.
Hulsey did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ashton said he and the mayor aren’t close, but they’ve had no other confrontations. They both are trying to do their jobs, he said.