Watauga councilman: Candidate’s comments violated Open Meetings Act

A Watauga City Council member filed a complaint with the Tarrant County district attorney last week alleging that the mayor pro tem and the city attorney violated the Texas Open Meetings Act.

In his complaint, Scott Prescher alleged that mayor pro tem David Griffin violated the Open Meetings Act by making a campaign speech during the portion of the March 7 meeting set aside for council member announcements.

In his comments, Griffin urged residents to get along and to not hold grudges.

“We have different viewpoints but we are still a family, a family that loves and supports each other despite our differences,” Griffin said.

He later referred to his comments on his campaign Facebook page.

“For him to say he didn’t intend it to be about his campaign is bull,” Prescher said. “You can’t give a speech for three and a half minutes and then post on your campaign page.”

Griffin, who is running for mayor, did not return calls from the Star-Telegram seeking comment.

City attorney Mark Daniel, who has represented Watauga since the 1980s said: “That allegation is amusing at best. There is no violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act, period. Anyone who says differently knows nothing about the facts, and knows nothing about the law.”

Prescher also alleged in his complaint the council met in an illegal executive session after the meeting, where a representative from the city attorney’s office gave council members affidavits stating that Prescher had violated the city’s ethics code and that he should be removed from office.

Prescher said he could not disclose what was in the affidavits because of “attorney-client privilege.” However he did say that “an employee” of the city said he had been cleared. He said he could not elaborate.

Daniel declined to comment, citing attorney-client privilege.

Prescher also alleged that while the council members were together after the meeting adjourned, one said that they should be paid if they were going to stay late for meetings. In his complaint, Prescher said it appeared that there was a discussion on how council members would vote if the issue ever came up for consideration.

This story was originally published March 21, 2019 at 5:52 PM.