‘You are lying to the people’: North Texas city councilman publicly reprimanded
A North Richland Hills City Council member has been publicly reprimanded and stripped of his position as deputy mayor pro tem for calling the mayor a “liar,” writing about employees on social media and violating rules and procedures.
Blake Vaughn, a one-term councilman who is not seeking reelection in May, was disciplined by his colleagues April 9 after a closed meeting that lasted over an hour. The matter came out of a disagreement over language in a resident survey about carports.
The vote to reprimand Vaughn was 6-1, with Vaughn in opposition.
City attorney Bradley Anderle read a seven-page resolution listing the council’s findings against Vaughn. Vaughn said he wasn’t given adequate time to respond to the accusations because he received the resolution minutes before it was read.
Some of the accusations included making comments during a public meeting that were not relevant to what was being discussed, calling the mayor a “liar” and accusing him of misleading the public, disrupting a meeting by abruptly leaving, discussing personnel matters publicly on social media, and acting independently without council authorization.
Vaughn said in an email to the Star-Telegram that he questioned why he was removed as deputy mayor pro tem and reprimanded just weeks before he was leaving office.
Vaughn had called for an investigation of the city manager, Paulette Hartman, over the carport survey. The council found there was no wrongdoing on her part.
“I want to be very clear,” Vaughn told the Star-Telegram, “this was not a debate about the city manager’s performance or an attack on her character. This was a factual dispute about whether a directive had been given. That distinction matters.”
The controversy grew out of a heated March 24 meeting where the council discussed a FlashVote survey gauging residents’ thoughts on changing an ordinance regulating carports. Vaughn said he and other council members wanted to see the survey language before it was presented to the public, and objected that the wording didn’t refer to limited government and property rights.
Mayor Jack McCarty told Vaughn repeatedly that he was out of order and said there wasn’t a decision to review the survey questions.
“You are not running the meeting, and you are lying to the people,” McCarty said.
Vaughn responded that the mayor was lying and asked to play a video clip from a Jan. 27 council meeting where the city manager was asked about the survey language. Vaughn wanted it to ask residents whether they wanted an HOA form of government where they are told what to do.
McCarty told the Star-Telegram that Vaughn knew personnel matters are to be discussed in closed session, but he “attempted to air his grievance against the city manager in public.”
“While he only has a few weeks left in office, his actions have been a pattern and has undermined the integrity of the City Council and City staff,” McCarty said in a Facebook message to the Star-Telegram. “His statements on social media created a potential liability for the City and its taxpayers that could continue even after he leaves office. His actions made it necessary for the City Council to take action and create a public record separating the City from Councilman Vaughn’s actions.”
After the reprimand last week, McCarty told Vaughn, “Blake, we’re here for you any time. We want healing in the community and unity… . I hope that things can go forward, and certainly, any time you want to talk and go through things, I’m happy to do that.”
“I appreciate that,” Vaughn said.
In his statement to the Star-Telegram, Vaughn said: “This is not about personalities. It’s about principles. If a majority of a governing body can declare that one of its own is no longer ‘acting in their official capacity’ simply because they are asking difficult questions or holding others accountable, then oversight dies. Transparency becomes optional. And representative government turns into rubber-stamp politics. This resolution seeks to isolate me, but it’s real target is the people’s right to know what happens at City Hall.”
On Monday, Vaughn said Birdville school officials declined to go forward with a job for him to substitute teach because of his political speech.
The Birdville school district said in an email to the Star-Telegram, Mr. Vaughn has applied to be a substitute teacher. However, that process has been placed on hold.
This story was originally published April 14, 2025 at 6:49 PM.