Paul Walden, Addison City Council, Post (Facebook)
March 16, 2017
Tuesday night’s Council meeting continued a pattern of the Mayor wasting the time of the Council and taxpayer dollars by putting three, unnecessary agenda items on the docket.
We wasted time discussing (once again) the AMLI project, which was passed two weeks ago by a vote of 5-2. The Mayor continues to insist the Council rushed a vote on this decision despite the fact that it has been under consideration for TWO YEARS. Staff determined it was consistent with the Town’s housing policy and has recommended it twice and two different Planning & Zoning Commissions have recommended it forward to Council.
I previously commented on the Mayor’s disgraceful behavior towards AMLI at the February 14th meeting and the subsequent letter from their Attorney setting the record straight in response to the Mayor’s inaccuracies spewed forth at that meeting. The Mayor placed this item on the March 14 agenda with the intent of having Staff brief the Council on the status of receiving environmental study documents supporting the Certification from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that the property was fit for residential use (the highest standard they have).
After the update, he tried to show that the Council had approved the project without having adequate information from TCEQ which was not the case. The Certification from TCEQ telling us that the property was fit for residential use had been in hand since 2014 and was included, again, in the last application process. Staff advised they have no environmental concerns about this property so it is a mystery why he keeps contending that something was wrong with this rezoning.
The Mayor also placed two other items on the agenda relating to transparency and ethics. However, there was no information provided for the Council to consider. We tabled these items, since there was nothing to discuss. When proper documentation is provided in advance to the Council, specific proposals are offered for discussion and proper, advance notice is given to the public regarding the nature of the items to be discussed, I feel sure the Council will be happy to consider these items.
The Mayor is quick to criticize other Council Members who do not follow Council procedures by giving advance notice of topics for discussion but this is not the first time he has tried to get the Council to take action on items he wants pursued. For someone who claims to embrace transparency, these actions hardly reflect the transparency he claims to advocate so highly.