The Swamp – Page 2 – Carol A. Spencer

Another Charter “Stick in the Eye”

My last post about City of Bastrop officials’ actions violating the citizen-adopted Home Rule charter was pretty long. But that doesn’t mean those are the only violations of Charter provisions.

Voters adopted the Charter making the City a “Home Rule” city. Voters have to approve all changes to the Charter. At least, one would think so. But apparently, this City Council thinks it can modify and waive provisions of the Charter whenever it wants to do so.

First example is waiving the provision that the City Manager live within the City limits. “The City Manager need not be a resident of the City at the time of appointment but shall reside within the City while in office.”

The City Council waived that provision, somehow, allowing Sylvia Carrillo to live in the Colony. According to Bastrop CAD records, she and her husband purchased their house in the Colony, outside City limits, in April 2024. By that time, Carrillo had been City Manager for almost two years, since late 2022. Clearly, she was aware the Charter forbade her from living outside City limits.

Thinking they could codify their actions, the City Council put a Charter change on the ballot in November: “Shall Section 4.01 of the Charter be amended to remove the requirement that the City Manager must reside within the City Limits?” But their action wasn’t codified. In fact, it was resoundingly defeated.

Has the City Manager complied with this provision? Carrillo is still showing as the owner of the Colony property, and no other in Bastrop County.

Second example is requiring the Mayor to have Council permission to perform duties assigned to him/her under the Charter. No such authority is granted under the Charter, yet in April 2024, the City Council unilaterally targeted the Mayor, stripping him of duties and city obligations to the position.

At a Special Meeting, the City Council voted to not reimburse his expenses for events and functions. They voted to remove his office space in City Hall. They voted to force him to get their approval to speak at city or city-sponsored functions, which they refused when asked. They voted to remove his contact information from the website, preventing citizens from contacting him. They voted to change the level of authority on his access credentials. They revoked all of his appointments to City boards, commissions and authorities. Some of these targeted actions were in conflict with actual ordinances and with the City Charter. All disenfranchised the voters who put him in office.

More sloppy government. Item R2024-49 was submitted by Mayor Pro Tem John Kirkland. At the meeting, it was moved by Councilwoman Meyer and Mayor Pro Tem Kirkland seconded. However the minutes from the meeting are below and are wrong. They name no second. And, note the comment that Council Member Lee was absent.

Simply viewing the meeting video proves Councilwoman Lee was there, and in fact spoke on this issue. And, if she were absent, how could the vote have been 5-0? There would have been only 4 voting Council members present. The actual vote was 4-1, with Councilwoman Lee voting “no”. (Wonder now why there’s a vendetta against her?)

But hey, what difference does that make anyway? When this City Council decides to target someone, what difference does the law make? Based on the record, it doesn’t seem to matter at all to John Kirkland, his gang of three, and the City Manager.

The City Charter is Meaningless

Last November, five months ago, y’all who live in the City of Bastrop went out and voted on Charter Amendments: 12 of them to be exact. Defeated were G (57.3% opposed) and L (62.4% opposed). All others passed.

Prop G would have required replacing all gender-specific terminology with gender-neutral terminology in the Charter. Prop L would have allowed the City Manager to live outside the city limits. Both were soundly defeated. Ten were passed.

You wouldn’t know that by the City’s website or the actions of the City Manager and City Council, led now by Mayor Pro Tem and Council Candidate John Kirkland.

Council Overturns Public Vote Results

The Council, in a 3 to 2 vote with John Kirkland breaking the tie, overturned the will of the voters on Prop M. That’s right. They just decided that your vote didn’t count. Why? Because Ken Paxton might sue the City over it. And, the lawsuit might cost $400,000 to defend.

Prop M was the marijuana question. And, for the record, if I were a City of Bastrop voter, I would have voted against Prop M.

Why didn’t Kirkland and his gang put that question’s results on hold until all the facts were in? That would have been the responsible thing to do. Overturning a public vote is an affront to representative government.

And while we’re questioning financial decisions, why didn’t Kirkland put the vendetta against Mayor Nelson on hold until all the investigations were completed? If the City Council is so worried about spending money frivolously on lawyers, why did the Council majority support Kirkland’s spending of taxpayer dollars in the amount of $137,000+ to continuously denigrate an elected official with false allegations? Why not wait until they heard from those allegedly investigating all this?

And what will they overturn next: letting the City Manager live outside the City even though the Charter says she must live in the City? Oh, that’s right, they already did that too.

Charter Ignored in Calling Meetings

The City Charter says “Such special meetings may be called as necessary upon written notice to the City Secretary by the Mayor or by any three of the other members of the Council.”

I submitted Open Records Requests for the November 21, 2024, December 17, 2024, January 17, 2025, January 22, 2025, and March 4, 2025 special meeting calls. None were called in compliance with the City Charter.

Think about it. If the City Council complied with the City Charter, there must be documents requesting these meetings. But, according to city officials, there weren’t.

In every case but the first one, I was told, in writing, that there were no documents responsive to my request. I received only one response and that was to my first request. It was only sent to me after my repeated protestations that there had to be some document(s) calling the meeting. City Manager Carrillo had requested the meeting via email to the Council people. Because 4 Council people replied they could attend, Carrillo contends that is the equivalent of them providing “written notice to the City Secretary”. Except, Carrillo isn’t the City Secretary.

More sloppy government. And, a City Manager and Mayor Pro Tem flagrantly willing to ignore the City Charter that the public voted to put in place. This City Manager and Mayor Pro Tem Kirkland constantly thumb their noses at you, the voting public.

Charter Changes Not Online

The City Charter has not been updated online. The election took place in November and has been certified by the City Council. Yet, the nine approved changes aren’t there. How can any person be expected to understand what this Council is doing, and under what authority they’re doing it?

Leadership Counts

Leadership counts. It’s expected that leadership will follow the rules. It’s not appropriate for City Council and their staff to make it up as they go along. They have reference material to use if they have questions. They can read the Charter just like I can (except it’s out of date). It’s the framework for transparent and open government. When they don’t follow it, they’re doing a disservice to every taxpayer and voter in the City of Bastrop.

Slow This Down

Public comments delivered by Carol Spencer at the 3/4/25 City of Bastrop Council Meeting.  The Council had multiple ordinances modifying its B3 Zoning Code on the agenda for 1st reading, with second reading and adoption one week later.

In college, I majored in French. I then joined IBM in computer sales. I was not a civil engineer, planner, surveyor or well versed in any other land use profession. So why was I appointed to our local planning board? I was treasurer of a citizens group involved in a local affordable housing issue. Development was exploding in our town, just like here. I knew that planning was a critical driver of what our community would ultimately look like. But my background meant I had a lot to learn.

This is where your citizens are today. They, like you and I, didn’t wake up one morning knowing what is a plat, what are setbacks, what’s an ADU, how is density calculated, what’s the relationship amongst development, school taxes, city & county taxes. They didn’t wake up knowing how to participate in the planning process: concept plans, public hearings, first readings, second readings, advisory reviews, conditional uses, and so much more.

SLOW THIS DOWN.

The last time y’all changed the code, it took 7 months with multiple listening sessions in the City. In a less formal environment, people could ask questions and learn. But not this time.

If you stay on this course, only 23 days will have passed from the first Planning & Zoning public hearing to final adoption by this Council, just a few more than that from the city-wide mailing. Take out weekends and holidays that city hall is closed, that’s only 16 working days. Sixteen days for average citizens to absorb what you’re doing, ask questions, understand the process, and attempt to have their voices heard both pro and con.

Lot layout with 2 ADUs I’m not opposed to most of what you’re considering. My main concern is that you’re ignoring density by not addressing ADUs on small lots. Lot with two ADUs So while you’re banning duplexes, you’re still allowing a single family home and 2 additional dwelling units on that same lot. Ban two dwelling units, but allow three by ordinance? That’s increased density. Is that really what you want to do?

SLOW THIS DOWN.

Indefinitely postpone these ordinances until your planners draft a full buildout plan showing what this city will look like when built out according to these new codes. Give your citizens time to absorb this information so they can make informed comments on these major changes to their city. That’s the responsible thing to do as elected officials.

Thank you.

Dem Chairs Strike Again

Don’t be fooled. You’ve been told TX House Representatives, including HD-17 Stan Gerdes, voted to ban Dem chairs. That’s only true if you’re touching their side of the hair that they split to fool you.

The Texas GOP Legislative Priority list says “The Republican-controlled Texas Legislature shall end the practice of awarding committee chairmanships to Democrats and require all committees to be majority Republican.”

Their side of that split hair is that “committees” does not equal “Permanent Standing Subcommittees”. They fail to tell you that bills can be assigned to those subcommittees, that they can and are chaired by Democrats, that those committees can kill bills assigned to them, and they’re funded just like regular committees.

One Permanent Standing Subcommittee with a Dem chair is Property Tax Appraisal. Right out of the starting gate, Democrat Committee Chair Chris Turner has introduced a bill to require that counties reappraise properties annually. Tarrant County voted to do them every 3 years, along with limiting provisions for appraisal increases, and school districts (think teacher’s unions) are up in arms.

three dollar signs Doing appraisals every year is very costly. It requires a large staff, support systems, annual hearings for those who contest their appraisals, legal fees and more. Why do this? One big reason is because upping appraisals allows governing bodies (elected officials) to claim lowered or stable tax rates.

(Tax rate * (Appraised Value-Exemptions)) / 100 = Your Tax Bill

You see it all the time. Elected officials claim they lowered the tax rate. But your property taxes went up. That’s because the taxable value of your property went up. If they can’t raise your taxable value, then they’ll be forced to raise the tax rate to collect more and more money for government services.

There’s no reason at all to appraise properties every year. The Texas Constitution allows it to be done every 3 years. I came from a state that did it less often than that. We didn’t have “appraisal districts” with all the related expenses of such. And, as elected officials, we had to carefully manage spending in order to keep the tax rate from rising out of control.

Remember that equation above? Today in Texas, the biggest variable to bring in more tax dollars each year is the appraised value. We all know that because we’re getting slammed each and every year. And, elected officials continue to claim they presided over a stable or lower tax rate when running for re-election.

In the state I came from, the appraised values stayed constant from one appraisal to the next (often six to ten years). It was the tax rate that rose to bring in more tax dollars. When the ratio of total appraised value to total market value ran in the 60% range, we hired a professional appraisal company to re-appraise all properties to market values. When that was done, the amount raised in taxes before and after the appraisals had to be the same.

One time fee. One year out of six or seven. And, when we increased spending, the tax rate went up. If our city was growing and we had to provide expanded services, the added assessments of the new growth covered that. As elected officials, we couldn’t run behind the fiction of lower tax rates because they were directly related to our spending. It’s why my motto for more than 30 years has been “Take care of the spending and the tax rate will take care of itself”.

Annual appraisals are a waste of tax money. And, now, a Dem chair of a TX House subcommittee wants to mandate them. This is but one example of damage done by Dem chairs. Let’s hope the Texas House or Senate is smarter than that and defeats this bill before it ever gets out of that Property Tax Appraisal subcommittee.

What’s the Rush?

In 2019, the City of Bastrop adopted new development code ordinances. It took a long time because the City gathered a lot of public input prior to holding any Planning & Zoning public hearings or City Council public hearings.

The City held public meetings to “share future development plans and to solicit community input”. These were held on April 10 2019, May 9 2019, June 8 2019 and June 26 2019. The draft code, technical manual, and draft pattern book were released on May 24, 2019 so the public could review them. Another public meeting was held to solicit input on the technical manual on August 22 2019. The Planning and Zoning Commission did not take action to approve the code until September 26, 2019. The Council’s first reading of the new zoning ordinance was October 22 2019. The second reading and final adoption took place on November 12 2019.

From the first public meeting to final adoption was seven months.

Why, then, is the City Manager Sylvia Carrillo trying to push through a new code in just 23 days? There’s always a reason when that happens. So, what’s the rush?

City of Bastrop P&Z Meeting Last night’s meeting agenda was far too long. The meeting started at 5PM. I don’t know what time it ended because I left at 9:30 when there were still two items to be discussed and voted on. There was a full house when it started. By the time I left, there were barely 25 people in the room.

City of Bastrop P&Z Meeting 9:30PM Even the Commissioners were exhausted. So exhausted, in fact, that one of them left the meeting. Another read a motion for setback code changes when he meant to read a motion for lot size code changes. He was so tired he didn’t even realize he was reading the wrong prewritten motion. Setbacks hadn’t even been discussed yet.

Four hour meetings are unfair to the governing body, but most especially to the public who have to work the following day, may have had to arrange child care or may be elderly. Again, what’s the rush?

For all the bloviating about drainage, street width, cost of street maintenance by Carrillo last evening, pushing this forward in such a short time frame only makes sense in the context of future development. What’s on the drawing board for which these changes are needed? What’s the rush?

Citizens need to remember that the Gateway development was defeated on May 14, 2024. That date is important because the developer can resubmit an application one year later: May 15, 2025. If Carrillo has her way, the new code will be adopted by March 11, 2025. That’s 2 months for the Gateway developers to have access to the new code to lay out a conforming development.

Previously, developers were required to comply with a grid layout of streets and roads-including the Gateway development. If these proposed changes become law, that will no longer be the case, facilitating a different design for this project and every other.

What else is on the drawing board? Are there mapping changes? Zone changes to specific areas? There’s something in Bastrop’s future for which these code changes are necessary, that’s for sure.

I spent eight years on a planning board, six years on a town council. I know this game. Nothing of this magnitude and effect on citizens gets rushed through this fast without an ulterior motive. It’s likely the Planning & Zoning Commissioners have no idea what it is, and perhaps only the Council majority that votes together knows. Maybe only the City Manager knows. But there is an ulterior motive that will reveal itself in time. Otherwise, what’s the rush?

J6 Choir: Let’s be Very Clear

Let’s be VERY clear about the J6 Choir controversy the Democrats used to delay the vote for Kash Patel as FBI director. Let’s be VERY clear.

The J6 Choir video that the Judiciary Committee Democrats are SO opposed to is one of incarcerated J6ers singing the National Anthem while President Trump cites the Pledge of Allegiance. The Democrats have now clearly shown their true colors. Shameful.

Watch the video that they object to, the patriotic video that they want to use to deny Kash Patel, a highly qualified individual, the Directorship of the FBI. Shameful.

These Democrats want to deny Kash Patel the Directorship of the FBI, but they were fine with these people serving in the Biden administration. Democrat Party Judiciary members have gone nuts and clearly shown themselves for the kooks they are.

A Fix Without a Problem

The City of Bastrop held numerous public hearings before it adopted the current zoning ordinance. The public had many opportunities to provide input. Modifications were made based on that input. The Council held public hearings on the ordinance to obtain more public input, and then it was adopted. That happened just 6 years ago in 2019.

As proven by the defeat of the Gateway project, the code worked. An over-intense project was proposed needing a zone change. When citizens came out to oppose the unfettered development on steep slopes behind Bucees, the developers modified their plan. They hoped they’d still get approval for a zone change so they could build their multi-million dollar project. That strategy did not work and the zone change request was defeated.

That, however, wasn’t the death of the project. It was just denied under current zoning. And the defeat only meant citizens wouldn’t see it again for 12 months.

But there’s more than one way to skin a cat.

Why not change the entire zoning plan for the City of Bastrop? Make it so complex that citizens cannot absorb it all. Do it quickly before citizens realize what’s happening and why.

Developers do this all the time. Can’t get what they want one way, they try another tactic. Can’t get a zone change on a particular piece of property? Change city-wide zoning instead and buried deep within is the zone change that developer wanted all along.

It’s all about money. The profits from major developments run in the tens, sometimes hundreds of millions of dollars. So, they get Council people out of the way who might or do oppose their plans and install Council people who vote “yes” for the zone changes because they’re in the developers pocket or they just aren’t “minding the store”. (Sound familiar? Get rid of Lyle Nelson and pro-Gateway Council member(s) remain.)

No matter how it happens, the developer gets its development, citizens be damned. Once the code is modified and the proposed development meets the zoning criteria, the development gets approved.

It’s odd the code is being re-written and shoved through so quickly. Odd, too, is that it’ll be adopted just in time for Gateway to be refiled, only this time, a zone change won’t be needed making that development harder to defeat.

I’ll be very surprised if this isn’t what happens. The only thing that will change is if citizens come out in droves and express their opposition to these zone changes. Waiting for future development projects is just too late.