HILLSBORO, Texas (KXXV) — On Tuesday, the Hill County Commissioners Court meeting adjourned at an earlier time than expected, and it’s raising questions if that’s even legal.
- The next HCCC meeting will be held on Friday, May 29th, and commissioners will remove the executive session from their agenda.
- Judge Brassell stated that they will not enter executive session until they give the public a 72-hour notice.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
“The commissioners court does want to appear as transparent as possible,"said Hill County Judge Shane Brassell.
On Tuesday, concerns were sparked during the Hill County Commissioners Court as one attendee alleged the court wasn’t following state law about entering into executive session.
Citing Texas Government Code 551.042, this requires the notice to be sufficiently specific so the public knows the subject that will be discussed.
Hill County Judge Shane Brassell discussed what happened.
“Executive sessions are for multiple reasons. In general, there are business matters that can’t be discussed in public due to ongoing litigation or negotiations," said Judge Brassell.
During the meeting, commissioners consulted with their attorney and decided not to go into a closed session. Our 25 News reporter, Chantale Belefanti, talked to an attorney who said there are reasons these codes were placed to protect constituents.
“Public information doesn’t belong to the officials it belongs to the citizens. When you do it on a case-by-case basis, you’re going to pick and choose favorites. You’re gonna pick and choose people you’re okay with who are okay with having the information and who are not okay with having the information," said Jeremy Rosenthal, an attorney with Texas Defense Firm.
Judge Brassell said the court has used the same language to go into executive session for the past 20 years. During yesterday’s meeting, the commissioners planned on discussing the litigation about the moratorium about data centers.
Rosenthal said executive sessions have to be purposeful and encourage government officials to dig deeper into their subject matter.
“You don’t want to get held in court, you don’t want to be accused of not following the rules of the law, and you don’t want somebody setting aside something that a city council or a county court does because you didn’t follow some technical rule," said Rosenthal.
Judge Brassells said when something like this happens, he doesn’t have an issue placing things on pause.
“If I look at it, we could probably be a little clearer; then we’ll just table it and make it more clear unless it’s a dire emergency," said Judge Brassell.
