The Courier of Montgomery County reports that in regard to reaching out for an opinion on a possible loophole in the city charter allowing a voting majority of three councilmembers to meet outside a called meeting, Conroe Mayor Duke Coon has written a letter to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
A gathering of a majority of a governing body, or quorum, according to the Texas Open Meetings Act is considered a quorum and must be open to the public. A quorum of the council according to the city charter is four to six members, which includes the mayor. Since, however, the mayor is a nonvoting member, the voting majority of the council is three. So, the charter permits the voting majority to meet outside a called meeting.
Montgomery County Attorney B.D. Griffin was asked by Coon to look for guidance on fixing the “loophole,” if the attorney general believes one exists. In a letter to Griffin dated February 25th, that was given to the Houston Chronicle, Coon said he was looking for clarification regarding the charter in that “serious concerns about transparency and public accountability” were raised.
City Attorney Mike Garner said in a February 28th memorandum to the council, that there was no loophole in the charter. State law says a quorum is a “majority of a governmental body, unless defined differently by the governmental body’s charter.”
Garner wrote, “When three or fewer qualified members of the city council deliberate public business, those members are not in violation of the act.” He said the loophole is not backed up by fact.
Coon wants “everyone to wait and see what the (attorney general) says about a quorum.”
It was agreed by the council to put the issue on its March 26th workshop agenda.
