Q: Our city clerk puts a boilerplate notice at the bottom of city council meeting agendas, notifying the public that the council may go into executive session under any of a number of exceptions allowing it under the Texas Open Meetings Act. The problem is, this council has a habit of going into executive session without stating exactly which TOMA exception they are using. I don’t think a reporter or anyone else should have to sit there for hours, wondering what council members are talking behind closed doors. Can you send something that fits a scenario like that?
Q: Our hospital district recently let a highly paid employee go. The employee got a sizable settlement and the local governmental body is refusing to release the terms. Aren’t local governmental bodies prohibited from entering into nondisclosure agreements?
A: See the Texas Public Information Act, Government Code Sec. 552.022, titled Categories of Public Information, at: www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/GV/htm/GV.552.htm#552.022.
Documents are public from the moment they are fixed – in print or digital form
Q: My city is seeking a city manager. The city council narrowed the field from 30 to an unknown number. Interviews are starting next week. Do they have to tell me the names of the final three or four? I know school boards don’t.
Q: Without advertising the availability of land for purchase, our county hospital district agreed to sell an adjacent strip of land to an individual. As far as we can tell at this point, it was the buyer who approached the district, not the other way around, and remarkably, a deal was made without public knowledge or consent.
Q&A: Checks endorsed to deceased man still get cashed
Q: Our county is making out checks to a known-to-be-deceased person for goods and services. A living person is cashing the checks. How do I know? Because my open records requests to obtain copies of the checks have been fulfilled.
Q&A: EEOC complaints, council nepotism and school board settlements
Q: I am hovering at the edges of a potential story that’s brewing at the county courthouse. It has to do with allegations of employment discrimination. Can I get my hands on written complaints that are rumored to exist?
UIL rule prohibits sale of championship event photos
Q: I am just back from covering the UIL State Championship Basketball Tournament with a card full of photos. I noticed in the press packet that UIL prohibits sale of those photos. Is this a new rule?
County clerk may or may not store certified agenda
Q: Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Our superintendent approved a voluntary separation agreement with the school district. TASB was hired to do the search for a replacement with an interim to be appointed by the school board. At a special board meeting, the four controlling members blindsided everybody by naming the existing superintendent as her own interim.
Q: To guard a newspaper’s reputation for impartiality, is there not some kind of unspoken “industry understanding” that newspaper employees should follow regarding political activities? I have an opening for a reporter and I want to screen applicants to make sure they can keep their political proclivities to themselves.