[0:00] If you look at the recent polls nationally about the public's trust of

[0:04] government, slightly less than 50% trust the federal government to handle

[0:10] national affairs. Slightly more uh 50 60% trust the state government to handle

[0:17] state affairs. But when you look at polls, more people trust their local

[0:21] governments. about 65 70% trust their city councils, their counties and school

[0:27] districts to take care of local affairs. So, yay, we're more trustworthy than the

[0:32] state or federal government, but those numbers are still very low. If you're

[0:36] going to run for city council, I urge you, I challenge you to do what you can

[0:41] to improve the public's trust. Conduct yourself with integrity so that while

[0:46] citizens may not always like your decisions, they trust that you're making

[0:50] it for the right reason. Together, each of us can bolster citizens belief in

[0:54] their local governments and strengthen democracy at the local level.

[1:07] The different types of cities in Texas are important to know as a council

[1:11] member, especially before your elections, because they all have

[1:14] different rules and different regulations that you must abide by. the

[1:19] four different types of cities. There's your three general law cities, which is

[1:23] general law A, general law B, and general law C. And then you have home

[1:28] rule cities, which allow you just a little bit more power, but each are

[1:32] important for knowing the rules and regulations before your elections. The

[1:37] main difference between the general law and home rule municipalities is the

[1:42] population that is within the city as well as where they derive their

[1:47] authority from. With a general law city, you are only given the authority and

[1:52] power that's provided by the state, such as your statutes and codes, the Texas

[1:57] Constitution, those are the rules that govern and you can only um have

[2:03] authority that's given or granted by those rules and statutes. Whereas with

[2:07] the home rule municipality, you look to the legislature not for powers or grants

[2:13] of power, but rather for limitations of power.

[2:20] So, it's important to understand the differences between the mayor council

[2:26] form of government in cities and the city manager council. A lot of the

[2:32] larger cities in Texas have chosen the city council/city manager form of

[2:38] government. It's kind of like having a corporation. You have a board of

[2:42] directors, which is like a city council, and then you have a CEO. The CEO runs

[2:49] the day-to-day operations. In a city, your CEO, if you've chosen that form of

[2:54] government, is your city manager. Your smaller cities may be the ones that

[2:59] choose the mayor council form of government. In that case, your mayor

[3:05] will do the CEO job for the city. When you have a city manager as the CEO of

[3:11] your city, the city council does not have the authority to micromanage the

[3:17] city manager. Will be very important for that council when hiring a city manager

[3:23] to choose the right person and have trust in that person to run the

[3:27] dayto-day.

[3:30] The budget document is a culmination of a whole lot of decisions and it can get

[3:37] pretty complicated. Your chief executive, whether that's the mayor or a

[3:42] city manager, will present the budget picture in terms of services. If one of

[3:49] your campaign promises is to improve public safety, you go into the budget

[3:56] and you look for ways to enhance the community's ability to provide public

[4:03] safety services. The budget, it's a zero- sum game. In any community,

[4:08] resources are always limited. A lot of that budget development process is

[4:13] negotiation and bargaining and there's never enough resources to go around to

[4:19] fill everybody's promises. That budget process is a great avenue for

[4:26] collaboration about just what is it we are able to afford and what promises are

[4:32] we going to keep here.

[4:37] It is really important to keep in mind that is actually the citizens's job to

[4:43] be skeptical. It is the citizens job to ask the hard questions. This is what

[4:50] they get to do. This is how this system was set up by our founding fathers. Uh

[4:55] we we don't have kings in this country. What we have are citizens. We govern at

[5:01] the consent of the citizenry. They they don't have to agree. They don't always

[5:07] have to be polite. They get to ask questions. I think it's okay for

[5:12] citizens to be disruptive. It's not okay for there to be a loss of decorum. That

[5:20] mayor's role during council meetings, that responsibility to run a meeting

[5:27] with a certain decorum is not always easy. And it's uh really important and

[5:35] there's a lot of great examples of mayors who have uh performed that

[5:41] responsibility really well. It is a constant

[5:46] job to engender trust with the citizens. Never hide from the truth. Even when the

[5:53] news is really really bad, uh there will be people whispering in your ear to spin

[6:00] the the news to something positive. Um avoid that temptation because in uh the

[6:07] public service it never works out in the end. It always backs fire backfires. It

[6:14] is always best to own it. The people will forgive you. That is absolutely how

[6:19] you build trust. Well, hopefully if you're running for

[6:23] city council, you believe in good governance. And what's vital to

[6:28] governing well at the local level is having our citizens trust us. And

[6:33] winning the public's trust starts during your campaign. So, if you run a campaign

[6:38] that's transparent and you demonstrate integrity, you can build up that trust

[6:44] and carry that momentum into being an elected official. Once you're elected to

[6:49] the city council, you'll have a city attorney advising the council on what

[6:53] you can do legally, what you cannot do, and what you're mandated to do. But what

[6:59] I hope you do as an elected official is not just settle for legal mandate. Just

[7:04] because your city attorney tells you you can do it doesn't mean it's the right

[7:09] thing to do. And so I hope you'll strive to actually govern with integrity and

[7:14] honesty and transparency and be an ethical public official, which means

[7:19] going beyond just the legal limits. Once you're elected, you're going to be

[7:23] subject to federal, state, and local regulations that are going to affect

[7:28] your conduct. If your city is building infrastructure using federal grants,

[7:34] there's going to be federal anti-corruption rules that apply to your

[7:37] conduct, such as bribery. And then here in Texas, we have many ethical rules

[7:43] that apply by law. And then beyond that, many cities have their own local rules.

[7:48] So if you're running for public office, it's wise to know those ethics rules

[7:52] before you get into it so you understand if it's going to affect you, your

[7:56] family, your business, and how you conduct your affairs.

[8:03] Immunity, be it sovereign immunity, uh legislative immunity, or qualified, is

[8:10] the privilege not to have to face a lawsuit and damages because of acts that

[8:15] are taken in one's official capacity. If they're sued in their official capacity,

[8:20] it's just like suing the governmental entity. If someone's acting in in an

[8:26] ultravirus fashion, like they were acting without any sort of authority to

[8:30] do what they're doing, not staying in their lane, they can definitely lose

[8:35] their immunity. Before taking action that's going to significantly affect

[8:41] someone else's rights, an elected official should try to pay attention to

[8:46] their city manager's instructions and their city attorney who should give them

[8:51] advice uh of the potentials of these of these decisions. Don't rush into any

[8:58] decisions without considering exactly how your actions might affect some

[9:03] individual's rights.

[9:08] The Texas Public Information Act is a statute that regulates um local

[9:12] governments or all government in the state of Texas and it creates a

[9:16] presumption of openness in all official business. So any official business that

[9:20] takes place there's a presumption should be available to the public. So this the

[9:24] public information act regulates that and it explains to the public how to get

[9:28] that information. The number one thing that um candidates and elected officials

[9:32] need to know about the public information act would be the presumption

[9:36] of openness. Especially if you're coming from a private entity background where

[9:40] there is a lot of confidential private conversations that are not going to go

[9:44] out to the public. That really doesn't exist when you are a elected official.

[9:48] Pretty much everything your entire business is to run the city and all that

[9:52] business is is subject to public disclosure. A lot of times we think,

[9:56] "Oh, we're taking my personal notes about this meeting or I'm having a quote

[10:01] unquote private conversation about a potential contract." Anything that is

[10:05] related to the transaction official business is going to be available to the

[10:09] public. And so just everything you create or everything that comes across

[10:12] your desk, kind of keeping that in mind, this could be in the newspaper or these

[10:16] days Facebook. This could go out there. So, the Texas Open Meetings Act is a

[10:23] state law um really focused on the public's ability to uh engage in

[10:29] conversations and discussions with their public officials um and also to hold

[10:33] their public officials accountable to the decision-making process happening in

[10:37] an open setting where it can be observed um in a transparent fashion. And so

[10:42] anytime that city officials are gathered to discuss public business, that usually

[10:47] is going to have to take place in an open properly posted meeting. What that

[10:50] means is that we have an agenda that goes out beforehand, a list of topics

[10:54] you're going to discuss, give the public an opportunity to weigh in and provide

[10:58] input and then any discussions, especially if they're going to occur

[11:02] amongst a majority or a quorum of that governing body, need to occur during

[11:06] that properly posted meeting. There are few exceptions that allow for closed

[11:11] executive session discussion of topics, but those are limited circumstances

[11:15] under the law. The part of open meetings that's often tricky is is communications

[11:20] outside of those formal uh context in the formal meetings. And so that's where

[11:24] we start to to really focus in on is there a series of communications? Are we

[11:28] having emails or text chains on the side between council members? Are we meeting

[11:33] up maybe in a less formal setting where we got to count up and say, "Ah, do we

[11:37] have a quorum here? Do we have a majority of council members present? Um,

[11:40] when those things happen is when council members need to be aware they need to

[11:44] hold off on that discussion and make sure it takes place in a properly posted

[11:47] public meeting.

[11:52] Cities are political subdivisions of the state. So, we look to their authority

[11:56] from the Texas Constitution as well as state laws and administrative rules. So,

[12:02] there are two types of cities in Texas, general law and home rule. General law

[12:07] cities basically have the powers that the state has given them. If a statute

[12:11] says that the city can do something, it can. If the state has not said that this

[12:16] general law city has authority to act, they probably don't. Homeless cities, on

[12:21] the other hand, have the powers that are given to them in their city charter,

[12:24] that their voters elected, and they're basically authorized to do such actions

[12:30] unless they are prohibited by other law. The most important thing for candidates

[12:35] for office to understand is that you need to determine what authority you

[12:41] have before you can take certain actions. Many people running for office

[12:45] assume that their community is not doing certain things and should change their

[12:51] practices. And sometimes they can, but you first have to check and be sure

[12:56] they're authorized to do that.

[13:00] So when you're dealing with your zoning regulations, a lot of times they

[13:04] separate your uses into residential, commercial, industrial, and

[13:09] agricultural. It can regulate the lot sizes, the building heights, the

[13:14] building sizes. One of the concerns that a city councilman may have is when I'm

[13:21] making my decision, what are any kind of constraints that I may have under state

[13:26] or federal law in my decision making? And it depends on the type of decision

[13:31] that you're making. For example, if it's a zoning decision, it is discretionary,

[13:37] but you can't make a decision that's arbitrary or capricious or

[13:41] discriminatory. That would violate state and federal laws. It has to be done in

[13:46] conformance with the comprehensive plan. If you're zoning an area and the area is

[13:51] residential, you wouldn't want to approve an application to make it a

[13:56] heavy industrial use within that residential area. That would violate

[14:01] probably your comprehensive plan. When they're running for office, they should

[14:05] get a copy of the city's comprehensive plan. In the comprehensive plan, you

[14:10] usually have your capital improvement plan. So these are major infrastructure

[14:15] that the city would put in their budget. The candidate and then the elected

[14:20] official will know what um land uses the city has in their comprehensive plan and

[14:28] then what their needs are, what their infrastructure needs are.

[14:33] When you become a candidate and certainly when you get elected, there

[14:38] are different expectations of you. There are different standards that are going

[14:41] to apply these days. Once you're a public official, you're always a public

[14:47] official. You can't just take off your city council member cap nights,

[14:52] weekends, or when you travel to Las Vegas. People are going to expect that

[14:56] higher level of conduct all the time. There's going to be a higher level of

[15:01] scrutiny. Sometimes I have clients say, "Allan, I just want to be treated like

[15:06] everybody else." You're not everybody else once you're elected. And you may

[15:10] have some tough choices between what you think is right for you, your business,

[15:15] your family versus the community at large. Cuz once you're elected, ethics

[15:20] are going to mandate you care more about your city and your community than your

[15:24] own personal financial gain. Fortunately, there's lots of information

[15:28] freely available about ethics online. the office of the attorney general's

[15:32] office, the Texas Municipal League, they all publish information about the ethics

[15:37] codes and statutes that apply. If you are running for city council in a

[15:42] particular city, inquire with the city secretary, the municipal clerk, if

[15:46] perhaps their city attorney has published any rules, or if the city has

[15:50] any local rules you're going to have to abide by. Get those rules, read through

[15:55] them, and understand them before you actually take the oath of office.

[16:01] So many people who are thinking about running for city council or mayor are

[16:07] not aware of the time commitment that's involved. So there's a um a whole lot

[16:12] more to it than one meeting a month. There's regular meetings that these

[16:18] people are aware of, but there's also special meetings and workshops.

[16:23] And before every council meeting, you're going to get a council agenda packet

[16:28] with background information on all of the agenda items that are on the

[16:33] upcoming agenda. And that packet can be anywhere from 250 pages to 2,000 pages

[16:41] just depending upon what is on the agenda for that meeting. Most cities,

[16:46] the council members serve on other committees, and those committee meetings

[16:52] usually happen during the daytime. If they're not self-employed or retired,

[16:56] they need to make sure that their boss is cognizant of the time commitment.

[17:03] Serving on city council can impact your personal life, especially your family

[17:08] life. You know, you're going to be gone on the evenings that you have council

[17:12] meetings. You might go out of town for training as there's a lot of weekend

[17:16] commitments. A lot of times there's banquetss and fundraisers. Your partner

[17:21] needs to understand the time commitment and possibly their level of involvement.

[17:26] Uh if you're going to go represent the city at a banquet or a fundraiser,

[17:31] perhaps you're expected to bring uh your partner or your spouse with you. Most

[17:36] cities don't pay a salary to council members or most cities if they do, it's

[17:42] very minimal. For example, uh College Station doesn't pay anything uh to their

[17:48] council members. Brian pays $10 a month and it is subject to withholding. So,

[17:53] they actually get $7.89 a month. I have had people come in that wanted to run

[17:58] because they thought that being the mayor or council member was a

[18:02] well-paying job, and it's not. Some cities have more strict guidelines than

[18:08] just state law on conflict of interest. Under state law, you may just have to

[18:13] abstain, but in Brian, you can't have an interest at all. We had a guy that owned

[18:18] a glass company and he used to get all the city work when windshields got

[18:22] broken or, you know, glass in a building or something. Couldn't do that while he

[18:26] was on the council. Zero. We had another council member that was a caterer and he

[18:32] couldn't cater for the city anymore. And when you think about all the catering

[18:36] jobs that he could not do for the city, that's a lot of money. You need to know

[18:42] going in, uh, I won't be able to cater for the city. I won't be able to fix

[18:47] glass for the city if I'm on the council. People that do this have a

[18:51] servant's heart. They truly want to serve and help uh, improve the quality

[18:57] of life in their communities, and that's admirable.

[19:01] But they need to understand but going in the huge time commitment that's

[19:05] involved. And I think as long as they know that and they have the family

[19:09] support, the employer support and they they can work it in the way they need to

[19:15] into their life, they're going to be fine.

[19:23] [Music]

[19:30] [Music]

Running for City Council - Things You Should Know

Transcript