Fort Worth Open Meetings Violation Reveals Confusing Public Participation Process

Arlington TX

14 April, 2022

7:12 PM

Description

By Rachel Behrndt, Fort Worth Report April 14, 2022 The Fort Worth City Council was forced to cancel two meetings and re-ratify its actions stretching from September 2021 to March 2022 after staff discovered the city failed to post physical agendas in City Hall. Under the Texas Open Meetings Act, local governments are required to post agendas for upcoming meetings online and physically within City Hall 72 hours before a scheduled meeting, with some exceptions. Previous reporting by the Fort Worth Report led to the discovery that agendas for Fort Worth City Council meetings were not in compliance with the Texas Open Meetings Act starting from Sept. 1, 2021, to March 18, 2022. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Greg Abbott suspended the requirement of physical meeting notices for government meetings on March 16, 2021, after declaring a state of disaster in Texas earlier that month. The executive order, meant to prevent in-person gatherings, expired on Sept. 1, 2021. To read the full article, click here. Fort Worth Report is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that produces factual, in-depth journalism about city and county government, schools, healthcare, business, and arts and culture in Tarrant County. Always free to read; subscribe to newsletters, read coverage or support our newsroom at fortworthreport.org.