InstantNewsKaty.com

A complaint about the legality of its meeting notice almost brought Thursday night’s Brookshire City Council meeting to a halt before it started.

Just as Mayor Joseph Vaughn called the meeting to order, City Attorney Art Pertile interjected that his office had received a complaint earlier in the day alleging the council agenda had not been posted as required by law.

Pertile said the caller, a Brookshire resident, reported he had looked for the agenda on the front door of Brookshire City Hall yesterday afternoon and saw it was not posted.

By state law, a city council’s agenda must be continuously posted in public view for at least 72 hours prior to the meeting time. According to a notation on the meeting notice, it was posted at 12:40 p.m. Friday, May 1. That time and date was certified by City Secretary Claudia Harrison.

In front of council members, Pertile questioned the city’s secretary’s staff to confirm for the record the agenda was posted on the date and time certified by Harrison.

Vaughn added that he stopped by city hall on Sunday and noticed the agenda posted on the front door of city hall at that time.

“Once it’s posted, we can’t take it down,” the mayor told the council. “I noticed it on Sunday.”

Norman Vaughn, who is a candidate for mayor in Saturday’s election, was in the audience. He said he saw the meeting notice posted at city hall earlier in the week.

“I did see it posted on Monday,” Norman Vaughn said.

Mayor Pro-Tem Eva Lemos said she saw the notice posted as early as Friday afternoon. Lemos said she picked up her meeting information at city hall Friday afternoon around 3 p.m. and saw the agenda posted at that time.

Pertile said it was up to the city council to determine if the agenda had been posted in accordance with state law.

“You have staff saying it was continuously posted since Friday and a citizen saying it wasn’t. It’s up to the council to decide whether or not it was properly posted,” Pertile told the council.

The mayor called for a decision on the matter and council members unanimously voted that the evidence showed the agenda was properly posted as required by law.

Following the vote, the council proceeded with its regular meeting.