After Flatonia Controversy, Councilman Questions LG Practices
La Grange City Councilman Ken Taylor called the recent revelations about the former Flatonia City Secretary a “wake-up call” for La Grange.
Last week, the Record reported on an investigation into former Flatonia City Secretary Melissa Brunner that revealed years of costly mistakes for the City of Flatonia.
Taylor has long-called for an independent review of business practices and operations at the City of La Grange.
“I still feel, and I will feel even after I get off the Council, that the City of La Grange needs to go through that process,” he said. “If the headlines of last week’s paper don’t bring it home a little bit more – I’m not saying we have problems like they do in Flatonia – but bad things happen to good people.”
Taylor also mentioned a case from Brazoria County involving a former City Secretary for Danbury who was convicted in 2018 of stealing more than $150,000 from the City, allegedly to feed a gambling addiction.
“I brought up in March 2019 about the possibility of a business process review for the City of La Grange,” Taylor said at the City Council meeting Monday night, April 13. “Financial, safety, environmental – to look at all of our processes and make sure we don’t have any issues.”
Taylor did not run for reelection and will step down from the Council next month. He asked the other Council members to “carry the torch” after he leaves, saying the outside review would make La Grange stronger.
“There’s bound to be a lot of things we do fantastic,” Taylor said. “There might be some things we need to tweak, and there may be some things we really need to change. I don’t know. Until you go through the process, it’s hard to determine.”
Taylor said the process would “not be fun to go through.” Taylor said some City employees have expressed to him concerns about certain city operations. Taylor would not go into detail about those concerns.
“If I brought up the particulars, you would know exactly where it comes from,” Taylor told the Council. “Those people are very concerned and scared that if I did bring it up, they would be under some pressure.
“So, I can’t tell you the exact things,” he continued. “But I will tell you, if you look at the timesheets and the way they’re worked, you might have a concern. And if you look at the way leave is given to people, you might have a concern. I’ll leave it at that.”
Taylor said hiring a qualified outside firm to review the City’s operations could cost $50,000 to $100,000.
“I’m not just talking about financials,” Taylor said. “I’m talking about safety, how you do your projects. Environmental is one (area) I’ve had a problem with.”
Taylor spoke about the numerous violation notices the City received from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality regarding trihalomethanes in the City’s water supply between 2015 and 2019.
“Getting a (notice of violation) from the environmental folks in Austin is not a good thing – people lost their jobs when that happened at the place I worked at before,” said Taylor, a retired plant manager at the Fayette Power Project. “I don’t want people to lose their jobs. I want people to follow the proper processes.”
In a phone call on Tuesday, City Manager Shawn Raborn said he would discuss funding the outside review project with Council during budgetary meetings later this year.
“We’ll have to determine the scope of work,” Raborn said. “I’ll work with Council to clearly define the scope of work to be done or not to be done.”
Raborn said he was not aware of the issues Taylor brought up regarding timesheets and employee leave.
“That was the first I heard of it,” Raborn said. “I will have to explore that. I’ll reach out to figure out the specifics. I’m not aware of anything.”