May 14, 2019 City Council on 2019-05-14 5:30 PM (Special Called)

(upbeat music) - Welcome everybody to this meeting of the Dent City Council on Tuesday, May the 14th, 2019, it is 6.30. Our first item on the agenda is pledge of allegiance to the U.S. and Texas flag, and please stand with us if you're able. - To the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. On behalf of the Texas flag, I pledge allegiance to the city of Texas, one state under God, one indivisible. - Agenda item number two A is consider adoption of an ordinance canvassing the returns and declaring the results of the regular municipal election to elect four city council members to districts one, two, three, and four in the city of Denton, Texas held in the city of Denton on May the 4th, 2019 and providing an effective date. - Good morning, mayor and city council. My name is Rosa Rios and I am your city council. I am here to present the results of your general election. As you can see, the election was ordered on February 5, 2019 for the purpose of electing members to city council districts one, two, three, and four. For district one, the two candidates were George Ferry and Gerard Hudspeth, who was the incumbent. For district two, Kelly Briggs was unopposed. For district three, we had three candidates and it was an open seat as council member Dove did not seek reelection. And those candidates were Matt Farmer, Diana Leggett, Jesse L. Davis. And for district four, our two candidates were John Ryan, who was incumbent, and Emily Meisner. The unofficial regular election results include, which I will go over here a little bit later, and are incorporated as a bidet to the ordinance, do report the total number of votes received by each candidate in each precinct, as well as the sum of precinct total tabulated per district and candidate. And those reporting information is required by state law. The results show that one candidate in each of the four districts did receive 50 plus percent of the votes cast. And of course, district two was unopposed. Therefore, a runoff election is not required. And city council does need to accept the unofficial results in order to officiate the outcome of the general election and allow for everybody to take their oath of office and statement, and of course, receive their certificate of election. As you can see here, the returns by percentage, you can see where Gerard Hudspeth received 55.49%, Councilor Kelly Briggs received, or received, of course, 100%, and Jesse L. Davis received 65.69% of votes cast, with John Ryan receiving 55.13%. This here is the total for per precinct report, which again is required by state law, and it shows that Gerard Hudspeth received 495 of the votes cast. For district two, Kelly Briggs received 818 votes. For district three, we had Jesse L. Davis receive 1,723 of the votes cast. And for district four, 849 votes were received by John Ryan. And those are your results tonight. I'm here to answer any questions. - Any questions? Seeing none, and you need a motion in a second to approve the ordinance, is that correct? - Yes. - All right. Council Member Meltzer. - I move that we accept the results. - All right. Council Member Armitter. - I second that. - Do we need to take a hand vote, or we do need to take a hand vote? Yes, okay. Okay, all in favor of the motion in the second, please indicate by raising your right hand. I want to make sure somebody else's hand wasn't up there. Somebody's voting, I'm supposed to be voting. Okay, motion carries unanimously. Go on to agenda item two B is issue the following, two newly elected council members, certificate of election, statement of office, and the oath of office. Done, yep. - If Council Member Hatzbeck would please come forward. I'll go ahead and hand this to him. - Right here? - Mm-hmm, over here. - Where are we, right here? - Over in the front, please. - Okay. - Yes, just hand it to him, and they're gonna take a picture. We're gonna have a little photo op here. - Yes. (people chattering) - How do y'all want to do this? You want me to hand it to him or you want me to hold it? - Yeah, well, here we'll hold it together, and then we'll face one another. - Oh, we're facing over here? - Yeah, just real quick. All right, so now we're gonna take a picture. All right? - All right. - Now I'm just gonna shake your hand. - All right. - Congratulations. - Very good. - Thank you very much, appreciate it. - We're gonna go ahead and proceed now with the oath and statement. If you will please raise your right hand. Let me step to the side so I don't... Please repeat after me. I, Gerard Hatzbeck. - I, Gerard Hatzbeck. - Do solemnly swear. - Do solemnly swear. - That I have not directly or indirectly. - That I have not directly or indirectly. - Paid, offered, promised to pay. - Paid, offered, or promised to pay. - Contributed or promised to contribute. - Contributed or promises, promised to contribute. - Any money or thing of value. - Any money or thing of value. - Or promised any public office or employment. - Or promised any public office or employment. - For the giving or withholding of a vote. - For the giving or withholding of a vote. - At the election at which I was elected. - At the election at which I was elected. - So help me God. - So help me God. - We move now to the oath of office. You thought it was gonna be easy. - Yes. (audience laughs) - I, Gerard Hutspeth. - I, Gerard Hutspeth. - Do solemnly swear. - Do solemnly swear. - That I will faithfully execute the duties. - That I will faithfully execute the duties. - Of the office of city council member district one. - Of the office of city council member district one. - City council member district one. - Of the state of Texas. - Of the state of Texas. - And will to the best of my ability. - And will to the best of my ability. - Preserve, protect, and defend. - Preserve, protect, and defend. - The constitution and laws. - The constitution and laws. - Of the United States and of this state. - And of this state. - So help me God. - So help me God. - All right, we're good. Now I just need for you to go ahead and sign your documents. - All right, thank you. - And once you sign these, you can't turn back. - All right, fair enough. (audience applauds) - That one too? - Mm-hmm. - Thank you. You can now shake hands. And then you'll return to your seat. - If we can go ahead and have Council Member Briggs come in. - Okay. - Okay. - This is awesome. - Thank you. - You're welcome. You'll go ahead and raise your right hand. Repeat after me. I, Kelly Briggs. - I, Kelly Briggs. - Do solemnly swear. - Do solemnly, solemnly swear. - That I have not directly or indirectly. - That I have not directly or indirectly. - Paid, offered. - Paid, offered. - Promised to pay. - Promised to pay. - Contributed to the law. - Contributed to the law. - Promised to pay. - Contributed or promised to contribute. - Contributed or promised to contribute. - Any money or thing of value. - Any money or thing of value. - Or promised any public office. - Or promised any public office. - Or employment. - Or employment. - For the giving or withholding. - For the giving or withholding. - Of a vote. - Of a vote. - At the election. - At the election. - At which I was elected. - At which I was elected. - So help me God. - So help me God. - Now we move on to the oath. I, Kelly Briggs. - I, Kelly Briggs. - Do solemnly swear. - Do solemnly swear. - That I will faithfully execute the duties. - That I will faithfully execute the duties. - Of the office. - Of the office. - Of city council member. - Of city council member. - District two. - District two. - I lost my place. Of the state of Texas. - Of the state of Texas. - And will to the best of my ability. - And will to the best of my ability. - Preserve, protect and defend. - Preserve, protect and defend. - Protect and defend. - The constitution and laws. - The constitution and laws. - Of the United States. - Of the United States. - And of the state. - And of the state. - So help me God. - So help me God. - We can have a time. (audience applauding) (audience chattering) - Mr. Jesse Davis, if you would please come forward. (audience laughing) (audience chattering) - I need you to get a little bit closer to the mic. Understand that it's a little bit harder to hear. Please repeat after me. I, Jesse Davis. - I, Jesse Davis. - Do solemnly swear. - Do solemnly swear. - That I have not directly or indirectly. - That I have not directly or indirectly. - Paid, offered, promised to pay. - Paid, offered, promised to pay. - Contributed or promised to contribute. - Contributed or promised to contribute. - Any money or thing of value. - Any money or thing of value. - Or promised any public office. - Or promised any public office. - Or employment. - Or employment. - For the giving or withholding of a vote. - For the giving or withholding of a vote. - At the election. - At the election. - At which I was elected. - At which I was elected. - So help me God. - So help me God. - Again, repeat after me. I, Jesse Davis. - I, Jesse Davis. - Do solemnly swear. - Do solemnly swear. - That I will faithfully execute the duties. - That I will faithfully execute the duties. - Of the office. - Of the office. - Of city council member district three. - Of city council member district three. - Of the state of Texas. - Of the state of Texas. - And will. - And will. - To the best of my ability. - To the best of my ability. - Preserve, protect, and defend. - Preserve, protect, and defend. - The constitution and laws. - The constitution and laws. - Of the United States. - Of the United States. - And of this state. - And of this state. - So help me God. - So help me God. - Congratulations. - Thank you. - We can just have each one of our guys. (audience applauding) a moment. - Thank you. (faintly speaking) - Aye, John Ryan. - Aye, John Ryan. - Do solemnly swear. - Do solemnly swear. - That I have not directly or indirectly. - That I have not directly or indirectly. - Paid, offered, promised to pay. - Paid, offered, or promised to pay. - Contributed, or promised to contribute. - Contributed, or promised to contribute. - Any money or thing of value. - Any money or thing of value. - Or promised any public office. - Or promised any public office. - Or employment. - Or employment. - For the giving or withholding of a vote. - For the giving or withholding of a vote. - At the election. - At the election. - At which I was elected. - At which I was elected. - So help me God. - So help me God. - Aye, John Ryan. - Aye, John Ryan. - Do solemnly swear. - Do solemnly swear. - That I will faithfully execute. - That I will faithfully execute. - The duties. - The duties. - Of the office. - Of the office. - Of city council member, district four. - Of city council member, district four. - Of the state of Texas. - Of the state of Texas. - And will. - And will. - To the best of my ability. - To the best of my abilities. - Preserve. - Preserve. - Protect and defend. - Protect and defend. - The constitution and laws. - The constitution and laws. - Of the United States. - Of the United States. - And of this state. - And of this state. - So help me God. - So help me God. - Congratulations. - Thank you. (audience applauds) - Mr. Mayor, we're concluding this portion. - He's just gonna go around and shake and we're done. Now you can proceed with the next one. - Okay, congratulations everybody. Great job. All right, move on to agenda item number two C, which is election of Mayor Pro Tem. We got two requests to speak. Council member Ryan. - I would like to nominate council member Hussbeth. - And council member Armitter. - I'd like to nominate council member Briggs. - Okay. All right, as I think we sent out an email to the council, we've got a couple of questions to answer, all right, as I think we sent out an email earlier today about how we do the nominations. If there's multiple nominations, how we've done it in the past, that is we sort of take the nominations in order, and we take a vote, and then if there's not sufficient enough votes to pass or approve the nomination, then we move on to the next person in line. If there is enough votes, then we stop at that point. So our first nomination was I believe council member Gerard Hussbeth. Chair would entertain, I think you have to motion, have a motion to second for this, is that correct? Do you have to have a second? Do you have to have a second? No second? - No second. - No second, okay. Council member Ryan. - I have a motion to approve. - Okay, council member Meltzer. - Yeah, I just wanna say we have an embarrassment of riches. We have multiple people who are very qualified and would do a great job. I'm gonna be reserving my yes vote for the person who I nominated a year ago, but I know that council member Hussbeth would also do a great job. - All right, thank you. Okay, so we, council member Armitage. - I second that. - Okay, all right, so we're gonna vote on the board for nomination of council member Hussbeth for mayor pro tem, is that correct, Mr. City Attorney? - Yes. - All right, so vote for yes will be for that, and then, can you, voice vote, that's right. Yeah, we have to do a voice vote because I don't think we've got everybody in the system. So we've got a motion for council member Hussbeth to be mayor pro tem. All in favor of that motion, please signify by raising your right hand. Okay, five. All opposed to that, please signify by raising your right hand. So the motion carries five to two. Council member Hussbeth, you're now the mayor pro tem. Congratulations, sir. (audience applauding) All right, I believe that concludes our agenda for this evening. Thank you all so much for coming out.