Burnt Bodies & Double Dipping

by | Jan 7, 2024 | City Council, Developements, Frisco Springs, Mayor Jeff Cheney, Politics, Richard Abernathy, Texas Open Meetings Act

Back in November you may have read our blog, Frisco – The City That Burns Bodies where we told you about local residents taking to Citizens Input at the November 21st city council meeting to discuss their concerns about the new Ridgeview West Memorial Park Crematory owned by Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow, Inc. 

Even though the Texas Open Meeting Act states “the governmental body (AKA City of Frisco) MAY NOT DELIBERATE on any item from public comment that is not on the agenda the city continues to break the rule, meeting after meeting.   The Act clearly states what they can do which is (1) make a statement of fact regarding the item; (2) make a statement concerning the policy regarding the item; or (3) propose that the item be placed on a future agenda.   

At the city council meeting that night Cheney opens Citizens Input by acknowledging the large number of citizens who are there to speak.  Then he continues, “so the speakers have the benefit of understanding all the facts the staff has a prepared a presentation,” followed by Jonathan Hubbard, Assistant Director of Development Services who took to the podium.  Then RICHARD ABERNATHY, THE CITY ATTORNEY speaks about the regulation and omissions from a crematorium, and this is where the problem begins, but we will get back to that.

Next Cheney asks Jonathan to confirm that this crematory was approved before the neighborhood was ever contemplated and that all this information has been available to the public on the city’s website since it had been approved.  STOP, JEFF CHENEY!  REGULAR PEOPLE who are considering buying a home don’t go research the city’s planning and development that has been approved nearby over the last 10 years.  As far as the city website, it is NOT USER FRIENDLY for the REGULAR PEOPLE to find information and most are not going to pay $90 for a PIR.  Hell Sir, most people don’t even know what key words to look for in the search tools to find such information. 

All in all, after opening citizens input at 40:09, the city held the floor over 10 minutes to “school residents’ which ended at 51:13. FYI, that is not a statement that is called a full presentation to pre-empt citizens at public input. Then NOT SHOCKINGLY, Bobblehead Bill Woodard mentions they have over 10 cards for public input and in response to the city’s policies and to be respectful of everyone’s time, he proposed citizens input should be cut from 5 min per person to 3 min per person. 

THAT’S RIGHT FOLKS, they don’t want to hear from you the CITIZEN who Cheney says is at the top of the CITY’S ORGANIZATIONAL CHART!  They can use up 10+ minutes of Citizens Input, EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE BREAKING THE OPEN MEETING ACT BY HAVING A DISCUSSION ABOUT AN ITEM NOT ON THE AGENDA, but you SIR/MADAM need to hurry up and get it done in 3 minutes or less.

At Frisco Chronicles we have told you over and over about how the city likes to school or educate us stupid citizens, we have told you about how they are breaking the open meeting act, we have told you how they are withholding PIR requests and delaying PIR requests.  Just last week we told you how the city HR Department forged documents and spent $88,000 to do a needless investigation. 

Well now, let’s get back to earlier where we mentioned a problem with the City Attorney, Richard Abernathy speaking.  Why is it a problem?  The City  Attorney is DOUBLE DIPPING and has a major conflict-of-interest.  What could that CONFLICT-OF-INTEREST BE?  Well, did you know his firm represents THE CREMATORY!  Yep, HOLD YOUR TOUPEE’S FOLKS, the city attorney’s law firm Abernathy, Roeder, Boyd & Hullett located on Redbud Blvd in McKinney represented Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow, Inc., A Texas Corporation in a lawsuit against The State of Texas in 2021.  While the case is closed today, the fact that they represented the corporation in which the citizens are there to speak against probably means HE SHOULD HAVE RECUSED HIMSELF!  Whose interest is he looking out for?  Not the citizens!  His job is to protect his clients, which in this case are the City of Frisco and Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow, Inc. 

Frisco Residents should be beyond angry at this point, they should be done right pissed off! The city continues to waste tax dollars, put developers before residents, break rules and treat citizens as if they are stupid.  When will it stop? 

Other References

NBCDFW: Controversy over new crematorium in Frisco

Dallas Morning News: Frisco Residents upset about crematory near homes

CBS NEWS: Hundreds of Frisco residents push back against Crematory

Public Information Act

by | Feb 14, 2023 | City Council, Politics, Public Information Requests, Richard Abernathy

What is the Public Information Act and what is a Public Information Request?  Well, the Texas Public Information Act assures that government entities give citizens access to information about what the public servants are doing on their behalf.  It is a way for citizens to hold their public officials accountable.   The Public Information Act Handbook can be found on the Texas Attorney General’s website and lays out the “how-to” to do open record requests. 

In Frisco, many of our city council members and mayor use their personal devices (cell phones) to communicate so the question becomes what is “public information” and what is subject to the act?   If information was made, transmitted, maintained, or received in connection with a governmental body’s official business, the mere fact that the governmental body does not possess the information does not take the information outside the scope of the Act.  Emails or text messages sent via personal email and personal devices if related to city business are subject to the act.  Why is this important in Frisco?  Several of our council members use their personal devices and personal emails regularly to conduct city business.  When a request comes in, the city sends it to the individuals named and say do you have anything related to this PIR, if so please send it to us.  It allows for dishonesty, if you don’t want someone to see an email you can simply not send it.  It’s the Honor Code system.

In the ethics complaint we reviewed, Cheney wrote in his social media post “As a leader of a council that upholds transparency and full disclosure, I will provide them here without edit as they would appear in our official city records” so we decided to investigate the official record and his claims.  We filed a PIR that read:

Per Cheney’s Facebook Post (Account: Mayor Jeff Cheney) dated May 25, 2021, he admits to sending an email posing a simple question to senior members of our Frisco City Staff: “In the runoff race which Place 3 candidates have asked to meet with you?”  Each staff member was questioned separately using electronic media making their response part of the official city record and subject to public information requests.   Based on that post I would like the following communications from May 23, 2021 – May 26, 2021 :

1. All Electronic Media communications (including email, text, Facebook/Facebook messenger from Mayor Jeff Cheney’s official account) and City Manager George Purefoy

2. All Electronic Media communications (including email, text, Facebook/Facebook messenger from Mayor Jeff Cheney’s official account) and Police Chief David Shilson

3. All Electronic Media communications (including email, text, Facebook/Facebook messenger from Mayor Jeff Cheney’s official account) and Fire Chief Mark Piland

4. All Electronic Media communications (including email, text, Facebook/Facebook messenger from Mayor Jeff Cheney’s official account) and Henry Hill, Deputy City Mgr

5. All Electronic Media communications (including email, text, Facebook/Facebook messenger from Mayor Jeff Cheney’s official account) and Ben Brezina, Asst City Mgr

6. All Electronic Media communications (including email, text, Facebook/Facebook messenger from Mayor Jeff Cheney’s official account) and Jason Cooley, Ph.D. – Chief Information Officer

7. All Electronic Media communications (including email, text, Facebook/Facebook messenger from Mayor Jeff Cheney’s official account) and Ron Patterson, President Frisco Economic Development Corporation

8. All Electronic Media communications (including email, text, Facebook/Facebook messenger from Mayor Jeff Cheney’s official account) and Marla Roe, Executive Director Visit Frisco

9.  All Electronic Media communications (including email, text, Facebook/Facebook messenger from Mayor Jeff Cheney’s official account) and John Lettellier, Director of Development Services

10.  All Electronic Media communications (including email, text, Facebook/Facebook messenger from Mayor Jeff Cheney’s official account) and Paul Knippel, Director of Public Works

The response to our PIR was 7 pages, the first 2 were a copy of the post from his page and the remaining pages contained 4 text messages between the mayor and 4 senior staff members. Problem #1 it appears we received an incomplete PIR request from the city. So where are the remaining 6 text message communications?   Problem #2 Cheney quoted Marla Roe, Executive Director Visit Frisco on his social media post as saying “Just Angelia. Had a great conversation.  Henry was there.”  However, after receiving our PIR Marla Roes actual statement via text said, “Just Angelia.  Had a great conversation. Henry was there.  Will say Jennifer stopped by my house and I told her I worked for the city. Not much else.  With Angelia was via teams FYI.”  Why is this important, he left out that the other candidate had interacted with the city employee.  One via door knocking and one via Microsoft Teams.  Does not seem like a big deal but when it comes to transparency – it is a very big deal! 

We want to believe our elected officials are good people, honest people, and forthcoming.  The truth is we don’t know and that is why the act is so important because it allows us that transparency.   Transparency should never be based on the honor system.  Not everyone is honorable!   That is how they can hide the shady shit!