Dynasty of A Development

by | Feb 16, 2023 | Cheney Group, Community Development Corp, Developements, Developers, Economic Development Corp, Fehmi Karahan, Fields - Brookside North, Fields - Brookside South, Fields West, George Purefoy, Hunt Realty, Mayor Jeff Cheney, Omni PGA Resort, PGA Frisco, Politics, Robert Elliott, Robert Elliott - The Associates, Stillwater, Taxpayer Dollars, The Link, The Preserve & Fields, Universal Kids

It started like any other January day residents across Frisco woke up and started getting ready to take on a new day. I stepped out of the shower and could hear the morning newscaster on the television giving the traffic report followed by the weather. The deep voice said, prepare for the warmest January day since 2009 because today we should hit a high of 83 degrees. Texans generally joke about how we hit all four seasons in one day.  Winter starts at 6 am, spring starts at 10 am, summer is at 2 pm and fall starts around 5:30 pm. 

Midmorning sitting at my desk I get a notification that Visit Frisco has gone live on their Facebook page so of course I tune in to see what is going on. Standing behind a podium is Mayor Jeff Cheney announcing all the officials and guests in attendance. He then goes on to quote Dr. Seuss and says “One Fish, Two Fish, Frisco has a new wish and that is to welcome Universal Studios and Universal Kids to Frisco, Texas.” I was thinking about why would we want a theme park, where would it go, and how did this development come about. Mark Woodbury, Chairman & CEO of Universal Parks & Resorts, share a rendering of a bright and colorful theme park geared towards young children with a hotel featuring 300 rooms. Page Thompson, President of New Ventures for Universal announced they just purchased land 97 acres east of the DNT and north of Panther Creek Parkway in the Fields development. Mayor Jeff Cheney takes his position back at the podium to thank Fehmi Karahan of Fields and Karahan Properties as well as Hunt Real Estate who brought PGA here and is now bringing Universal Theme Parks. 

In my head, I was thinking how did this dynasty development come about? The response on social media was swift and it soon became clear not all Frisconians were pleased about the park’s announcement.   Weeks went by and I passively watched everything play out online and at city meetings.  The key message being communicated by our mayor was how excited everyone was to welcome universal, and how the project had been fully vetted by the city and council. The key message from residents, they didn’t want the park.  I was just intrigued by how much our Mayor was trying to sell the project to residents and news channels, and how he advocated relentlessly for the development. 

Then one night while sitting in my recliner, I remembered back in October a post that I had seen from The Cheney Group that said his agents have been working on something very special for over a year now.  They were excited to announce The Preserve at PGA is about to tee off and if someone was interested in building their own custom home reach out to them asap.  He talked about early interest being historic levels and how they were the Fields Experts. My golf buddy in real estate around that same time was pretty upset telling me that The Cheney Group had snagged the exclusive to list The Preserve homesites.  He even showed me an alluring glossy mailer that he had received in the mail from The Cheney Group. The front talked about the residential communities of PGA, living at Fields with renderings of the development. It had an attractive picture of The Cheney Group in front of the Fields boxes we see along the feeder road of the DNT. The back talked about Fields West, from the visionary behind Legacy West referring to Fehmi Karahan and new communities The Preserve and Brookside.   

Growing up I always wanted to be like Perry Mason, Matlock, or Remington Steele probably because of my curious nature. It is that curious nature that leads me to ask how can The Cheney Group be the exclusive Fields Experts and now Jeff Cheney, acting as Mayor is advocating for Universal? Fehmi spoke twice at the February 7th, Special Meeting of the P&Z Commission and City Council meeting on behalf of Universal, so it is clear he has a personal interest in seeing Universal go through as it will be a part of the overall Fields project. I am no legal eagle, but I would think that if The Cheney Group is in any way financially benefiting from representing The Preserve for Fehmi Karahan which is part of the Fields Development then Jeff Cheney should recuse himself from any development talk regarding Fields and Universal as it is part of the same overall project. 

My curiosity had me wondering, is that why when several residents showed up to a city council meeting to speak at citizens input he responded to each of them like he was selling the features and benefits of the Universal theme park. Am I the only one who feels like the mayor is trying to sell this project so hard to the public? Am I the only one with these questions or think they may be a reason to be concerned? Am I the only one who thinks something feels shady about it? It goes back to that little word transparency, and the perception or appearance of a conflict of interest.

The Ethics Conclusion &  The Bogus Ethics Policy

by | Feb 15, 2023 | City Council, Ethics Complaints, Frisco City Secretary, Home Rule & City Charter, Politics, Public Information Requests, Taxpayer Dollars

After the council ruled on the complaints at the July 2021 council meeting, a resident came forward at the August 3, 2021, council meeting to speak during citizens’ input requesting an independent ethics committee.  Mayor Cheney responded to the citizen announcing the Governance Committee would be meeting later that month to review the current ethics policy and the citizen was welcome to attend and speak at that meeting.  He then said when it was first put in place that the city attorney told them it could be used as a political weapon against council members.   Then Ms. Rouse took the podium and spoke and Mayor Cheney responded to her red faced and with beady little eyes, that the city did not need to hear her complaints because they were not filled out correctly but he insisted they be heard because he wanted them dismissed since they were not factual and ridiculous.   

It made us wonder, what do other cities do?   The City of Denton has a Board of Ethics which was created in 2018 and their duty is to solely hear ethics complaints filed against city officials.  The city website thoroughly details the policy, procedures, and forms.  The City of Plano is much like Frisco in how they hear ethics complaints.  One interesting thing to note about their Code is Sec 2-109 which states the acceptance of a campaign contribution in excess of $1,000 by any city council member(s) shall create a conflict of interest based on an appearance of impropriety.  In a nutshell that means they must recuse themselves from votes that could benefit anyone who gave more than $1,000 to their campaigns.  The City of Dallas strengthened its code of ethics policies in 2021 and all complaints go before the Dallas’ Ethics Advisory Commission whose 15 members are appointed by the council.  We were surprised to see most cities have the same process as Frisco when it is clear there are major conflicts of interest involved.

Now that you understand the process, and we broke down one of the complaints, it is time to talk about a few reasons why the ethics policy is bogus.    

Reason 1:  Relationship Conflicts 

A conflict of interest occurs when an individual’s interests such as family, friendships, financial or social factors could compromise his or her judgment, actions, or decisions.  In this case, several conflicts of interest led to the whole process being bogus.

  1. If one of the fellow council members is indirectly linked to the issue then how could they vote on it?  In this case, indirectly, Angelia Pelham was named in the complaint.  The mayor campaigned for her, held fundraisers for her just months before the vote, and the alleged allegation in question is related to a post about her.  While Angelia is not accused of anything in the ethics complaint, and we don’t believe she had any knowledge of the mayor’s actions or what he planned to post she is indirectly connected to the complaint.  One could argue that she could not be impartial and should recuse herself.
  2. To have a council member vote against another council member whom they have served next to for some time and could be friends with smells like shit.  The whole thing is questionable and creates an appearance of impropriety.
  3.  One of the ethics complaints that evening was against Councilman John Keating for his alleged poor public display of public behavior. For Cheney to vote on Keating and then Keating to vote on Cheney, how is the public supposed to think they don’t have a gentleman’s agreement to not vote against each other?  Let’s also take into consideration they are neighbors, literally right next door/across the street from each other in the same cul-de-sac.

Reason 2: Campaign Donations

Did you know that for years those who serve on the council have donated to each other’s campaigns?    Some more than others but this is a time-honored tradition based on our review of campaign finance reports.

  1. John Keating over the years has donated $3500 to Mayor Jeff Cheney’s campaign, he also donated 477 dollars to himself, he donated $7000 to Angelia Pelham’s campaign,, $1000 to Bill Woodard’s campaign, and $1500 to Laura Rummel’s campaign.  Oh yeah, let’s not also forget Jeff Cheney and John Keating are neighbors (in the same cul-de-sac).
  2. Jeff Cheney along with his wife held a fundraiser for Angelia Pelham that was valued at $1556 bucks according to the campaign finance report as well as he publicly supported her during her election. Dana Cheney also donated 250 dollars to John Keating’s campaign.
  3. Bill Woodard donated $200 to John Keating’s campaign and according to his campaign finance reports he received a $100 donation in 2016 $100 from someone with the last name Abernathy.  Is that the same person who serves as the City Attorney?  We don’t know but it left us wondering.
  4. Will Sowell donated $450 to Jeff Cheney’s campaign, and $100 to Bill Woodard’s campaign.
  5. Brian Livingston donated $265 to Jeff Cheney’s campaign as a (food expense) and $500 to Laura Rummel’s campaign.
  6. Shona Huffman donated $100 to John Keating’s campaign.

With campaign finance donations going back and forth between candidates, there is no way the council could claim to be impartial.  Money flowing between candidates should be an immediate reason for recusal.  To one on the outside looking in a donation could be equivalent to a gift.  It could also be seen as reciprocal favor where there is an understanding with another person that official action will be rewarded directly or indirectly.  Regardless of the amount, a donation should automatically be a reason for recusal.   

Reason 3: The City Attorney

You are wondering, what the city attorney has to do with it being bogus?  The city attorney works for the city and his goal is to protect the city.  That means he advises them of the merit of the complaint and provides a written report describing the nature of the complaint and an assessment of the complaint.  What could influence the city attorney in how he does his job or the decisions he makes?   You know that thing you call a yearly review – where your company grades you on your performance which ultimately can affect your pay or your employment.  The city council and the mayor write the attorney’s yearly review every year.    That could influence anyone on how they do their job and the decisions they make.   

All residents want is transparency which is important when there is a perceived conflict of interest.  Pretend for a moment, everything is above board, and there is no shady shit happening but there is an appearance of wrongdoing, that appearance is just as important as reality in the minds of the public, citizens, and voters. 

A resident should not need an attorney to file a complaint against an elected official that was voted into office by the residents. The city should have the City Charter, Code of Conduct, and how-to instructions easily available on the website. It should be easy to obtain all the necessary forms from the city secretary’s office. Calling for a review of the Ethics Policy after complaints were made, gives the appearance of being shady.  The city should also consider adopting something similar to Plano, which states a campaign contribution in excess of $1,000 to any city council member(s) shall create a conflict of interest based on an appearance of impropriety.  Meaning Jeff Cheney and others on the council would have to recuse themselves from voting on developments where they have received large campaign contributions from those associated with the project. That would be a game-changer rule in Frisco and not one that you would see many on the council voting for anytime soon.

The conflicts mentioned above are glaring red flags and the residents of Frisco should be outraged.  We recommend you file your complaints with the Texas Ethics Commission or the Texas Attorney General because it is clear your voice of concern is not welcome in Frisco and that is some shady shit!

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!

City of Frisco’s Ethics Policy

by | Feb 8, 2023 | City Council, Home Rule & City Charter, HR Department, Mayor Jeff Cheney, Politics

As Frisco has grown so have residents’ concerns and questions about future developments, density, and the lack of transparency between the city, its leaders, and residents.  In recent years residents have called for transparency and filed ethics complaints against members of the city council.  Before we get into the complaints and why the system is rigged, you first need to understand the process. 

The process for filing a complaint under Ordinance number 09-04-25 with the city is for any person who believes that there has been a violation of the ethics laws to file a sworn complaint with the City Secretary.  The complaint must identify the person or persons who allegedly committed the violation, provide a statement of the facts on which the complaint was based, identify the rule of rules allegedly violated, and be sworn to in the form of an affidavit. 

As for confidentiality, the ordinance also states that no city official shall reveal information relating to the filing or processing of a complaint except as required for the performance of Official duties.  All papers relating to a pending complaint are to be confidential.

After filing a copy of the complaint, the notification process begins.  A copy of the complaint shall be promptly forwarded by the City Secretary to the City Attorney and the person charged with the complaint.  The person charged with the complaint shall receive a copy of the ethics rules and be informed that within fourteen days of receipt of the complaint, they may file a sworn response with the City Secretary.   

A copy of any response by the person charged in the complaint will be provided by the City Secretary to the complainant, who may within seven days reply to the sworn response with sworn writing filed with the City Secretary and a copy of the response will be provided to the person charged in the complaint.  Then the person charged with the complaint may request a hearing. 

The ordinance states “at any time assistance is required, the City Secretary shall provide information to the persons who inquire about the process for filing a complaint.”  

Once the complaint has gone through the process it will be reviewed by the City Attorney.  Within seven business days after the attorney receives the complaint the City Attorney shall make an initial assessment of the complaint.  The City Attorney is to assume that all facts alleged are true and determine if the facts constitute a violation of the ethics law.  After that is completed the City Attorney meets with the City Council in executive session at its next regular meeting to present a written report describing in detail the nature of the complaint, and the attorney’s assessment of whether the facts as alleged constitute a violation of the ethics laws.   Then in an open session of the council meeting, a majority of the council members not implicated in the complaint may dismiss the complaint based on certain grounds,  determine that the complaint on its face does not state a violation of the ethics laws, or refer it to an investigation. 

Sounds easy, right?  Sounds fair, reputable, and honest right?  If you ask Ms. Rouse she might disagree with you!   Next, we will dig into the Shady Shit of one of the complaints.

Frisco’s Transition from Then to Now

by | Feb 5, 2023 | City Council, George Purefoy, Mack Borchardt, Politics

Thirty-four years ago, a car drove into town carrying a man named George Purefoy. When he arrived in Frisco, the population was around 5000 and it had one red blinking traffic signal at the corner of Preston and Main Street. Purefoy was named Frisco’s first City Manager. At the time he took over the helm, the city was essentially broke, which lead to some budget cuts and staff reductions. In many articles, he said employees referred to him as the “hatchet man.”

One of the most important goals for George Purefoy was to build a strong foundation in the city so it too had an opportunity to grow and compete with cities like Plano. He strongly believed he had to find the “right professionals” to head the various departments in the city. As a leader, he felt it was incumbent upon himself to set the tone and be the example of what a professional city manager should be. Purefoy had a vision for the city that included growth, potential, and future developments.

One of the first “big” projects to hit Frisco was Stonebriar Mall in 2000. Frisco had to compete in the bidding process against Plano to win the Stonebriar development. Purefoy knew that was not going to be an easy fight. He also knew what kind of economic engine it would be for the future city. Purefoy believed sports, tourism, and private-public partnerships would be what sets Frisco apart from surrounding cities. He was right and, just around the corner were future landmark developments that would forever change the landscape of Frisco.

When Purefoy announced his retirement in 2021, it was important to him and many others that the new city manager continued the “strategic vision” for the city. Ask anyone walking down the streets to heavy hitters in the city about the Legend George Purefoy, and you’ll hear he was a salt of the earth, behind-the-scenes guy. He had a reputation for being kind, soft-spoken, trustworthy, creative, and with integrity, and most of all, he was dedicated to getting projects done.

The reason it is important to tell you about George Purefoy is that he was the mastermind that set the tone for this city, its employees, and the citizens. Mayors and council members would come and go over the years, but Purefoy was here for the long run and had the biggest impact on the city over time. No one is willing to question his motives and intentions.

It just makes us wonder if he knew some of the shady sh*t that was happening around him here?