09-20 and 09-21-10 Special Called Regular Meeting of Fiscal Affairs Committee

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CITY OF LA PORTE, TEXAS Agreed Upon Procedures - Five Points Town Center Project (Continued) September 21, 2010 4. Prepare a Timeline of Events Associated with the Proiect: In order to gain a better understanding of the Project during our procedures and to provide a point of reference for the City and concerned public, we prepared a general timeline of events associated with the Project using information obtained in the minutes and documents provided to us. This timeline can be found as Exhibit 8. 5. Ouestion Officials About an Allel!ed Meetinl! on 10/1/2008: An allegation was made that there was a non-public meeting of public officials related to the Proj ect which took place on October 1,2008. Concerns were raised that this meeting may have been in violation of the Open Meetings Act. We were asked to determine whether such a meeting took place, if there was a record of the meeting, who was in attendance, and if any such meeting was a violation of the Open Meetings Act. In order to obtain information on the alleged meeting, we mailed questionnaires to Council members, Board members, and key City staff including the City Manager, Finance Director, and City Secretary. These questionnaires asked the following questions: . Did you attend, or do you have any knowledge of, a meeting taking place on October 1, 2008 between City staff or officials and URS Corporation representatives? . If yes, was there a written record of who was in attendance and what this meeting concerned? Please provide a copy of this written record. . If there was no written record, please provide known information of who was in attendance at that meeting and what it concerned. The responses we received are included as Exhibit 9. The City Manager and City Secretary acknowledged that there was a meeting scheduled for the morning ofthat day, but had no knowledge of any specifics of whether the meeting took place or what was discussed. Ed Matuszak, Vice President of the EDC Board, assumed that if there was a meeting, he was likely there but had no memory or documents indicating he was in attendance. Through the City Secretary's office, we were also able to view the Microsoft Outlook calendar for Council, the Board, and City staff. Through this, we were able to learn that there was a meeting scheduled on October 1, 2008. City Manager Ron Bottoms, Assistant City Manager John Joems, and Economic Development Director Gretchen Larson were scheduled to attend the meeting. Also scheduled were Dan Wardrop and Bruce Broberg, both representatives ofURS Corporation. Ed Matuszak was not scheduled to attend. No record was made of such a meeting and no staff questioned remembered that specific meeting and, as such, we were unable to determine if the meeting actually took place or who was actually in attendance. If the meeting did take place and the scheduled attendees were there, it does not appear that it would be a violation of the Open Meetings Act. Council and Board members also have calendars in the Outlook system and per our review none were scheduled to attend. However, modifications to these records would not result in an audit trail. If no quorum of Council members or EDC Board attended, the meeting would not have fallen under the Open Meetings Act. The Open Meetings Act would not apply to a meeting between City employees and a contractor. 11