The Balcones Heights City Council will vote Monday night on whether to launch an outside investigation into Mayor Johnny Rodriguez Jr.’s dealings with city staff, as well as keep him away from city employees in the meantime.
Balcones Heights mayor under scrutiny; City Council to vote on outside investigation, restricted accessBALCONES HEIGHTS, Texas – The Balcones Heights City Council will vote Monday night on whether to launch an outside investigation into Mayor Johnny Rodriguez Jr.
’s dealings with city staff, as well as keep him away from city employees in the meantime. It is not clear what long-term consequences might result from any such investigation, and Rodriguez is already poised to cruise into another two-year term as the head of the 2,700-person suburban city near the intersection of Loop 410 and Interstate 10., city council members were briefed about “concerns, complaints and allegations from City Employees” about the mayor’s conduct with city personnel during a closed-door session of their March 9 meeting. The specific allegations are not laid out in the documents, but one councilman told KSAT the issues include the mayor having threatened to fire multiple high-ranking members of the city staff. “Johnny Rodriguez wants power, and he’s abusing the power he has, and he wants more power,” Councilman David Sellars told KSAT in a phone interview Monday morning. One resolution on Monday’s agenda would authorize the hiring of the Austin Institute LLC to investigate the allegations and report its findings to the city attorney, who would provide the report to the city council. A separate ordinance on the agenda would dictate an updated set of powers and responsibilities for the mayor and the city administrator until further action by the city council. It would also suspend the mayor’s access to non-public areas of the Balcones Heights Justice Center and forbid any direct communication with city staff members. Instead, Rodriguez would have to funnel any communication through the mayor pro tempore, who would, in turn, communicate with the city administrator. The council appears to have tried to vote on a similar measure at their March 9 meeting, but it is being revisited because of a procedural issue, and the actions “should be ratified and further clarified.” Councilman Jimmy Hernandez told KSAT the mayor’s key card access to the justice center had already been revoked. “We’re trying to eliminate any possible retaliation until the conclusion of the investigation,” he said. ”Once we get the results of the investigations, then we can make a determination of what the next step would be.” The resolution states that the city council will determine whether “any corrective measures” are necessary once it receives a report on the investigation. However, the resolution does not mention what such measures might be. Sellars suggested the council would remove Rodriguez from office, while Hernandez said they do not have the authority to do that.The two-page latter urged supporters to attend the meeting and to contact council members but did not mention the allegations against Rodriguez. Instead, he framed the possible council action as part of an attempt to undo progress he said had been made “stabilizing a critical civic asset, protecting your $5 million taxpayer investment, and rebuilding trust with key partners necessary for long-term recovery” — an apparent reference to the “Let’s be clear: this is not routine governance. This is an attempt to weaken oversight at a moment when strong leadership is essential,” he wrote.emailIs the 'smokable' hemp market about to be set ablaze?Should the city rename César Chávez Blvd?Day 3: Erica Hernandez recaps evidence shownSAPD says 12-year-old killed in a street racing crashPossible relief for a northeast side dangerous intersection.Blind man says security pushed him down stairs, beat him in parking lot of North Side barJury selection began on Monday in the case of Christopher Preciado
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