Did you know that Mayor Reagor and City Manager Finley DeGraffenried tried to silence citizens

You won't believe the arrogance and disdain of citizens that Mayor Reagor and Finley showed on this one. At a Council Meeting on 3/26/12, Mayor Reagor lost his temper, again, at a LlanoWatch'er and this time it made the newspapers. Not wanting to be embarrassed, again, he and Finley wrote an amendment to the "Code of Conduct for Elected Officials" and stealthily put out the following, seemingly innocuous, agenda item the Friday night before the next Monday Council meeting:

You would think by the agenda title, the title of the document, the title of the section, and Mayor Reagor's rude, condescending, and abusive behavior, that the amendment would put controls on the Mayor's outrageously bad behavior. Not. The first two sections of the “Code of Conduct for Elected Officials” deal with how nicely Council members and staff must treat each other. The new section, which has nothing to do with the subject of the document, basically instructs citizens to be silent:

• Only the mayor can allow a citizen to speak

• Each citizen may have a maximum of 3-5 minutes to speak

• All citizens can only have 20 minutes combined

• Citizens speaking on the same subject should designate a spokesperson

• Citizens can only speak at the start of the meeting before any agenda items

• To speak during an agenda item, citizens must submit a "Citizen Comment Form" prior to the start of the meeting. Yes, before you have heard anyone speak.

Does this sound like a Mayor and City Manager that respect your input - or you? Does this sound like the USA?

Fortunately, LlanoWatchers were watching and sent an immediate email to Mayor Reagor, City Manager Finley DeGraffenried, and Council and the agenda item was dropped. We did recommend that the “Code of Conduct for Elected Officials” be amended with the following, but we were ignored:

Treat the citizens as well as you are required to treat each other and staff: With respect and dignity. Council and staff have been entrusted with the power of the people and are their servants. Citizens will be allowed to speak when, and for how long, they please. This is their government. They can and will have a say.

Oh, and what was the egregious statement by that horrible citizen that caused the Mayor and Finley to react this way?  The question was a follow-up to staff on their response to a previous Council request for details on the Building Permit and Certificate of Occupancy for the Community Center. It was, and is, a serious concern of several citizens and Council members and a potential liability. The Mayor should have been the one asking these questions, but this question was not even answered, as is typical when Mayor Reagor is questioned.