City Council Approves Holiday Schedule

City Council Approves 2018 Holiday Schedule

by Neoma Williams

In a  short meeting held Monday evening at City Hall, the City Council approved the 2018 holiday schedule. The City has been observing the holiday schedule that Castro County does. The Council voted unanimously to not allow City employees take off on Good Friday. The holidays they won’t work on  and City Hall will be closed are New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving (two days) and Christmas (three days).

In other business, the minutes from the September meeting were approved, as were bills and financial reports. No one spoke in Open Forum.

The City did not meet in October and likely won’t meet in December, according to City Hall. The press in Hart questions why the  Council doesn’t meet to approve the bills to be paid. City Hall said that when the Council doesn’t convene in regular session that council members view bills to be paid at City Hall and give their “okay” to pay them.

The Texas Open Meetings Act requires that a governmental body must hold a meeting to exercise its powers. So, this writer deems that approving the bills in the manner described is an illegal action.

Council member present at the Monday meeting were Mayor Eliazar Castillo and council members Mary Reyna, Vickie Etheridge, George Chapa, Jr. and Johnny Carrasco. Absent was Ezekiel Barron.