The same article in the Dallas Morning News that addressed the Sexual Harassment Case of Mayor Smith and Council Member Levenick mentioned the issue of their"conflict of interest" since they both signed gas leases with Williams Production.
This is about ethics plain and simple. Something that Mayor Smith and Council Member Jean Levenick might not understand. Many residents of Flower Mound understand it very well. In fact, the question of Mayor Smith and Council Member Levenick's ethics played a big role in possibly changing the direction of the town the evening of January 21st.
They also have come under fire for not recusing themselves from deliberations or voting on ordinance changes that would affect a gas drilling company's desire to expand its operations in Flower Mound.
Both women have gas leases with Williams Production. The company has sought to conduct
seismic testing on town roads and to pipe drilling wastewater to a centralized collection facility.
Smith, who as mayor votes only when there's a tie, did not cast a vote on either measure but participated in the discussions. Levenick voted with the majority of the Town Council to prohibit seismic testing but allow wastewater to be piped to a central site.
The town attorney gave this reason for Levenick being able to vote.
Smith and Levenick defended their participation, saying there is no conflict of interest because the town – not Williams – proposed the measures.
"If the application came from Williams, there would be a conflict of interest," he told the Town Council. "But the applicant is the town in both instances."
Hmm...it is a safe bet that Al Filidoro and Tom Hayden didn't put in the application. So who directed the town to put in the application?
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7 comments:
Mayor Smith and Councilmember Levenick announced for re-election the day after they completely ignored the pleas of hundreds and hundreds of Town residents to protect the Town from the O&G interests.
What total arrogance.
You ignored me at the last Council meeting, but you're going to hear from me loud and clear on May 9th.
Thank God we will have a chance to make a change in May. We know about the "conflict of interest" and the "Hineygate". So doesn't anyone wonder what we don't know about? I sure do.
Why did the town request the ordinance changes? Who initited the request?
Isn't it true that Williams requested to build the facility and then withdrew their request?
If Williams withdrew the request in time for the Jan 21st meeting, then it may have been done so Levenick could vote. Not against the law, but again very un-ethical on Williams and Levenicks part.
At the town council meeting, it did come out that Williams had initially requested a centralized waste water collection facility and then withdrew their request. Someone at the meeting said that it was withdrawn because there wasn't a process in place to allow for an application for such a thing. Then suddenly "the town" decided on their own to change the ordinances to allow for the application process for a centralized collection facility. So why would "the town" initiate such a request if it wasn't to benefit Williams? And is there a way to find out who on town council actually initiated the request for the ordinance change to allow for this to happen?
Maybe a Public Information Request demanding the paperwork for the request for the zoning change and the ccf. Also maybe the paperwork for the orignal request by Williams.
There are 1000 kids in the elementary school and the proposed Williams Centralized waste water collection facility is approx 250-300 metres aerial distance away..just extrapolated this distance through google maps. The property has Williams sigboard and some work seems to be going on anticipating approval and the Towm Council said that they did'nt get an application from Williams ??? Can any of the town council members who voted for the resolution willing to build/ live in a house within the same distance as this school??
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