Bastrop mayor, manager direct staff to delete recording of council
Bastrop Mayor Ken Kesselus and City Manager Marvin Townsend directed city staff to delete audio caught on city equipment after a training workshop in November of four council members being critical of and discussing a fifth council member who was not present at the meeting, according to audio and documents obtained by the Bastrop Advertiser through an open records request.
Bastrop Information and Technology Director Andres Rosales fought back against the mayor’s and manager’s request to delete the information as he felt it was a government document that is required to be preserved, per state law.
“Mayor Kesselus came to my office and asked if we make sure we deleted the end of the webinar recording,” Rosales says in his notes detailing the conversation. “I told the mayor we would look and trim the video like we do council videos. Mayor Kesselus stressed the importance of deleting the video. I told him we would look at it.”
After a Nov. 29 training session held at City Hall, which in part covered decorum and council procedure on the dais, Kesselus and Council Members Deborah Jones, Gary Schiff and Bill Peterson — a quorum of council — discussed Council Member Kay McAnally and her handling of her resignation from office.
Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/local/bastrop-mayor-manager-direct-staff-delete-recording-council/iLbsARgZ9MqoY8zYRrim0I/
