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The two Donna city councilmen who are at the center of temporary restraining order prohibiting them from voting on the fate of the city manager and city attorney are firing back against allegations that they held a secret meeting in violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act.
And now, the councilman who allegedly tipped Donna Mayor David Moreno off to the alleged illegal meeting, which spurred last month’s emergency litigation, is denying the mayor’s assertions.
“I ATTEST AND AFFIRM that the affidavits of Moreno and (Robert) Salinas, are FALSE!!,” Place 1 Donna Councilman Jesse “Coach” Jackson stated in a sworn affidavit filed with the court last Friday.
“Nothing within the contests of those affidavits are true. In Fact, (sic) these documents as well as the content therein are an extreme surprise to me, individually, as well as, in my capacity as City Commissioner,” Jackson further stated.
Jackson was referring to claims made jointly by the mayor and Donna City Attorney Robert J. Salinas as part of an application for a temporary restraining order meant to prevent the city council from firing Salinas or City Manager Carlos Yerena.
ELECTIONS AND THE TRO
The council was set to deliberate terminating Donna’s two highest administrators and naming their replacements during a special meeting on Aug. 26.
However, those efforts were stymied by the TRO, which was served on Councilmen Ernesto Lugo and Oscar Gonzales just as the meeting was getting underway.
The TRO came precisely one week after the council was forced to call for a municipal election in November for the Place 4 and 2 council seats currently occupied by Gonzales and Joey Garza Jr.
At the beginning of August, a split council voted to not hold an election, citing the results of a 2021 charter amendment election during which Donna residents voted to extend the terms of elected officials from three years to four.
During that same election, Donna voters also elected Gonzales and Garza to their seats on the city council.
But now, some three years later, part of the council — including Councilman Ernesto Lugo — wondered if those longer terms of office applied to Gonzales and Garza.
Salinas, the city attorney, said no. The charter amendment was “prospective” and applied to future candidates, not to those who were elected during the same election cycle as the charter amendment
It was the same answer he had given former Donna Mayor Rick Morales in the fall of 2023, when Morales wondered if he could have an extra year in office.
But that answer didn’t satisfy everyone. Accordingly, by a vote of 4-to-1, the city council voted to not call a November election.
The mayor cast the sole vote against canceling the election.
Days later, his brother, Manuel “Manny” Moreno, launched a legal challenge — one that ultimately prevailed when the 13th Court of Appeals ordered Donna to call the election.
Manny Moreno is currently challenging Gonzales for his Place 4 seat.
ILLEGAL MEETINGS
Within days of the 13th Court of Appeals’ order, a notice of a special meeting was posted to the city of Donna’s website. The sole matters of discussion were set to be firing Salinas and Yerena, and naming their temporary replacements.
But, as residents crowded into the legislative chamber that Monday afternoon, a man with two sets of documents settled in quietly in the back row of seats.
The man turned out to be a civil process server who officially served Lugo and Gonzales notice of the TRO while an attorney, Jay Peña, used the public comments portion of the meeting as an opportunity to notify the council of the allegations against it.
Among those allegations are assertions that Gonzales and Lugo held secret communications to scheme about firing the city attorney and city manager.
In Texas, if enough members of a governing body participate in joint communications — whether via phone, text message, email or in person — to constitute a quorum, it can be considered a public meeting.
And any such public meeting that occurs without the public being duly notified is considered a “walking quorum,” which is a violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act.
The mayor and city attorney allege that Lugo and Gonzales hosted such a walking quorum when they roped Councilman Jackson into a discussion about the fate of the two administrators.
“Commissioner (sic) Jesse Jacskon, admitted to me that he, along with his co-Respondents, Ernesto Lugo, Jr., and Oscar Gonzales, held an informal meeting,” the mayor stated in an affidavit.
Salinas echoed the allegation in an affidavit of his own.
“The Respondents acted beyond the scope of their legal authority by holding an informal meeting to discuss my termination…” Salinas stated.
Salinas further argues that the Donna City Council does not have the authority to fire him from his parallel position as attorney for the Donna Economic Development Corporation 4A, which is a related, but independent arm of the city.
“FALSEHOODS”
The pair describe Jackson as a “cooperating” witness who was on their side, but now, Jackson has filed an affidavit wholly disputing David Moreno and Salinas’ version of events.
Jackson denies ever having met with Lugo or Gonzales outside of a publicly noticed council meeting.
Instead, he alleges that the mayor and city attorney are the ones who called him to a private meeting.
“I received a phone call from Mayor Moreno requesting me to meet him at Counsel Salinas’ office, and since I was in need of legal advise (sic) I went to said meeting,” Jackson stated.
Jackson roundly denies that his conversation with the mayor and city attorney at that meeting had anything to do with what the pair subsequently stated in their affidavits.
“Mr. Moreno’s sworn affidavit is FALSE,” Jackson’s affidavit stated.
He further claims that the mayor and city attorney’s allegations have caused him embarrassment “and disgrace in the Public and my constituents (sic) eyes” and demands that the mayor retract “such falsehoods.”
COUNTERCLAIMS
For their part, Councilmen Lugo and Gonzales have each filed motions asking the court to dismiss the allegations against them and lift the TRO.
Like Jackson, both councilmen deny they held an illegal meeting and similarly refer to the mayor and city attorney’s accusations as “false statements.”
They characterize the litigation as a bid for attention, and an effort for the city attorney to hang onto his high-paying job.
“This lawsuit was really just a publicity stunt, meant to create publicity for (David Moreno and Robert Salinas) and their attorneys,” Lugo’s counterclaim states.
“Likewise, Counter Defendant Salinas is attempting to maintain his position with the City of Donna,” it further states.
Earlier this summer, the council unanimously voted to renew Salinas’ city attorney contract through July 31, 2026.
The city pays Salinas $17,500 per month for his services, which equates to $210,000 per year, according to a copy of the employment contract.
Meanwhile, the EDC 4A pays Salinas a sum of $10,000 per month, or $120,000 per year, according to the most recent version of that contract, which was slated to expire on Dec. 31, 2023.
Yerena, the city manager, draws a wage of $117.95 per hour, for an average annual salary of $245,336.
As part of the TRO petition, Salinas asks the court to award him his contracted salary as legal damages.
Lugo alleges that Salinas and David Moreno are perverting the legal process.
“(Salinas and Moreno) possess ulterior motives and purposes in exercising such illegal, perverted, or improper use of the process,” Lugo’s counterclaim states.
Gonzales claims that if anyone has held an illegal public meeting, it’s the mayor, adding that David Moreno is acting beyond his authority as mayor by unilaterally filing the litigation on the city’s behalf.
If the case isn’t dismissed outright, Gonzales further requests that it instead be transferred from County Court-at-Law No. 6 to a state district court.
For now, the temporary restraining order remains in place pending further court proceedings.
