The Pilot Point City Council is set to consider entering an interlocal agreement with Texas Government Accountability Association at the request of Mayor Elisa Beasley.
The TGAA, a nonprofit entity, claims “TGAA member local government subdivisions will lead the way in transparency and ethics in Texas,” though the two cities that have currently partnered with the organization have differing accounts.
“It’s been overall a positive, but we have been able to work with them on what makes sense,” Kingsbury Mayor Shirley Nolen said. “We’re a very small city and because of that it hasn’t been a large impact on us, and we were already doing most things [they do].”
According to the 2022 census, Kingsbury houses a population of 157 with a City Commission made up of two commissioners and a mayor.
After entering the contract, Nolen said a requirement in the agreement with TGAA for regular auditing, an expense the city can’t afford, caused the city commission at Kingsbury to consider dropping the contract.
That led them to take a closer look at the exit requirements.
“We were like, ‘Well, if this is going to be a sticking point, then do we look at getting out?’” Nolen said. “We were recently looking at if we wanted to get out, it turns out it’s a lot more difficult to get out than in.”
The contract calls for a majority vote to enter, with a special election and two years of continued pay to TGAA should a municipality seek to end the agreement.
That is paired with a 20-cent per resident yearly cost that can grow alongside population.
The TGAA saw further resistance from the city of Odessa, its second municipal partner.
Several city council members spoke to the Odessa American about the situation, stating City Manager John Beckmeyer had a longstanding relationship with Matt Armstrong, who was also connected to the re-election campaigns of two other council members and the mayor at the time.
Despite this, none of the connected members signed conflict of interest statements before voting on the agreement.
Each of the council members not connected to Armstrong have called entering the agreement a mistake and the city has since looked into calling the contract null and void as it was passed as an interlocal agreement despite the fact the TGAA is not a government agency.
The officials said it was presented as such.
Nolen also said Armstrong was present for conversations regarding the TGAA in Kingsbury.
“He has met with us a couple of times,” Nolen said.
Back in Odessa, Beckmeyer claimed there was no conflict of interest as a result of his or the council members’ relation to Armstrong because Armstrong is not employed by the TGAA. He was however working closely with Beckmeyer to finalize the organization’s contract with Odessa, as cited in emails between the two, the
Odessa American reported.
In 2022, Armstrong was the recipient of several lawsuits both privately and publicly.
Armstrong was targeted by a lawsuit from Brett Hagenbuch in 2022 after Hagenbuch alleged Armstrong entered into an agreement to join his campaign team as a consultant and was given access to confidential information, then Armstrong began working with Hagenbuch’s opponent and used that information against him.
Fraud and breach of contract are listed as accusations against Armstrong.
Later that year, Armstrong was also fined $37,500 by the Texas Ethics Commission for alleged involvement in a “sham” political committee. Among the allegations, the TEC cited a failure to properly disclose financial contributions and expenditures.
The allegations from TEC claim Armstrong appeared to obfuscate donations to a city council election campaign in Farmers Branch from a local title company who was working on a development in the area.
TGAA Chairman Anthony Wilder agreed on March 12 to an interview with the Post-Signal but had not followed through by press time Wednesday.
A March 11 information request regarding Beasley’s correspondence with Wilder, Armstrong or any other person connected to TGAA had only resulted in Beasley stating she has had no correspondence with Armstrong by press time.
Her correspondence with Wilder was not provided by press time.
