Godley council meeting meets abrupt end
Jun. 21—Godley Mayor Pro Tem Michael Papenfuss applied the brakes about an hour and 15 minutes into Tuesday's meeting of the Godley City Council leaving several posted agenda items unaddressed.
Council members voted on several items before spending a good portion of the meeting in executive session, after which Papenfuss called the meeting eliciting a some degree of confusion among several audience members in attendance.
"At this time the meeting is over," Papenfuss said upon reentering council chambers. "You are all free to leave. The meeting is over. We are not reconvening from executive session. The meeting is over."
Council members, upon advice from city attorneys, declined to discuss why they called the meeting short.
The issue, however, appears to be that the meeting agenda, which was revised from the original copy, failed to list the location of the meeting.
In effort to correct that situation, a second council meeting has been called for 10 a.m. Saturday at Godley City Hall.
Most, though not all, of the agenda items listed on the meeting agenda are also present on the agenda for Saturday.
They include several items the council voted on Tuesday before calling the meeting, but which they will now vote on again on Saturday.
Chief among the items council addressed Tuesday was a vote on whether to accept Mayor Acy McGehee's resignation. An agenda item McGehee oddly enough presented himself.
A pause seven seconds hung in the air after McGehee read the agenda item before Councilman Roger Cornelison broke the silence.
"Still resigning?" Cornelison asked McGehee.
"Well, I'm trying," McGehee said. "They keep telling me I can't do that."
With that, Papenfuss motioned to accept McGehee's resignation, a motion the three council members present subsequently approved unanimously.
Cornelison, after the vote, shaked McGehee's hand.
In addition to Papenfuss and Cornelison, Councilman Scott Yarbrough attended Tuesday's meeting. Councilwoman Misty Rodriguez arrived toward the end of the meeting after the vote on accepting McGehee's resignation. Councilman David Williams did not attend.
The vote to accept his resignation in, McGehee looked around for a second.
"Does that mean I turn the meeting over to you Michael and leave?" McGehee asked.
Papenfuss responded, "Yes, sir."
"Oh good," McGehee said before closing a notebook, standing up and walking out of chambers.
The vote to accept McGehee's resignation came in light of council's June 13 meeting.
Although McGehee was not present during that meeting, Papenfuss, about five hours into that meeting, read a resignation letter penned by McGehee.
"On June 13, 2023, I do hereby submit my resignation as the mayor of Godley, Texas," McGehee's letter read. "I thank those who encouraged me and regret that it has come to this."
McGehee's resignation announcement fell three weeks after council members delivered a vote of no confidence in his ability to lead the city.
Controversy in recent months swirled around McGehee's decision to close city hall after numerous employees resigned and questions of his role in the February arrest of former Godley Councilwoman Jennifer Thompson on charges of tampering with a government record. Charges which Thompson denied and the county attorney dismissed.
Council members were scheduled to vote on acceptance of Williams' resignation as well but called the meeting before doing so.
Council members plan to revisit that issue during Saturday's meeting.
