Keene residents call for unity amidst council division

Jul. 21—With one recall petition drive dead in the water and a second six days from deadline, Keene residents called for unity and the return of normalcy during Thursday night's Keene City Council meeting.

An earlier petition calling for recall elections on several council members, now past the deadline date, was never turned into the Keene city secretary's office for certification.

A petition calling for a recall election on Keene Mayor Lisa Parrish, however, remains ongoing with a Friday deadline.

Parrish, via an email to the Times-Review described the situation as a "recall war currently underway in Keene, Texas."

Parrish in the same email wrote that four council members "allegedly" violated the Texas Open Meetings Act in trying to force Parrish to resign as Keene's interim city manager.

"A citizen, Jen Baggett, initiated a petition to recall three of the four council members and hold them accountable for their actions, as a vote of no confidence in their ability to honor their oaths and serve in the best interests of the citizens," Parrish said.

Baggett, on the other hand, called herself a former friend and supporter of Parrish, but went on to call the petition drive Parrish's idea rather than hers. A claim Parrish denies.

Baggett, during the public comment section of Thursday's meeting and in conversation earlier in the week, said that although she carried out the paperwork necessary to initiate the recall petition drive, Parrish encouraged Baggett and others to undertake the process and coached them through it.

Parrish, in her email, wrote that Keene resident Samantha Gillin, "in retaliation," initiated the still ongoing petition call to recall Parrish.

Gillin admits her involvement in the drive but added that other residents are involved in and support the drive as well.

Parrish said that Gillin, during a recent Keene Chamber of Commerce luncheon, told her that she had no interest in recalling Parrish and would halt the petition drive if Parrish would use her influence to get Baggett to halt the recall drive against the three council members. Gillin called Parrish's depiction of the conversation inaccurate and misleading.

Baggett said she abandoned the petition drive before the deadline and never turned any signatures in. Her decision, Baggett said, was her own and in no way influenced by Parrish.

That petition called for recall elections of council members Ray Johnson, Gwen Beeson and James Belz.

A fourth council member, Rob Foster, depending on who is asked, was left off the petition because his current term ends in November.

Background

Parrish served two terms as a councilwoman from 2018-22. In 2022, she ran for and won the mayor's seat. Parrish is Keene's first elected woman mayor, although two women previously held that office. One served out a term after another mayor resigned and another served out the unexpired term of a former mayor.

Parrish characterized her tenure as challenging from the start.

"We've had a lot of ongoing issues I think since my entire term serving on council," Parrish said. "I'm the council member that stands for honesty and transparency. I expect a lot out of our elected officials to conduct the business of the city and be responsible with their decisions. So I've been the member that constantly asks a lot of questions and so I received a lot of criticism from my peers for doing that."

A May 18 vote during which Parrish was named interim city manager raised concerns among several council members and residents who criticize Parrish for breaking a tied vote on the matter to vote for herself to be named interim city manager.

Parrish said an early June meeting between herself, Belz and Keene Assistant City Manager Don Martin resulted in the alleged open meeting act violations Parrish subsequently claimed against the four council members.

Parrish said Belz made demands on her during that meeting asking her to not put "outsiders" on a city budget committee she planned to form and to provide an ongoing record of the times she consulted with the city attorney. Parrish said she agreed to both but refused a third request. That request, Parrish said, involved changing language in Martin's job description to allow him to serve as city manager in the city manager's absence, Parrish said. Parrish said that doing so would violate city charter rules.

Parrish said that Belz, at the same meeting, told her he has "four ready to roll."

That, Parrish said, meant that four council members were prepared to vote to dismiss her as interim city manager.

Parrish said that three council members called the city secretary on June 9 to request adding an agenda item to the next council meeting covering the removal or replacement of the interim city manager and that a fourth council member, who was out of town on June 9, requested the same the following business day.

"Then at [that next city council meeting], which they forced that agenda item to be on, they, with no discussion, dismissed me as interim city manager," Parrish said.

Parrish said the council's naming of or dismissing of an interim city manager, which Parrish said the council is free and authorized to do, is not the issue.

"I'm alleging Open Meetings Act violations based on the fact that James Belz told me in advance that he had four ready to roll," Parrish said. "There is a clause in the Open Meetings Act that says based on a series of communications, that is a clear violation of the act. If four people randomly ask for the same thing, that can happen. But this didn't happen randomly because he told me it was going to happen. So that's why I'm alleging it."

Belz declined to comment on the matter. Beeson said no coordinated efforts or meetings among council members regarding the issue took place.

"There was no meeting," Beeson said. "We were acting from the advice of our city attorney and, if there is an investigation, if it needs to be further investigated, then I think we should contact the secretary of state."

Opposing petitions

Parrish said she had nothing to do with the petition to recall the three council members.

Parrish said that Baggett initiated the petition based on Parrish's dismissal as interim city manager as well as "other behavior that she has seen by the counci toward me, some other bullying an harassment behavior."

Baggett said she and others took up the petition drive at Parrish's behest.

Baggett, during the public comment section of Thursday's meeting apologized to council members and residents for any negatives she may have played a part in or caused.

"We wholeheartedly believed in our mayor, we were friends for years," Baggett said. "All we ever wanted for Keene was its betterment. But unfortunately, that was far overshadowed by the negativity that spewed across the social media pages. This needs to stop. We no longer have any respect for [Parrish]."

Baggett said she regrets her earlier support of Parrish.

"I'm going to start with the petition," Baggett said. "I was the one who had my name on it but it was not my idea. I don't know petitions and recalls from zero. I was schooled. I was coached. I was educated on where to go and how to do it. I came to [city hall] a couple of times to meet [Parrish] and the city secretary. Once I was supposed to pretend like I accidentally ran into [Parrish]."

Parrish said Baggett asked her what could be done about the council members and that she told Baggett to talk to the city secretary but that Baggett otherwise acted on her own.

"I did tell her that if she wanted to [initiate a recall petition drive] that's her option," Parrish said. "But then she went to the city secretary asked for all the stuff and communicated on her own. It didn't go through me. It went through her and the city secretary. So nothing on that petition has my name on it at all. I did not collect a single signature. I did not go out with her to collect signatures. I did not talk to anybody about signing her petition. She did that clearly on her own with whoever was on that group with her."

Baggett, however, maintains that Parrish provided bullet points of discussion and coached and encouraged her and others through the process.

Baggett said that encountering the resident's wish for an end to the divisiveness prompted her, among other factors, to abandon the petition drive.

Baggett cited "defamatory" comments posted by one council member as well. Comments Parrish allowed to remain on her mayor's Facebook page. Parrish countered that she could not find the alleged comments on her mayor's page and that, at any rate, she cannot control what council members post on their social media accounts.

Steven Slayton, Baggett's boyfriend, and Baggett have previously videotaped Keene council meetings. Both said that Parrish encouraged them to keep the camera on Beeson as much as possible to capture her reactions.

"Let me get that clear," Beeson said after Slayton made that statement. "[Parrish] told you, I know we're not supposed to engage in conversations during public comment, but she told you to keep the camera on me?"

Baggett responded in the affirmative.

"Yes, make sure to focus in on you," Baggett said.

Parrish at that point told Baggett, "We're not going to engage," concerning her reply to Beeson. Parrish told Baggett that, during public comments, she is supposed to address the mayor to which two on the council said people are to address the council as a whole during public comment.

"Getting out of hand," one meeting attendee said at that point.

Parrish after the meeting said that Baggett and Slayton began livestreaming council meetings of their own volition and without any input from her.

None of this is good for Keene, Gillin said.

"My concern is why the mayor would go to the Times-Review and get it spread all over the newspaper about her being on recall," Gillin said during public comment. "Yes, I picked up the paperwork for recall. Yes, I think it should be done. But for you to think or say or imply that I was blackmailing you is false.

"When I met with you personally, just you and I after the chamber luncheon, I told you, 'Lisa, you could be the best mayor we ever had. You can bring the community together if you just ask your supporters to drop all of this then all of this is going to go away.'

"I complimented you on raises for our police and firefighters. But for you to imply that I blackmailed you is just ridiculous. There are more than just me who wants the recall."

Gillin called for unity.

"I don't know how this is going to end, but I wish it would end," Gillin said. "Get the respect back, get our calm city back and get back to our Christian values."

Resident Eduardo Perez reminded all that the members of the council serve the city for no pay and called for unity as did several others Thursday night.

"We all share the common cause of goodness for Keene that we all love so much," Perez said. "Let's work together in a common cause for the betterment of Keene."

Resident Troy Smith commended Baggett for her remarks and then addressed Parrish directly.

"Based on the relevant information, which I think is just going to get worse, for you mayor, I think it would be best if you would just resign right now."

Parrish said she has no intention to resign and hopes to continue to serve Keene as long as the voters choose to let her and to work with council members to do the business of the city and bring the city together.