Hutto City Council votes to finalize independent, third-party investigative report into city manager's office

Hutto City Council voted to finalize the third party investigative report into its city manager's office at its Jan. 16 meeting, voting 6-1 in favor of the ruling, with Council Member Tom Hines dissenting. No further discussion regarding the agenda item was held prior to council's vote.

Council had voted in favor of an independent, third party investigation into the city manager's office during its Dec. 5 meeting. In a Jan. 2 city news release, Public Information Officer Stacy Schmitt said two independent investigations into the city manager's office "revealed that there was no merit to the allegations."

Under the same agenda item, council also unanimously voted in favor of accepting the attorney general's office's ruling on public information act, or PIA, requests filed in the city regarding the city manager's office. Per the language of the motion, any names or information redacted by the attorney general's office on the grounds of privacy will be accepted by council without threat of litigation.

Council Members Mike Snyder and Patti Martinez suggested the possibility of redacting all names affiliated with requested reports.

“There’s a lot of names involved, and I’m not trying to punish anybody that was involved in the report, good or bad," Snyder said.

City Attorney Mike Shaughnessy informed council that if city officials were to go against the attorney general's ruling, residents could still challenge the request denial.

Council Member Peter Gordon clarified that, under council's ruling, council agreeing not to sue the attorney general's office if it disagrees with its decision on redacted and unredacted information, which Shaughnessy confirmed as accurate. Under this ruling, current and future PIA filings for reports related to the city manager's office will operate under this system.