Suit alleges pro-prison La Salle County officials
violated Texas Open Meetings Act & Open Records Act

By María Eugenia Guerra

"La Salle County is the poster child for open meetings violations," said Laredo attorney Richard Gonzalez regarding the suit he filed December 9, 2002 in 218th District Court on behalf of the Prison Inquiry Group, a group of La Salle County residents opposed to the construction of a $22 million private jail facility near Encinal.
The suit alleges that La Salle County officials have historically (12 years) posted agendas on a bulletin board inside the La Salle County Courthouse that is not accessible to the public at night and on the weekends. According to the suit, the La Salle County Commissioners Court has been meeting illegally for at least 12 years and its creation of the La Salle County Public Facilities Detention Corporation (LSCPFDC) was illegal and is voidable because it was created at a meeting that was not in compliance with the Texas Open Meetings Act.
The citizens' suit isn't the only obstacle on the bumpy, fast road trajectory La Salle County government and its consultant Rick Reyes, a former Webb County commissioner, have taken to build a jail that could double the population of the small ranching community of 700 inhabitants.
A formidable current of citizen opposition and bad news have continued to hammer the plans of the LSCPFD, the non-profit organization comprised of the La Salle County Judge and its four commissioners, to fund and construct the $22 million detention center.
When some LaSalle residents who were opposed to the facility felt left outside of the decision-making process for the jail, and after meeting with the repeated non-responsiveness of the LaSalle County Commissioners Court for information and public record documents, they shared their concerns with the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) which had earlier committed to house federal prisoners in the proposed facility.
A November 22, 2002 letter from the USMS to LaSalle County Judge Jimmy Patterson bore the unmistakable "cold feet" news that the USMS had suspended its $3 million Cooperative Agreement Program (CAP) dated July 29, 2002. The letter from USMS Chief Surlata Schatzman said that the Service had received "numerous telephone calls and written correspondence concerning the feasibility" of the proposed facility. In the same paragraph, Schatzman tells Patterson that the USMS has learned that he and two LaSalle County Commissioners were sanctioned on a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Denial of Participation list. Patterson and commissioners Albert Aguero and Raymond Landrum are members of the LSCPFD, the non-profit organization of record for the construction of the proposed detention facility. According to Schatzman, that members of county government appeared on that sanction list should have been disclosed at the time La Salle County applied for the $3 million CAP grant.
Schatzman's correspondence reminds Patterson that in order to receive CAP funding, "local government must 1) provide an opportunity for public comment; 2) the local government's procurement procedures must be followed; 3) the necessary approvals for the construction project must be obtained; 4) the county must have the funding for the project committed; and 5) the facility must be owned by the county."
Schatzman directs Patterson to provide a written response to those five points and supporting documentation.
On the heels of the news that the US Marshals CAP grant was in suspense, a less-than-glowing assessment of the machinations of the proposed Encinal facility appeared in the November 26, 2002 issue of The Bond Buyer, an e-news publication, that headlined a story by Richard Williamson with "Texas Jail Raises Hackles: Some Worry About Securities Violations."
According to Williamson's story, the La Salle County Official Statement (OS) with respect to the sale of $22 million in bonds for the prison construction included an opinion by La Salle County Attorney Elizabeth Martinez on the legality of the bond issue. Martinez, according to Williamson, said she knew nothing about the jail project until three days before the bond sale and that she was given 24 hours to sign an opinion, which she declined to do. Williamson, citing Section 10(b) of the Securities Act of 1934, said that a misstatement involving a county attorney opinion could constitute a securities violation.
A December 11, 2002 story, also by Williamson, in The Bond Buyer reiterates several of the issues of opposition raised by those who do not want the facility in the area and also highlights the recently filed lawsuit alleging that county officials violated the Texas Open Meetings Act.
Opponents of the detention facility have expressed concerns not only over the lack of public input into the decision to locate it in Encinal, but also for the lack of water and sewage infrastructure for the jail, environmental impact, and adverse effects on the rural quality of life Encinal residents enjoy.
The language of the suit Gonzalez filed earlier this month on behalf of the Prison Inquiry Group is eloquent and clear about the allegation that La Salle County officials have not followed for about 12 years the Open Meetings Act. The suit states, "Under the fundamental philosophy of the American constitutional form of representative government that adheres to the principle that government is the servant and not the master of the people, it is the policy of this state that each person is entitled, unless otherwise expressly provided by law, at all times to complete information about the affairs of government and the official acts of public officials and employees. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created."
According to the suit, La Salle County officials have allegedly been engaged in a pattern and practice of keeping documents relative to the prison "secret and unavailable for public inspection, and of withholding them from public inspection, and for this reason there are various components of this transaction that are in violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act and the Texas Open Records Act."
The suit asks for a court order, a temporary restraining order, a temporary injunction, and a permanent injunction, declaratory relief, and a writ of mandamus, to stop, prevent, and reverse any actions taken in violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act, for a declaratory judgment that the actions of the named La Salle County officials are in violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act. The suit also asks for an order voiding any actions taken at the meetings specifically complained of and at any other illegal meeting, for attorneys’ fees and court costs, and for general relief.
The suit's plaintiffs ask for an order to halt the payment of commissions, that any commissions paid be immediately refunded, that no bonds be issued, that no money changes hands, that no papers dealing with the La Salle County Public Facilities Detention Corporation be executed by anyone, that the creation of the La Salle County Public Facilities Detention Corporation be declared and ordered to be a nullity and void from its inception, and that, therefore, it does not exist.
Among those commissions and fees that have been paid are $110,000 to Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld, LLP for bond counsel fee and expenses; $36,803 to Municipal Capital Markets Group, Inc., for underwriting costs; $40,000 to Sutin, Thayer and Browne for Underwriters' Counsel fee; $5,500 for US Bank National Association for Trustee's fees; $480,989.50 to Commerce Land Title, Inc., for 100-acre land purchase for $385,000 and Title Insurance of $85,358. From an Acquisition Fund to be dispersed at closing, Hale Mills Construction will take its first draw of $3,146,179 for Initial Mobilization and Construction. Emerald Correctional Management, LLC, the facility operators, will begin taking draws 180 days after closing to total $900,000 during a year's time. Emerald will also receive $500,000 to purchase furniture and equipment for the facility.
Consultant Rick Reyes will receive commissions between $600,000 and $700,000 for his services.