• Yellow 8'x4' signs were seen over the weekend in Ferris on trailers and in parking lots supporting Public Safety Director Eddie Salazar. There had been rumors he was going to be terminated at Monday night’s council meeting.
    Yellow 8'x4' signs were seen over the weekend in Ferris on trailers and in parking lots supporting Public Safety Director Eddie Salazar. There had been rumors he was going to be terminated at Monday night’s council meeting.
    CHARLES D. HATFIELD, JR. / Publisher

    FERRIS – In standing-room only, Ferris residents packed the council chambers Monday to show their support for Public Safety Director Eddie Salazar.

    Supporters carried yellow signs with the word YES printed to let the council know they wanted to keep Salazar.

    Mayor Pro Tem Tommy Scott conducted the meeting after Mayor Jim Swafford called in sick earlier that afternoon.

    Scott informed the audience an Executive Session item regarding the public safety director’s employment was pulled from the agenda pending receipt of a legal ruling from the Texas Municipal League.

    Also based upon a ruling by the TML, the council, despite Mayor Swafford’s published written objection, voted to deny the reconsideration of Ordinance No. 0-19-899, and upheld the ordinance as revised on Aug. 26. That ordinance reworked Section

    2. (E) of the existing ordinance and changed the wording to read: “The Director of Public Safety shall be appointed by the City Council and shall serve at the pleasure of the City Council and may be removed, with or without cause, by a majority vote of the City Council.”

    Several citizens spoke to the council during the public comment portion letting the council know their disappointment in the council’s actions concerning the ordinance.

    Ferris Chamber of Commerce President Jason Crenshaw said he felt the council disregarded the Texas Government Code, and cited Section 21.002 from the 2019 Handbook for Mayors and Council members – the procedures for removing the mayor or a council member – which read “Under the law, a member of the governing body is subject to removal for incompetence, official misconduct, or intoxication.”

    In other action, Councilwoman Sherie Chapman asked the expenditures be pulled for discussion.

    She sought clarification on several items including the payment to Councilman Michael Martinez for reimbursement of $873.97 for a trip to San Antonio to attend a TML training seminar.

    Chapman remarked when she attended the same TML seminar in Beaumont, she paid her own expense of $260 and did not seek reimbursement.

    She also questioned a $2,000 expense for a camera at the animal shelter. She was told it was a license plate camera to record someone illegally dropping off animals at the shelter

    The council did not approve an inter local agreement between the county and the city regulating subdivisions plats in the city’s Extraterritorial Jurisdiction, the area one-half mile past the city limits.

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