FEB. 4 FERRIS CITY COUNCIL MEETING RECAP: Hatfield retains board positions

FERRIS – Although agenda items at the Monday, Feb. 4 council meeting called for the “removal, appointment or dismissal of Charles Hatfield, a Ferris Planning and Zoning Commission Member (and a type A Corporation Member),” were pushed to the end of the meeting and moved to a closed executive meeting, Hatfield was successful in retaining his board positions despite a recent attack and threats from Ferris City Manager Bill Jordan.

“Bill got his feelings hurt when I sent an email to Economic Development Director Scott Jones asking him to meet with me and land owner Bea Wallace without the presence or notification of Jordan, so he retaliated,” explained Hatfield.

The email, although sent to a personal address, was intercepted by the city’s WiFi and forwarded to Jordan, who sent correspondence to all council members and two newspapers labeling Hatfield’s actions, “unethical and inappropriate.”

After last week’s article in The Ellis County Press exposed Jordan’s threats to take up Hatfield’s “unethical” meeting with the council, other board members and listing Jordan’s unethical behavior himself, Jordan responded with this attempt to have Hatfield removed.

“Good evening, I’m Charles Hatfield and am here to address the libelous email City Manager Bill Jordan sent to each council member, economic board members and two area newspapers accusing me of an ethics violation,” said Hatfield at the public comment suction of the agenda.

“The same city manager was found guilty of six ethics violations of sexual misconduct according to the Bowman report,

“I have served this city on several boards for a combination of more than 25 years,

“During that time, I took my oaths very seriously, including the ethics oath I swore to upon taking positions on the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Economic Development 4A Board,

“Not once during these years of service have, I personally profited from my position.”

Hatfield continued, saying, “Since the city council chose to punish my newspaper for exposing unethical behavior of the former mayor by designating an Ennis paper as the paper of record, we no longer publish public notices informing the citizens of Ferris of the board’s activities,

“Because Jordan wasn’t invited to a private meeting, he got his feelings hurt and lashed out claiming a perceived ethics violation of my intended project of a gun-range on Interstate 45.

“The proposed project he refers to does not require any action by any board I serve on and it may not even be built in the Ferris area.

“To set the record straight, the meeting had nothing to do with any development, but merely a meet and greet with a local landowner with our new economic director Scott Jones,

“Additionally, whatever development I may be involved in, or who I have lunch with or what we talk about is none of his or this council’s business,

“The police state Jordan is apparently attempting by recording conversations and video anyone coming into city hall smacks of fascism,

“Why are you so paranoid Bill, that you must intersect private emails and must be at every meeting a city employee has with me. What are you hiding?

“What separates a democracy for tyranny is a free press. Attempts to stifle free expression of speech is the first action taken to deny citizens of their rights,

“The Ellis County Press will continue bringing the truth to the residents of Ferris no matter the outcome of tonight’s meeting.”

Greg Chapman, a freelance graphic designer for The Ellis County Press, also spoke in support of Hatfield, saying, “Mayor, Council… Tonight, you’re discussing the possible removal of Charles Hatfield from both the 4A and the Planning & Zoning Boards because of an alleged ethics violation,

“The violation: City Manager Bill Jordan wasn’t told about – or invited to a meeting,

“The meeting: introducing Economic Development Director Scott Jones to city benefactor Bea Wallace – hopefully repairing the strained relationship between Mrs. Wallace and the City,

“The strained relationship: because of Mr. Jordan,

“The real ethics violations – are how Mr. Jordan found out about the meeting in the first place – and his reaction,

“Evidently – the city’s WiFi setup allows city and even personal emails sent or received within City Hall – to be read internally.

“How do we know this? Because an email concerning the meeting was sent by Hatfield to Jones’ personal Gmail account,

“And Bill Jordan read the email. And replied back to Hatfield – cc’ing the council – 4A board members – and incredibly the Waxahachie Daily Light and Ennis Daily News,

“All this – before Jones even knew he’d gotten an email.”

Chapman then read Texas Penal Code 16.02, which makes it a crime to intercept or record any “wire, oral or electronic” communication unless one party to the conversation consents.

“Mr. Jordan was not – at anytime – part of the conversation between Hatfield and Jones. According to Texas law, Mr. Jordan – committed a felony.”

Chapman continued his address to the council, saying “Ladies and Gentlemen, I only have 3 minutes. That’s not nearly enough time to talk about all the ethics violations Mr. Jordan has been associated with,

“When the Bowman Report came out, I heard a councilman say, “We would have had to fire Jordan – and everyone else,

“I worked at advertising agencies in the corporate world for 30 plus years – with executive titles such as Chief Creative Officer and Director of Graphic Design, managing iconic brands such as American Airlines, Frito Lay, Pepsi and Tabasco,

“And, I can personally tell you – do anything that damages a brand or the integrity of a company – client side or agency side – and you’re escorted out the door immediately,

“In other words, YOU FIRE EVERYONE!”

Chapman went on to describe how every Ferris resident is a “shareholder,” with the company being – the City of Ferris. And, that anyone who “damages the integrity of OUR company – should be escorted out the door immediately.”

He then went into a more personal explanation and drove home his annoyance over the continued city dysfunction, saying, “I was diagnosed with a very aggressive cancer several years ago,

“The only option for a cure – radical surgery to remove it,

“My doctor, in his southern drawl, said, ‘Greg, we’re gonna drop it in the bucket,’”

“Mayor/council, we have a cancer in Ferris,

“The longer it’s allowed to remain, the more ill we will become, until it’s too late for a cure,

“It is time – to drop City Manager Bill Jordan – in the bucket.”

Councilwoman Sherie Chapman, the wife of Greg Chapman, abstained herself from speaking at the advice of city lawyer Michael Halla due to a possible conflict of interest, since her husband freelances for and offices at The Ellis County Press.

Audience attendees cheered in support of Hatfield. Among those in attendance were other board members, Cindy Cousins Aspen and Rudy Amor, council seat candidates Michael Martinez, Amor and Ferris Chamber members Chad Newsome and Claudia Sanchez.

Hatfield expressed his appreciation to his supporters, and surmised the council knew the whole incident had been blown way out of proportion and really wanted him to continue serving on the boards.

 

Riva Ferris

Another controversial issue was a request from Palladium USA to authorize the mayor to issue a letter of support so the group could obtain financing to develop Riva Ferris on the south side of 8th street just east of the Ferris Junior High School.

“If you approve, you set a precedent (to approve developments before a plan is submitted), said Real Estate Broker Kelly Harris, further pointing out the inadequate water and sewer facilities available,

“The lift station is maxed out – it was designed for the junior and high schools, not apartments,” said Harris, who, along with his wife Sharon handle a lot of Ferris’ real estate, “don’t approve before engineering (is done).”

He warned that the same thing happening recently in Wilmer could happen here – with sewerage for apartments having to be syphoned daily and stored.

“I’m certain one sewer option is to build a huge sewer vault similar to the new tax credit apartments in Wilmer. At that location, large tanker trucks come in weekly to extract raw sewage and truck it to a designated manhole in Wilmer.”

Harris continued with his concerns, stating, “If the project is approved it will increase Ferris' population 20% overnight. It will require a minimum of 5-6 new hires to handle the surge in population and will put a significant strain on FISD, Police and Fire, 

“To further complicate matters, the project will require a zoning change because one-half of the proposed 10 acre site is zoned Commercial by the City of Ferris,

“In my opinion, its not wise to relinquish commercial zoning for 120 multi-family units, of which 80% (96) are low income tax credit units with a probable average of 4-5 occupants per unit.” 

“What will likely happen, due to time constraints and the rush/hurry mentality of Tax Credit deals, is the project will require city waivers and/or ED Board infrastructure funding i.e. water, sewer, lift station improvements (if a huge sewer vault is not constructed on site), public sidewalks on both sides of FM 660, two separate road bores under FM 660 (for water & sewer), extension of Oncor power, etc.”

Sharon Harris also spoke in agreement against the development and said the “Vision for Ferris never included such as this.”

No action was taken at this time.

 

Zoning Change Approved

Michael Martinez’s request for a zoning change from Multifamily to Planned Development 14 on his property west of south main and south of W. 9th Streets was approved with stipulations – future detailed drawings and solutions to possible lighting, parking and business operating hours would be submitted to council before building a business and apartment complex.

 

Development Agreement

Permission for the mayor to sign a development agreement planned on 71 acres of the Wallace property east of Interstate 45 and north of Wolf Springs Road was also approved, despite concerns from some residents about traffic control.