By Kevin Limiti
Killeen Daily Herald
Originally published Jan. 12, 2025
The city of Killeen may have been violating the Texas Open Meetings Act in regards to citizen comments ever since June when the structure of the Killeen City Council meetings were changed.
The Killeen City Council meetings start at 3 p.m. on the first and third Tuesday of each month, divided into work and regular sessions with citizen comments taking place in between.
But prominent Austin lawyer Bill Aleshire says that this is an obvious violation of the law, and past council decisions could be subject to being declared void by a court.
“If the body is going to go ahead and consider the item before they even had the public input, what value is there to the public input?” Aleshire asked. “The public influence should occur first.”
Killeen City Manager Kent Cagle denied Aleshire’s claim, saying since the city allows citizen comments during the regular session of the meetings — oftentimes, after the council discusses the items — the city is not in violation of the law.