Did Keller City Council mistreat planning & zoning committee member?

by Jim Carson of Keller City Limits

There is yet another letter to the editor in this week’s Keller Citizen, bemoaning the terrible way the Council treated a Planning & Zoning member we decided to remove.

Let’s assume for a moment that the city council made a mistake in an ordinance it passed unanimously back in February. An otherwise routine ordinance accidentally included a definitive statement that the earth is flat. A month or more passes and a member of the city staff brings it to my attention. I call my fellow council members’ attention to our error, and the mayor puts on the agenda a revised ordinance that removes the language stating that the earth is flat.

Without any discussion, each and every member of the city council independently comes to the conclusion that the earth is not flat, and Keller’s Code of Ordinances should not codify such an outrageous assertion. When the agenda item is considered, the mayor asks if any discussion is desired and gets silence in response. The motion is made and then seconded. The vote is unanimous.

Should we have made it a public hearing, and allowed a member of the Flat Earth Society to give their perspective on the issue? In retrospect, maybe we should have, if for no other reason than to make clear to the public how easy our decision was.

For the record, anyone can speak in the Persons To Be Heard section of any council meeting. Even Flat-Earthers.