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Regular Council Meeting June 23, 2014 Page 10 City Attorney Kent McIlyar informed the City Council that on or about June 12 Danny Defenbaugh contacted him and it was his understanding that Mr. Defenbaugh also contacted Rebecca Clifford that day. Mr. McIlyar said Mr. Defenbaugh reported to him he had been contacted by the supervisory agent with the FBI Sherman office, and that they had reviewed the information submitted by Defenbaugh to the FBI Office related to the PEDC forensic investigation and that it did not rise to the level of opening a criminal investigation by them at this time. Council Member Hashmi told Mayor Frierson he appreciated his statement, because the general impression was that he or someone else took the liberty to not pursue the investigation. Mayor Frierson said he read that in the memo and that bothered him. He also said the investigation was ongoing and they need to find out what was bad and get it corrected. Council Member Hashmi told Mayor Frierson the telephone conversation that took place was in violation of the Open Meetings Act Sections 551.001(e) and (g). Council Member Hashmi said there were certain rules that must be established for telephone conversations and section (e) referred to meetings of less than a quorum which speaks to a walking quorum. He said two Council Members discussing a fact which had been off and on the agenda, whether it was to gather information was considered a quorum where four members were present or not. Council Member Hashmi said a governmental body may hold an open or closed meeting by telephone only if it meets three requirements and those requirements were not met and none of the three requirements fit into an emergency conversation. Council Member Hashmi said if there was to be a telephone conversation then it must be posted on the city web -site and the opportunity needs to be given to the public to either hear the conversation before, after or during the conversation. He also said everyone makes mistakes, but a problem arises once they take the open government training. He told the Council he wanted to point it out, so that in the future they can avoid this type of occurrence. He said he did understand why the telephone conversation was urgent, because Mr. Defenbaugh was scheduled for the PEDC meeting on Monday and it sounded as though the telephone conversation took place on a Thursday or Friday. He said he did not understand what was so urgent. Council Member Hashmi stated if Mr. Defenbaugh said there was nothing wrong, that was fine. He said the investigation was ordered to eliminate doubts of wrong doing or if something was wrong, then corrective action should be taken and people held accountable for their actions. He said during the conversation with Mr. Defenbaugh, the mayor should have demanded a report citing the contract provision. Council Member Hashmi said he was disappointed in Mayor Frierson but more disappointed in the city attorney. He said the city attorney should stop the City Council when there is a problem. He said the city attorney should have given better advice in not to have a walking quorum and to not violate the acts he mentioned. Council Member Hashmi said he was not a legal expert and if he was wrong to tell him. Mayor Frierson told Council Member Hashmi he understood what he was saying about the phone conversation and if that was his interpretation of the Open Meeting Act that he was not disputing his opinion, but before they got lost in that the issue was the City Council did not get the answers that they needed and some of the answers they did get were not right. Council Member Hashmi said the entire Council wants the answers. Council Member Pickle said he