08/25/2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Regular Council Meeting August 25, 2014 Page 9 investigation and had received the report. Council Member Hashmi also said tax payer dollars had been spent and it needed to be determined if the money was spent on things it should not have been spent on, and whether or not they needed to get the money back. He said there were issues raised in the investigative report. Council Member Pickle said none of the recommendations that were made whatsoever involved going after Mr. Gilbert. Council Member Hashmi told Council Member Pickle he could interpret it whichever way he wanted and he would do the same. Council Member Hashmi recommended that Council refer the matter to the Texas Attorney General and Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. He said if the Council decides that they do not want to refer it then that was the end of it. Council Member Pickle confirmed with Council Member Hashmi if the Council decided they did not want to forward it to the AG or Comptroller then that was the end of it. Council Member Pickle inquired of Council Member Hashmi what he was going to do next. Council Member Hashmi said he resented the personal comments and questioned what Council Member Pickle meant. Mayor Frierson asked if Council wished to act on this item. Council Member Grossnickle said he would like to make a statement first and said, "You know, some of what Dr. Hashmi says sounds perfectly reasonable but you know the question is, does the Texas AG office have a lot of free time and are they going to want to go into this credit card receipt investigation when it's already been looked at by the FBI and they declined to do it. I don't know honestly if the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts is a law enforcement agency which is what you're asking. You're asking that the former director be punished and be made to repay potentially some monies, he's never really been given a chance to document; he didn't do a very good job obviously of documenting many expenses. I think he may have some records that he could bring to bear in his defense if this step were taken. The main thing I look at is that his budget, his expenses were gone over by his board and they approved that. They approved every one of his expenses, chewing gum, energy drink, whatever, and Gene Anderson also looked at those expenses and you know also I guess in a sense approved them and marked that they be paid so at this point I think Mr. Gilbert probably can't be held liable for something that his board and the city authorities have already given their stamp of approval to. So why now ask that yet another agency expend valuable tax dollars to try to get something recovered that really might not be that much. Some of the bigger expenses that stand out were I think legitimate big meetings in Austin where there were a lot of people and it was appropriate perhaps that the board, that Mr. Gilbert paid that tab. Another thing is the board approved his conduct and I think at this point trying to recover monies is pretty unlikely." Council Member Hashmi said Council Member Grossnickle's points were well taken, and he understood what he was saying but it did not matter whether the board approved it or not. First of all, Council Member Hashmi said if something approved by the board was illegal, then it was still illegal. Secondly, he said if you're going to rely on advice of a person who had been been hired by Mr. Gilbert to say it was right or wrong, that he was not sure that opinion had much weight because there was some conflict there. Thirdly, Council Member Hashmi said referring this out would permanently finish the issue and if nothing wrong was found, then there was nothing to be done. Council Member Hashmi said that would mean as a Council, they had done their job, as they talk about transparency and accountability. He said he was not saying that Mr. Gilbert was a criminal. Council Member Grossnickle wanted to know if the investigation involved citizen volunteer board members and how far did the investigation extend. Council Member Hashmi said it did not extend to them and