City Hall Punts to a District Court

The City Council met for about 2 hours behind closed doors and finally came to a decision, but was anything really decided?

The short answer is no. Instead there are more questions now that someone needs to answer. According to KFYO News:

At a special city council meeting today, the Lubbock City Council voted 6-1 (Victor Hernandez dissenting) to have either the Texas Attorney General or the Lubbock County D.A. request a district court ruling concerning the future of Victor Hernandez on the city council.

Part of me feels like the city punted on this one because they didn't want to be held accountable, but...

This was probably a smart move. When reviewing the City Charter there is nothing that specifically gives the City Council the power to remove one of it's own. If there was, and I missed it, then I'm sure that City Attorney Sam Medina would have known about it. Letting a district court decide the future of Victor Hernandez could be seen as more fair to those who believe this is political retribution. It will also give the city a legal opinion on that section of the charter that can be used in the future.

However, there are a few questions that need to be answered.

#1: How long until a court ruling?

#2: The city is allowing Hernandez to stay on the council. Will he be able to vote?

#3: If allowed to vote, and found to be ineligible to serve, what happens to those recorded votes?

#4: What was it that council wasn't sure about? Or did they feel as though they couldn't take any further action?

I think these are very important questions. In particular, I believe that the council needs to think about question #3. The council votes on important issues that affect the entire city. If there is a deciding 4-3 vote and Hernandez voted with the winning side, but is later found to be ineligible to serve, that could present huge problems for the council.

These questions and more will be discussed on Wednesday's LFN. What do you think about today's decision by the City Council?