By now, my readers know the fondness I have for government entities to have an executive, or better put, closed meeting.
I know, I know, some taxpayer-funded things are better discussed behind closed doors.
By some, I mean a lot.
Monday’s Commissioners Court meeting was a new wrinkle on the subject of closed meetings.
I had already reviewed the agenda that was sent to me by the judge’s office and it seemed to be an ordinary, run-of-mill meeting that wouldn’t provide much of a story for this week’s paper.
There were three items to be taken up in executive session but the wording is so reader-unfriendly it’s hopeless to determine a meaning in everyday language.
Then the bench seats in the onlookers half of the county courtroom started filling up with several community leaders.
Jessica Russell, with Bay City Community Development Corporation, Mike Ferdinand, with Matagorda County Economic Development Corporation, were there so I figured some kind of development issue was at hand.
But there were several others in the audience.
The only recent significant development issue was Maverick Tube Corporation’s request for a tax abatement, but there was no one from Tenaris BayCity in the group.
Tenaris and Maverick are both under Tenaris Global Services.
Since County Judge Bobby Seiferman puts the public comments section at the start of the meeting – his predecessor did the opposite – several people stood to tell the court their belief the county needs to support industry.
Jobs, housing, an economic boost and more were mentioned as advantages for a county with a strong industrial base.
Their remarks and the timing of those remarks seemed aligned with Maverick’s proposed new plant that would be located on the Tenaris acreage off Texas 35 east.
But I kept on looking at the agenda and things Tenaris wasn’t on there.
Before the meeting was over, most of those addressing the court had left.
After the regular meeting portion of the meeting – and before the executive sessions began, I approached the court with my question why the public statements didn’t match with the agenda.
Some of the commissioners were confused as well, saying there wasn’t anything on the agenda to equate with the turnout.
Well, I came away with an appreciation of people stepping up and defending economic development.
Please see my front-page coverage of the meeting.
