Bedford councilwoman resigns over charter violation allegations

Bedford City Council member Cindy Almendarez resigned Tuesday after she admitted to violating the city’s charter when contacting police about an unauthorized car club event. According to a news release, Almendarez sent an email on Tuesday acknowledging that she violated the charter by directing police who were on duty during a “car club disturbance” at Pennington Field on April 8. The event resulted in numerous noise complaints from residents. Almendarez did not return phone calls and a text message seeking comment Wednesday.

The charter states, “the council and its members shall deal solely through the City Manager, and neither the council nor any member thereof shall give orders to any subordinates of the City Manager, either publicly or privately.” On April 8, a car club organized a meet-up at the Pennington Field parking lot but did not have permission from the Hurst-Euless-Bedford school district. Mayor Michael Boyter said in an interview that Almendarez last week talked about contacting the police during the car club event when the council met to discuss appointing volunteers to city boards. “Council members picked up on this and started the process,” Boyter said. “My thing was just to have fairness and investigate this internally.” During the May 10 meeting, the council will discuss the vacant Place 1 seat. Almendarez had more than a year left in her three-year term, so there will be a special election.