Haltom City councilman facing ethics complaint

Haltom City council member Charlie Roberts is facing an ethics investigation after he was accused of violating the Texas Open Meetings Act. City manager Rex Phelps said the citizen-led ethics commission will report its findings during Monday’s council meeting at 6 p.m. Roberts is accused of discussing city business not listed on public agendas and of using the reply all option in emails, which constitutes a quorum. Mayor pro tem Lin Thompson filed the ethics complaint, but she declined to comment, saying it was “improper” to do so until the entire council hears the report.

Roberts said the Haltom City ethics commission conducted a hearing Wednesday, and said the allegations against him are politically motivated. Roberts sent a text message to the Star-Telegram which said, “When I broke the open meetings act rules it was NOT FOR PERSONAL GAIN or DELIBERATION. It was due to the mayor ending a meeting before I had completed sharing my thoughts, ideas and concerns with the rest of council, staff and attorney. So I emailed “all” what I didn’t get to say. Another time I had prepared a presentation about screening that the mayor declined to let me present during a public meeting. I emailed it to “all” council and staff after the meeting. This is a political move to discredit me during this election. I will count on the voting citizens to see this for it is,” Roberts said. Roberts said he has been on the city council since 2019. He is running against Eric Morris for the Place 4 seat.