Teague Alderman Censured by Council

Teague’s City Council entered into a three hour executive session Tuesday, February 19, 2019 to discuss several items, including undisclosed allegations regarding Alderman Ron Rasbeary’s behavior.
Upon reentering open session, Alderman Jerry Ballew made a motion to censure Rasbeary for “exhibiting behavior unbecoming of a City official.”
A second from Marilyn Michaud and 3-1 vote from the Council, with Alderman Chris Nickleberry voting against and Rasbeary abstaining, Rasbeary’s peers expressed their disapproval of his behavior.
While a censure is not a dismissal, it does serve as a punitive and formal statement of the Council’s strong disapproval of Rasbeary’s alleged actions.
Rasbeary was elected to Alderman Place II in May 2013, serving as Mayor Pro Tem from 2018 to 2019. He filed for re-election in the upcoming election, but has since withdrawn his candidacy.
At the beginning of the meeting, Dennis Cox utilized his time for public comment to petition the Council to move discussion regarding the allegations against Alderman Rasbeary to open session.
Cox argued that Aldermen are public servants not public officers, and therefore should not be included under the Personnel Matters section of the Texas Government Code that allows the Council to discuss these matters in closed session.
“We’re always talking about transparency and I feel like this item agenda right here there’s nothing to be done in executive session except for y’all to come back out and say ‘No action is taken,’” said Cox.
“I ask that some of the other Aldermen make a motion to move this to open session for the transparency, so the citizens of Teague can hear what’s going on.”
However, City Attorney Andy Messer disagreed, citing the Texas Local Government Code and other laws defining Council members as municipal officers and therefore can be subject to review in executive session.
With no motion made to move the discussion into open session, the agenda remained unaltered and no additional information has been released regarding the cause of Rasbeary’s censure.