Waco council authorizes city attorney to pursue nuisance abatement, engage outside counsel up to $100,000

At the start of the Aug. 19 meeting the Waco City Council voted to authorize the city attorney to pursue nuisance-abatement proceedings discussed in executive session and to engage outside counsel or experts in an amount not to exceed $100,000.

The motion was offered in open session following the executive-session discussion and was seconded; the council then recorded affirmative votes and the motion passed. The motion text recorded in the public proceeding stated: "I motion the city attorney's authorized to pursue nuisance abatement as discussed in executive session and to engage outside counsel or experts to assist in such pursuit in an amount not to exceed $100,000." The transcript does not identify the person who moved the motion by name in the public record.

The council did not provide additional public detail in the business session about the subject or target of the nuisance-abatement action; no specific property, respondent or timeline was identified in open session. The executive-session notice cited the Texas Open Meetings Act, Section 551.074 (personnel), for municipal-court judge Robert Garcia, but the nuisance-abatement motion referenced discussions in executive session and was made in open session as the council reopened its regular session.

Because the motion and authorizations were recorded without further public explanation at the meeting, follow-up and detailed implementation steps will be handled by the city attorney's office and reported to council as required by city procedures.