Conroe residents press council to close charter loophole allowing voting majorities to meet outside open meetings

At a continuation of the City of Conroe workshop meeting, residents urged the City Council to change a provision in the city charter that they said allows a voting majority to meet or deliberate outside of a public meeting.

John Sellers, identified in the record as a resident, told the council that the practice undermines public trust and “sidesteps the Texas Open Meetings Act,” saying, “If a voting majority can meet behind closed doors with no cameras, no minutes, no public notice, then we have not just sidestepped the Texas Open Meetings Act. We've…