Denton Board of Ethics weighs rules for member contact with city council

The Denton City Board of Ethics discussed whether and how board members should communicate outside meetings with city council members during its regular meeting on July 9.

Board members described several instances where post-meeting or outside communications with council members led to confusion or public criticism of the board—s work. Members said the board—s ethics ordinance already contains an ex parte restriction that bars discussing pending complaints with city officials who are parties to those complaints, but they said guidance is otherwise limited.

Board members and staff discussed avenues for clearer coordination. Staff noted that a formal advisory opinion from the city attorney would need to be requested through the board—s advisory-opinion process. Members suggested practical options including asking for a joint work session or inviting council members to a board meeting when the board prepares a package of recommendations so both bodies can discuss the reasoning behind those recommendations before council acts.

Several members said informal updates from council members had felt intimidating in at least one past instance and that better face-to-face dialogue could reduce misunderstandings. Staff cautioned that any recurring meetings involving subsets of council members would need to comply with the Texas Open Meetings Act; a joint meeting posted for both bodies and run by the mayor would avoid open-meetings conflicts, staff said.

No formal rule change or advisory opinion was adopted at the meeting. The board asked staff to explore the logistics of a potential joint session with city council, to report back on the feasibility of scheduling a joint meeting, and to include that status in a future management report.