Amarillo council debate over outside legal counsel turns public and sharply divided

A controversy over the city council’s engagement of outside legal counsel escalated into one of the meeting’s most heated exchanges.

At the mayor’s request, a statement from Hyde Kelly LLP — the special counsel retained to provide council-only legal services — was read into the record. The letter defended the firm’s role and argued that its services have saved the city money and provided specialized legal advice. It also admonished a council member who had publicly questioned the engagement. The statement said, in part, “If we place confidential information in our invoices and a request is made for those invoices pursuant to the TPIA, we would have to examine the invoices… and wait 45 business days” for Attorney General determinations.

Councilmember Steven Simpson responded by pressing for tighter oversight, saying the arrangement had grown into what he described as a “poorly managed slush fund” with spending beyond council direction. Simpson presented a line-by-line review of invoices and cited amounts he said were spent on matters that were not formally authorized by the council.

The meeting produced sharp back-and-forth between supporters of continuing the firm’s engagement and critics who demanded greater transparency and tighter written protocols. Supporters — including the mayor and several council members — argued the special counsel has provided critical, timely legal work that helped, for example, identify funds for employee pay increases and untangle complex legal issues. Critics argued the council must protect taxpayer dollars and should set clearer rules for when and how outside counsel is deployed and how invoices are released to the public.

City legal counsel and the city manager presented draft protocols to clarify how council members request written legal opinions, when the council as a whole must be notified, and which pre-approved outside firms could be used. During the meeting council agreed to develop a short protocol (staff to codify it) that enables an individual council member to obtain up to $1,000 in outside legal review without full-council action; spending above that threshold would require returning to the council for approval. Council also asked staff to expand a list of approved vendors and to return with a formal protocol.

No final termination or contract change was voted at the meeting. Council directed staff to draft concrete protocols, and several council members asked staff to provide consolidated invoice reporting and an explanation of how special-counsel spending is tracked and authorized.