Fort Worth council approves resolution authorizing city to cast votes for named candidate after public comment

A majority of the Fort Worth City Council voted to approve a resolution authorizing the city to cast votes for a named candidate on agenda item 25-5518, after public comment that tied the item to recent school-district voting concerns.

An unidentified public commenter told the council, "She's the only candidate that saved your school district," and argued the district had narrowly avoided losing voting rights because of scheduling and administrative issues. The speaker said trustees and the board chair rescheduled a meeting so the district would not forfeit voting rights and cited a prior Arlington example in 2023.

Councilmember Flores moved to approve item 25-5518 "with the following modification: If it is later determined that the city of Fort Worth is entitled to a different number of votes than 281, this resolution will be considered to be authorizing the casting of all such votes for the named candidate." The motion was seconded by Council member Crane. Moderator staff announced, "Motion carries."

Before the vote, Councilmember Allen said, "Due to my role on the TAD board, out of an abundance of caution, I'll be abstaining from this conversation and vote." The transcript does not record a roll-call vote or a vote tally in the public record excerpt; the motion was announced as carried.

After taking the action, the council adjourned the public session and moved into an executive session, citing multiple provisions of the Texas Government Code that authorize closed deliberations on legal advice, real property, economic-development negotiations, security and personnel matters.

The action on item 25-5518 and the abstention by Councilmember Allen were the principal outcomes recorded in the available transcript. No additional roll-call counts or formal vote tallies were read into the public record in the excerpt provided.