Resident says no-build packet for Arterial 1 was blocked from Socorro agenda; mayor says he replied

Jeremy Hendricks, who identified himself as a District 4 resident, used his public-comment time at the Nov. 20 Socorro City Council meeting to urge the council to sponsor a 'no build' resolution for the Arterial 1 project.

Hendricks said he followed instructions from the city secretary when he submitted a packet that included maps, cost data, a corridor-overlay analysis and a proposed no-build resolution. "When I turned the packet in, the city secretary gave me the submission deadline for the items intended for the next agenda. I followed those instructions exactly," Hendricks said. He told the council the packet is already in the public record and asked that the mayor or a council member use the authority under Charter section 2-53 to place it on the agenda so it can be discussed and so TxDOT could consider a no-build outcome if the NEPA study supports it.

Mayor (meeting chair) responded that he received Hendricks' voicemail and provided a written email response on the Monday the 17th, saying, "For the record, your phone call was received by me on a Saturday morning, and you received a written response via email on the Monday of the seventeenth." The exchange leaves Hendricks' allegation — that the packet was improperly kept off the agenda — unresolved in the meeting; no council motion to sponsor the resident's packet was recorded.

Hendricks framed his request as a transparency and accountability issue and said he sought only to have the council sponsor the resolution so the city's earlier public statements about considering the no-build option would be consistent with formal action.

Next steps: Hendricks asked council members to sponsor the measure; the council did not place the packet on the Nov. 20 agenda during the meeting record.

Provenance: Jeremy Hendricks public comment, SEG 088–156. Mayor response, SEG 159–166.