Weeks after Balcones Heights Mayor Johnny Rodriguez Jr. had access to City Hall restricted after a vote by council to open an investigation into his dealings with staff, Rodriguez is pushing back.
Rodriguez filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Balcones Heights and several of its council members and officials, including the police chief, on Wednesday. He alleges the group illegally stripped him of his powers and locked him out in retaliation for doing his job, according to the lawsuit.
The filing accuses the group of coordinating to strip Rodriguez of his authority, lock him out of City Hall, and “threaten[ed] him with arrest for attempting to do his job.”
KSAT reached out to the City of Balcones Heights on Thursday afternoon but did not immediately hear back.
According to the court records, Rodriguez says the conflict started after Rodriguez began investigating a complaint about missing police equipment.
The lawsuit says the City Council passed two ordinances in March, which Rodriguez says limits his access to City Hall, prevents him from directly communicating with city staff without council’s written permission, and requires Rodriguez to route his communications through the Mayor Pro Tem.
Rodriguez argues that the ordinances are “void on their face” and cannot apply to the mayor.
“What has happened in Balcones Heights is the operation of a shadow government,” Rodriguez said in an emailed statement. “A small group of people who were never elected to lead this city decided they would run it anyway — using void ordinances, locked doors, and the threat of arrest to push out the person the citizens actually chose. If they wanted to be Mayor, they could have run for the office. They didn’t. The people of Balcones Heights elected me, and I intend to serve them. That is all I have ever been trying to do.”
Rodriguez was mayor from 2000 to 2002 and was elected again in 2024 by a single vote. He is the only candidate for mayor on the May 2 ballot.
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