EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — City Rep. Lily Limon wants her fellow City representatives and City staff members to put down their cell phones and pay more attention during council meetings.
Limon has an agenda item set for 9 a.m. on Tuesday, July 21 that if passed, would prohibit the use of City and personal cell phones and personal electric devices on the dias during work sessions and council meetings.
This comes after photos of City Attorney Karla Nieman went viral on social media platforms of her looking at her phone and scrolling through social media accounts.
This was during a June 9 meeting in which there were hours of testimony from El Paso residents, expressing their frustrations with a project to build a controversial Meta data center in Northeast El Paso.
That day, the council voted 5-3, after hours of public testimony, to defeat a proposal to begin the process to end the City’s agreement with Meta.
Above are two photos from a KTSM viewer, who wanted to remain anonymous, of Nieman scrolling on her phone during that contentious June 9 meeting.
In Limon’s agenda item, the backup material reads: “Recently, citizens during Call to the Public have expressed frustration and felt a lack of respect as mayor and council were not paying attention to the speakers as we were focused on our phones.”
Limon’s item also says that this sort of conduct by council members and City staff is also a “clear violation of the Open Meetings Act and goes against our Rules of Conduct.”
The agenda item also says that previous councils have enacted rules for the removal of cell phones and electronic devices during council meetings.
A City spokesperson declined to comment and referred us to Limon.
The El Paso City Council will meet at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, July 21 at 300 N. Campbell.
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