{"id":348219,"date":"2026-06-24T07:58:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T07:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/348219\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T07:58:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T07:58:22","slug":"lorena-city-council-member-emily-mckenzie-accuses-fellow-members-of-violating-texas-open-meetings-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/348219\/","title":{"rendered":"Lorena City Council Member Emily McKenzie accuses fellow members of violating Texas Open Meetings Act"},"content":{"rendered":"

LORENA, Texas (KWTX) –<\/a> A Lorena City Council member is alleging her fellow council members violated the Texas Open Meetings Act in May when they selected a new mayor pro tem.<\/p>\n

While Council Member Emily McKenzie says in a complaint filed with Lorena City Attorney Charles Olson that she is not pursuing criminal sanctions for the alleged violation, she is seeking the resignation of Mayor Russell Walizer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe propose that, in light of his role in the violations, Mayor Walizer seriously consider immediately resigning, to allow someone else to step up to lead,\u201d the complaint from McKenzie\u2019s attorney, David Schleicher, says.<\/p>\n

McKenzie, who declined comment through her attorney, said in her complaint that she \u201cinsists that there be some accountability.\u201d Schleicher said only that, \u201cWe look forward to a prompt resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schleicher\u2019s five-page complaint to Olson said McKenzie currently is not interested in serving as mayor or mayor pro tem. However, it was her stated desire to be appointed mayor pro tem that led to her allegations that other council members and Walizer met or discussed appointing Council Member Adam Montemayor mayor pro tem outside the bounds of an open council meeting.<\/p>\n

A mayor pro tem is appointed by council members to temporarily step in for the mayor when the mayor is absent, incapacitated or unavailable.<\/p>\n

City Council members are not allowed to meet in a quorum or decide matters behind the scenes while not in open meetings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look forward to hearing that the Mayor has decided to demonstrate the strength of character needed to step up and resign so that someone else\u2014who is not Councilwoman McKenzie\u2014may replace him as Mayor,\u201d Schleicher wrote in his complaint. \u201cThis would also have the benefit of precluding any citizens from filing a petition with a district court seeking the Mayor\u2019s removal based on an assertion of official misconduct.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an email to KWTX, Walizer said the allegations are unfounded and don\u2019t accurately reflect what happened. He denied there was a \u201csecret meeting, quorum, walking quorum or any effort to conduct city business outside of a properly posted public meeting.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mayor Pro Tem appointment was discussed publicly during a properly posted City Council meeting, nominations were made openly, and the vote occurred in full view of the public,\u201d Walizer said. \u201cEvery action taken by the Council was conducted transparently and in accordance with applicable law.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile anyone has the right to raise concerns, accusations of criminal misconduct should be supported by facts and evidence, not assumptions or speculation. To date, no evidence has been presented demonstrating that a violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act occurred,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said the city and its elected officials take Open Meetings Act compliance seriously, adding they receive training on requirements prescribed by law.<\/p>\n

Pat Kultgen, who lives just outside the Lorena City Limits and who is a regular at city council meetings, said Tuesday that she will send a certified letter to McLennan County District Attorney Josh Tetens to ask his office to investigate the alleged violation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a clear, admitted violation of the Open Meetings Act,\u201d Kultgen said. \u201cI was shocked. I thought, \u2018You have got to be kidding.\u2019 The mayor said, \u2018We have already decided this and Dr. McKenzie said, \u2018You held meetings outside. You can\u2019t do that.\u2019 They already decided they wanted Adam and it was a clear violation and it was all on camera.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tetens had not received an official request to look into the situation as of Tuesday afternoon, but said if he does, he will \u201creview whatever materials were provided and review the law, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

City Manager Kevin Neal said he is aware of the complaint but declined comment Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not speak against pending legal action,\u201d Neal said.<\/p>\n

Phone messages and emails left for Montemayor and council members Carla Pendergraft, Jason Blanek and Joe Gomez at Lorena City Hall were not returned. <\/p>\n

Olson, Lorena city attorney, declined comment, also citing potential litigation. <\/p>\n

According to the complaint, the agenda for the May 11 city council meeting included \u201cdiscussion and possible action appointing Mayor Pro Tempore for a one-year term.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAround 6:15 p.m., the Mayor, with Councilwoman McKenzie to his left, gestures to the empty seats to his right, stating that \u2018I just wanted to let you know that they\u2019ve decided to vote in Adam Montemayor for Mayor Pro Tem,\u2019\u201d the complaint alleges.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe seats to his right are where Carla Pendergraft and Jason Blanek sit, the Councilmembers who later made and seconded the motion nominating Montemayor to be Mayor Pro Tem,\u201d according to the complaint. \u201cCouncilwoman McKenzie asks, \u2018Who\u2019s they?\u2019 The Mayor doesn\u2019t directly answer, stumbling over his words until eventually saying, \u2018I just didn\u2019t want you to be blindsided.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act can be punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine up to $500.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 KWTX. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LORENA, Texas (KWTX) – A Lorena City Council member is alleging her fellow council members violated the Texas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-348219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}