statement<\/a> the next day saying he did not realize the item was tied to Dean\u2019s legal fees when he made the motion.<\/p>\n\u201cYesterday, the Fort Worth City Council voted on M&C 26-0525 to authorize increasing the maximum amount to be paid to Kenneth East to up to $200,000.00,\u201d Nettles said. \u201cThis M&C was on the consent agenda and pulled to be voted separately along with two other M&Cs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen this M&C was called for vote, I mistakenly made a motion for approval without fully realizing that I was voting on the M&C related Aaron Dean legal attorney fees,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Nettles Defends Record<\/p>\n
Nettles called the vote \u201can honest mistake\u201d and said residents should not view it as a reflection of his values or his record on the Jefferson case.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was an honest mistake. Over the course of my life, I have made honest mistakes, and human errors,\u201d Nettles said. \u201cHowever, I want the community to know that this error\/mistake should not be interpreted as a reflection of my character, my values, or my long-standing advocacy for justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nettles also pointed to state law requiring local governments to provide legal counsel without cost to certain public employees, including peace officers, firefighters, and emergency medical services employees, when they face a suit for damages.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t agree with it but it\u2019s law, and these are laws we should be advocating to get changed,\u201d Nettles said.<\/p>\n
Nettles cited his previous advocacy in the Jefferson case, including his support for renaming Hillside Community Center as the Atatiana Carr-Jefferson Community Center at Hillside. The city also approved a $3.5 million partial settlement in the Jefferson lawsuit, according to prior reporting.<\/p>\n
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Fort Worth City Council unanimously voted in 2023 to rename the recreation center in Jefferson\u2019s memory.<\/p>\n
Residents Push Back<\/p>\n
Nettles\u2019 explanation drew mixed reactions under his public Facebook post, with some residents defending him and others questioning how he could mistakenly move to approve an item tied to such a high-profile case.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have prepared a CP to reconsider the vote at the council voting meeting,\u201d Nettles wrote in a comment.<\/p>\n
Lynn Norman offered support, writing, \u201cHang in there, Chris!\u201d<\/p>\n
Tasha Brewer also defended Nettles, writing, \u201cYou\u2019re human and all of us make mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others were more critical.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo basically you just in there doing ANYTHANG??!!\u201d Christina Singletary wrote. \u201cThen gone try to TRUMP your voters by wanting US to believe that despite many opposers FROM YOUR CONSTITUENCY that you ALL OF A SUDDEN didn\u2019t know what you were doing??\u201d<\/p>\n
Singletary also accused Nettles of deleting her comment.<\/p>\n
Nettles responded, \u201ccheck my record as it relates to this issue. I don\u2019t stay silenced, I\u2019m going to always speak up even when it\u2019s hard times. Plus my community deserves to hear from me on all issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
TyCorin Simpson urged Nettles to do more than issue a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat will be done to right your wrong brother?\u201d Simpson wrote. \u201cYou owe it to the people make it right councilman nettles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nikki Henry said the stakes were too high for the vote to be dismissed as a simple mistake.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he was unsure of any verbiage use in any part of the document he knows their resources to use to gain clarity,\u201d Henry wrote. \u201cThere\u2019s no excuse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Patrick Durham also criticized the mistake, writing, \u201cwhen reading something of importance it should be read THOROUGHLY.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reconsideration Sought<\/p>\n
Nettles said he has drafted a Council Proposal asking the City Council to reconsider the vote so he can correct his position.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have drafted up a CP requesting to the Fort Worth City Council to reconsider the vote on M&C 26-0525, to correct my vote,\u201d Nettles said. \u201cWe will reconsider this vote at the next council voting meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fort Worth City Council Member Chris Nettles says he mistakenly moved to approve additional legal-fee spending tied to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[126163,51370,106244,4519,3745,116,118,117,126920,126919],"class_list":["post-357130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-aaron-dean","tag-atatiana-jefferson","tag-chris-nettles","tag-city-council","tag-dallas-express","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news","tag-honest-mistake","tag-kenneth-east"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357130","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=357130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}