Blake Vaughn, Associate Mayor Pro Tem, City Council Place 5

Seems reasonable to me… 🤔

🎉

🧨 As we approach the New Year, remember that fireworks of any kind are illegal within the city limits. 🧨

Please celebrate the New Year responsibly! Our team will be out and about - be safe, NRH!

“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭55‬:‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭ESV‬‬

On this day 178 years ago, the United States was allowed to join the Republic of .

🇺🇸

May the joy of the angels,
the eagerness of the shepherds,
the perseverance of the wise men,
the obedience of Joseph and Mary,
and the peace of the Christ child
be yours this Christmas;
and the blessing of God almighty,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be among you and remain with you always.
Amen.

“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭4‬:‭9‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Notice that none of the mayor’s social media warriors are ever able to rebut my accusations of the mayor’s wrongdoing. 🤔 They simply say, “stop being divisive” by pointing them out.

Well, unfortunately the people deserve to see these undemocratic actions undermining our representative democracy here in town. 🇺🇸

Early Christmas gift! 🎄 🎁

When governments use Covid edicts to restrict the gathering and worship of the Church, three pastors facing the risk of imprisonment re-open their churches in the face of a world that has chosen to comply.

This feature-length documentary, The Essential Church, explores the struggle between Church and government throughout history. It takes us to multiple countries and parallels today’s conflict with those from the past who sacrificed their lives for their beliefs.

Journey with them as we rediscover why the Church is essential and how their stand remains true from a scientific, legal, and, most importantly, Biblical perspective.

If the unelected city staff wants to engage in politics, I’ll be happy to meet them in the arena. 💁‍♂️

Don’t we all love when the government starts telling you what is “misinformation” online… 😂

Have they learned nothing from the past three years?

I post on the lackluster recruiting efforts that are failing to close the gaps in our police department, and North Richland Hills City Hall feels the need to defend the mayor and his clan in charge rather than focus on the actual problem of protecting our citizens. 🤔

It’s the same with the streets. We simply do a little bit to say we are making progress while even more streets fall into disrepair. It’s a treadmill and we are getting closer to the edge of falling off completely.

Watch these feeds closely over the next five months. I’m betting they will do everything possible to protect the man responsible for paying them $300k salaries!

The people will regain control of their government this May! 🇺🇸

STAFFING UPDATE -

We've found a bit of misinformation spreading on social media regarding our current vacancies and wanted to ensure we provide you with the correct data and numbers regarding our staffing.

Over the last 90 days, our department has had one officer leave the agency. As we shared in a recent post congratulating our team members, five officers just finished field training and are hitting the streets this week. Three officers are currently in the academy, and three more will start the academy in January. We are incredibly thankful for the dedication of the staff in our continuous efforts to live up to our vision to "provide an atmosphere where people feel safe, secure, and acknowledged." The recruiting office currently has 29 applicants in process for police officer at this time.

As of today's numbers, and to provide proper context, NRHPD currently has 108 out of 121 police officer positions filled. Over the last 90 days, we’ve seen a jump in our vacancies. However, it is primarily due to increasing patrol staffing. We applied for and obtained the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant that allowed the department to increase the patrol staffing level by authorizing four newly created police officer positions. The department remains committed to creative and fiscally responsible funding to ensure we increase staffing levels that align with the projected service demands.

Nationwide, departments are having challenges in recruiting people to join the profession, with 78% of agencies reporting difficulties in filling vacancies, according to a 2022 national survey. (Center for State and Local Government Excellence Survey, June 2022) NRHPD has recently implemented several new incentives to show our potential applicants the dedication they can expect from our team, such as a temporary waiver of the college requirement, hiring bonuses, lateral pay, a user-friendly recruiting website, and a partnership with the NRH Centre to help applicants reach the required physical fitness level for our test. The team continues exploring other partnerships that may help us fill the vacancies while we remain committed to providing the best service possible to our community.

The mayor, as Chief Executive Officer of our city, must be held accountable for the continued decay of our streets and increasing crime impacting our citizens!

We don’t need more trains.
We don’t need more apartments.
We don’t need more shady business deals.

We need higher quality roads and more law enforcement!

If we keep doing the same thing, we will keep getting the same results. 🗳️

The most important part of representing citizens is meeting with citizens to hear what matters most to them! ❤️ 🇺🇸

“3:32 If two or more rise at about the same time, the general rule is that, all other things being equal, the member who rose and addressed the chair first after the floor was yielded is entitled to be recognized. A member cannot establish “prior claim” to the floor by rising before it has been yielded. In principle, it is out of order to rise or be standing while another person has the floor—except for the purpose of making one of the motions or taking one of the parliamentary steps that can legitimately interrupt at such a time (pages t44–t45).”

Excerpt From
Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, 12th edition
Henry M. Robert III, Daniel H. Honemann, Thomas J. Balch, Daniel E. Seabold & Shmuel Ge**er

For the Lord comforts Zion; he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭51‬:‭3‬, 11‬ ESV‬‬

Obtaining and Assigning the Floor

3:30 Before a member in an assembly can make a motion or speak in debate—the parliamentary name given to any form of discussion of the merits of a motion—he must obtain the floor; that is, he must be recognized by the chair as having the exclusive right to be heard at that time.

The chair must recognize any member who seeks the floor while entitled to it.

Excerpt From
Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, 12th edition
Henry M. Robert III, Daniel H. Honemann, Thomas J. Balch, Daniel E. Seabold & Shmuel Ge**er

Since when did the North Richland Hills City Hall Facebook become a branch of the OTrevino campaign lol… 🙄

Also interesting how I make one comment about our struggle with filling police vacancies and then all of a sudden there’s a post about how great our police recruiting is. 🙄🙄

Feels like budget season again. 😂

Wonderful evening supporting incredible leaders like Beth Van Duyne, John Huffman for Congress, Nate Schatzline For Texas, and Sheriff Bill Waybourn! 🇺🇸

Imagine if council meetings were actually open to hearing all sorts of ideas and working toward the best solutions for citizens. 🤯

Fascinating report from the attorneys looking into coverup at the Tarrant Appraisal District…This is the issue I was first blocked from discussing with council by this mayor.

We must always hold government accountable! 🇺🇸

letter from tepper after 12-14-23 board meeting.pdf

We canceled something like 7 of the last 10 elections because these incumbents didn’t draw an opponent.

No wonder these folks think they can do whatever they want.

Let’s not let that happen again! 🇺🇸

Homelessness and hunger seem to be a growing problems in our area.

I requested a report on this homeless issue on December 12.

We should be hearing from staff as to the current situation and available resources at an upcoming meeting.

My heart hurts for anyone struggling especially during this time of the year. I hope that we are able to identify this person and offer assistance if needed.

Separately, in our last council meeting, I pressed the police department to consider new and creative ways to enhance our recruiting efforts. We have too many vacancies at the moment and it is having a real impact on our ability to protect the people of our city.

We must have the rule of law… on the streets and in the halls of government!

We cannot continue to do the same things and expect different results!

Are you starting to figure out why they don’t want to be in front of the camera?

This is why we have a whole separate room in the back with no cameras for the work sessions (such a waste of money) and why they go to completely separate cities to talk about “priorities” and raising taxes. 💁‍♂️

Don’t let the public see how the sausage is made!

To think we have multiple people who have spent a decade or two on council allowing this behavior to continue!

Very impressive!

DENIED: Request delay in changing our rules in order to seek attorney general opinion on responding to citizens complaints during a meeting

DENIED: Amend new rules to allow council to respond to citizens complaints during meeting and in accordance with the open meetings act.

DENIED: Publicly release city attorney opinion denying the mayor’s abuse of power so the people can decide

DENIED: Require council to complete annual training on Texas Open Meetings Act

DENIED: Require council to complete annual training on Robert’s Rules of Order

None of these even worthy of a professional deliberation.

All reasonable and just requests denied by this abusive mayor and his complicit council through their passive silence or their active breaking of our own rules.

It’s “Oscar’s way or the highway” in Trevino’s town.

This is not how government in America is supposed to work.

No one is above the law!

If the city will not seek an attorney general opinion, I call for the immediate release of the city attorney’s legal opinion covering up for the mayor’s abuse of power.

Let the public decide who is breaking the law!

Without accountability, this mayor and his complicit lawyer will continue to abuse their roles as servants of the people.

Anyone who is willing to infringe on the rights of the minority simply because they want their way should not be trusted to represent the people.

We must have accountability in government!

Seriously… why do we pay this lawyer $315,000/year when she is clearly unprepared for the job? 🤷‍♂️

On top of that, we give her two assistant attorneys ($150k each) when most cities don’t even have one!

Yet somehow she still finds time to run a side biz representing athletes and artists??! 🤦‍♂️

This is the same attorney who continues to defend this mayor’s abuse of power! 🤔 🚨

A Nrh Citizen, Why do liberals always devolve into accusing their opponents of racism? 🤔

It’s so ridiculous considering the accusation is rooted in racism to begin with.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/100085194307271/posts/317824487734026/?d=n&mibextid=qC1gEa

Why do you think the city wanted to have a “closed” meeting about “open” meetings?

What could be happening behind the scenes? 🤔

Any City official elected by the people, shall be subject to recall and removal from office by the qualified voters of the City on grounds of incompetency, misconduct or malfeasance in office.

ARTICLE XV: RECALL OF OFFICERS
North Richland Hills
City Charter