Parks board member issued letter of reprimand during ethics hearing

The San Marcos Ethics Commission issued a letter or reprimand after hearing a complaint filed against Parks and Recreation Board member Jordan Buckley by Park Ranger Loy Locke.

After seven hours of testimony and questioning on Thursday, the commission found that Buckley violated Article 5 of the Ethics Code Section 2.424 subsection B4 by making a false statement of material fact at a public meeting. The commission said the violation was minor and committed knowingly and intentionally.

The hearing considered whether Buckley intentionally and knowingly shared false information at a Sept. 17, 2020 parks board meeting when Buckley read aloud three complaints he acquired in an open records request, stating they were about Locke.

Buckley brought the complaints to the board’s attention due to residents coming to him with concerns about, “the racism of a park ranger.”

After testimony from Park Rangers Sgt. Rusty Grice and Chief Marshal Jade Huffman, it was confirmed that of the three complaints Buckley read, only one of them was actually about Locke.

“The way that I review a complaint is I read a complaint, it's beside me while I watch the video,” Grice said. “And in all of these instances, nothing in the complaint matched what occurred on the video. Therefore the claim is unfounded.”

Huffman also confirmed the complaints were, “100% unfounded,” and that in fact Locke was hospitalized at the time of one of the complaints.

“Let me start out by saying that I did not attend, or was not a viewer or guest of the Sept. 17 park board meeting,” Locke said. “I was told about it and then I went on, I went on the internet, to the city's website and read, and watched that meeting after it occurred Sept. 7. And after the meeting occurred, one of the first guests that watched the meeting called me and told me what happened. And so that’s why we are here today.“

Buckley apologized for his mistake and asked why parks employees in the board meeting who had reviewed the complaints stated that the complaints were unfounded but did not correct Buckley in the meeting to say they were not about Locke.

“I did not intentionally and I did not knowingly make those statements falsely,” Buckley said.

“Even before the meeting started I was aware that the city had deemed them unfounded because that’s in the three complaints that were sent to me by Ms. (Lucia) Cordova on the sixth,” Buckley said. “I’m also aware that there have been multiple complaints against Mr. Locke, when he worked for (the San Marcos Police Department) that also were never deemed worthy of following up on. And so I think there’s a long legacy of ignoring different accusations of abuse and so that’s why I wanted independent verification.”

Buckley filed an open records request to see the body camera footage for the incidents himself to verify the complaints, but it was denied due to a code stipulation that requires he get consent of the subject of the video. Although he has received consent from the resident in the video who filed the complaint, he has not yet received consent from the other individuals in the video.

The commission also challenged the investigation process that determined the complaints were unfounded as they were reviewed only by city employees; Grice responded that there was not a process for reviewing complaints until Jade Huffman became the Chief Marshal of the Park Rangers. Huffman is certified by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement to conduct internal investigations.

Buckley had requested the hearing be delayed a month to allow him time to gather evidence and witnesses after a deadline to submit passed that he was not made aware of; he was also hoping the body camera footage would be released by then.

The commission voted to accept the evidence after the deadline but would not delay the meeting to wait for the body camera footage, although it was discussed in the hearing whether or not the Occupations Code prohibits them from releasing the footage.

City Attorney Michael Cosentino said, “The state statute that prohibits a police officer from releasing body camera footage unless there is written consent.”

The Texas Occupations Code states a law enforcement agency may not release any portion of a recording made in a private space or of a recording involving the investigation of conduct that constitutes a misdemeanor punishable by fine only and does not constitute in an arrest, without written authorization from the person who is the subject of that portion of the recording.

The video of the Sept. 17, 2020 Parks and Recreation Board meeting is publicly available at https://san-marcos-tx.granicus.com/player/clip/1582?view_id=19&redirect=....

sgates

@sanmarcosrecord.com

Twitter: @StephJGates