After a long executive session last night, Buckholts City Council voted that they had no confidence in their mayor.
After returning from executive session to discuss Mayor Hal Senkel, the Council returned and voted unanimously to issue a motion of no confidence.
City Attorney Hollis Lewis said in a statement that the Council did not approve of the Mayor`s letter to the Texas Workforce Commission that contradicted the decisions of Buckholts City Council during the termination of former Police Chief James Blackmon and for failing to support the Mayor Pro-Tem and City Secretary in their duties and decisions in carrying out Blackmon`s termination.
Legally, the definition of no confidence means that a person in a leadership position is no longer deemed fit to hold the position based on that person falling short or failing to carry out certain obligations or making detrimental decisions.
The no confidence vote stems from a letter Senkel is believed to have written to the Texas Workforce Commission regarding Blackmon`s firing and possible unemployment benefits. Senkel has previously said he wrote the letter as a public citizen on his own stationary and not in his capacity as Mayor, though open records requests have shown his letter was written on city stationary and signed with the Mayor`s tag after Senkel`s name.
