Remarks by Roger Neal
44 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 2
- Play at 38:58
“Councilman Neill. Yeah, I want to thank you, Jay, and your team for all the hard work you do, as well as this council up here. We've had a lot of interaction over some many months now on this whole thing. So just thank you for that. I appreciate all that you do. That's all I have right now, Mayor.”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 46:09
“No, I was just going to move to approve item L4. Is that?”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 54:43
“Yeah, Jay, I'm just wondering if you have access to the notice of public hearing. Do you have that available to share on the screen that the rest of us here on council have? It's notice of public hearing on tax increase.”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 55:20
“That's okay. I know you probably weren't ready for that question.”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 55:31
“Okay. I guess we can wait. I just want to call your attention to the third paragraph. that says the proposed tax rate is greater than the no new revenue tax rate. That's the first sentence. The second sentence says this means that the City of Farmers Branch is proposing to increase property taxes for the 2026 tax year, and I just find that confusing.”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 56:51
“Thank you for that, Jay. Just the language reads, and I'm sure you understand why many residents look at this, and it clearly says this means farmers' branches proposing increased property taxes, and that causes a lot of discussion among the public. So I just want to point that out. Thank you for your clarification. Absolutely.”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 58:18
“That poses another question. Does that mean we're required by the state to show the maximum rate of 0.60, or could it be something less? It could be less. It could be less.”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 59:09
“I'm sorry, could you repeat the motion for me? I'm just mishearing what's on the screen versus what I think the motion I heard was.”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 1:37:42
“My understanding was the issue is concerning a social media post and not any of the events that occurred on June 2nd, if that's what I understood from the city attorney. I'm sorry, read what? I was just handed that literally three minutes ago, so no, I have not.”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 1:41:27
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 1:41:45
“Okay, so therefore you would consider it generally a private matter between the two?”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 1:42:01
“If the council were to approve such a thing, do you think our insurance carrier would approve or carry any assistance?”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 1:42:34
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 1:43:30
“And then, do you or anyone here on the dais, can you explain to me what the public benefit would be by paying for the legal fees with public funds? Can somebody help me? What's the benefit to the city, if any? Anyone can answer. I just don't have an answer to that.”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 1:44:32
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 1:45:00
“Okay, and so I wanted to ask a couple questions about that. It's my understanding, and I'm not an attorney, and I'll need your opinion on this, but as I read through that attorney general position, it seems to me that at a minimum, in order for the city to be able to pay the defense costs for a council member, that the payment of the legal fees serve a public interest is number one.”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 1:45:31
“Okay, and so I've not yet heard here yet what is the public interest served by paying the legal fees. That's number two. I'm sorry, number one. Number two, it also indicates that the council person was acting in good faith within the scope of his or her official duties. And from what you described a few minutes ago, you did not believe that she was acting in the scope of her official duties.”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 1:46:07
“Yes, I understand that's just your opinion, but you're the legal attorney. And again, I'm reading a legal opinion by the AG, so I'm just asking you to sort of concur that what I'm thinking is in alignment at least with that attorney general's opinion. ruling. And it's also my understanding that if council were to decide to pay for such legal fees, I think it's also in the same ruling that The payments, if any, would not be made until after the adjudication of the civil case?”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 1:46:57
“Okay, this is civil according to your description.”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 1:47:20
“Okay, I'll come back to a couple things in case council has any more questions. I just need to look at a couple things here in my notes.”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 1:54:38
“I'd just like to wrap up my thoughts here. and most of which are based on our attorney's opinion. I think we need to rely on attorneys to interpret a lot of this legal stuff. First of all, it was his opinion, and I would concur that this is a civil matter, number one. Number two, he indicates and has the belief that it is a private matter between the two individuals. And thirdly, it's in his opinion that she was not acting in her official duties from what he was able to discern. And I like to take the advice of our city attorney because we hire him for those specific sorts of clarifications.…”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 1:59:39
“David, I'm Councilman Reed. I would agree with you generally that the public benefit would be to instill some confidence that employees would be protected. But the caveat to that is that when they're acting in the capacity of official business, and it was the opinion of our attorney just a few minutes ago that is his belief that this was not acting in an official business. So I don't think that you could then follow that there's any public benefit”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 2:00:42
“Sure, I move to deny the court request of item L3 26-581.”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 2:02:57
“So if we were to then follow Robert's rules of order, that would indicate that the motion does not carry.”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 46:34
“Councilman Neal. Nothing, Mayor. Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay.”
City Council · Sep 1, 2026