Update (3:53 p.m. Oct. 3)

Officials with Amarillo Businessman Alex Fairly’s legal team have also submitted its list of witnesses that are expected to appear during the upcoming trial. According to documents, filed Monday morning in Potter County District Court, the following individuals were listed as fact witnesses:

  • Eddy Sauer, city of Amarillo councilman;
  • Freda Powell, city of Amarillo councilwoman;
  • Howard Smith, city of Amarillo councilman;
  • Cole Stanley, city of Amarillo councilman;
  • Ginger Nelson, city of Amarillo Mayor;
  • Laura Storrs, chief financial officer and assistant city manager for the city of Amarillo;
  • Jared Miller, city manager for the city of Amarillo;
  • Andrew Freeman, assistant city manager for the city of Amarillo;
  • Stephanie Coggins, city secretary for the city of Amarillo;
  • Don Tipps, insurance agent in Amarillo

Officials also said that John W. Diamond, the Edward A. and Hermena Hancock Kelly Fellow in Public Finance and the director for the Center of Public Finance at Rice University, is also expected to appear as an expert witness in the case.

Original Story:

AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) — The legal teams for the city of Amarillo, Amarillo Businessman Alex Fairly and the Texas Attorney General’s office met virtually Friday morning, ironing out various details in a pre-trial hearing surrounding the ongoing Amarillo Civic Center Complex funding-related litigation.

This comes before the parties appear in front of Judge William Sowder in the 320th District Court of Potter County Tuesday morning to begin a bench trial. Through this trial, Sowder is expected to determine whether or not it was legal for the city of Amarillo to use $260 million in anticipation notes for improvements to, and the expansion of, the Amarillo Civic Center Complex.

During the hearing, the parties, along with Sowder, took the time to argue some outstanding motions and clarify certain topics prior to the two-day bench trial beginning on Tuesday. Some of the outstanding motions included Fairly’s team’s motion to abate the case, Fairly’s motion for the trial to be a jury trial as well as Fairly’s motion for in-camera review.

Fairly’s motion to abate

According to previous reports by MyHighPlains.com, Fairly’s team initially requested that the Court abate the proceedings in late August, as the city was in the midst of verifying a petition which was also aimed at overturning the ordinance that put in motion the city’s use of anticipation notes for the Civic Center project.

At the time, Fairly’s legal team said they expected that the petition’s outcome will “likely cause the (lawsuit’s) subject matter… to become moot.” The overall aim of the motion at the time was to abate all further proceedings of the litigation until the Amarillo City Council takes action on the petition and/or for an election to be hosted.

However, in early September, Fairly’s legal team removed the motion to abate. According to previous reports, Sowder indicated at the time that he wanted more discovery to be conducted in the case before the abatement motion is considered. Later that month, the city of Amarillo announced that the related petition was not authorized for submission due to it not conforming to portions of the city’s charter.

During Friday’s hearing, T. Lynn Walden, a member of Fairly’s legal team, said that the motion to abate was “not in play right now,” and not moving forward. Because of this, Sowder was not required to make a decision on this.

Fairly’s motion for jury trial

During the pre-trial hearing, Sowder also made a ruling surrounding Fairly’s team’s motion for a jury trial, reiterating his previous ruling that Fairly is not entitled to a jury trial under Chapter 1205 of the Texas Government Code and that there are only legal issues to be resolved by the Court in this case.

According to previous reports, Fairly’s legal team requested multiple times that this litigation be tried in front of a jury. Like in previous court documents, Walden stressed during the pre-trial hearing that the state gives entities a right to have a jury trial if there are factual issues at play, something which he believes this litigation has in relation to allegations surrounding potential violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act.

Paul Trahan, a member of the city of Amarillo’s legal team, once again stressed their belief that Chapter 1205 is clear, giving the court the ability to decide all legal and factual decisions in cases like this. Trahan also said that in this particular case, he believes that the issues at hand are “purely legal” and there is no evidence of controverted facts.

Alyssa Bixby-Lawson, the representative from the Texas Attorney General’s Office who participated in Friday’s virtual hearing, reiterated the office’s belief that Chapter 1205 does not specifically prohibit a jury trial. However, she stressed that the office did not have a position on whether or not this particular case warranted a jury trial.

After hearing from all sides, Sowder ultimately denied Fairly’s team’s motion for a jury trial, citing his belief that there are only legal issues to consider in this particular case. Sowder also cited the necessity for this case to be conducted in an expedited manner.

Fairly’s motion for in-camera review

Lastly, the parties involved in Friday’s pre-trial hearing discussed Fairly’s request for “In-Camera Review.” According to court documents filed on Aug. 31 in Potter County District Court, Fairly’s team was requesting that the Court look at a series of emails from the city of Amarillo with legal counsel which they claim show that “a fraud was ongoing or about to be committed on the citizens of Amarillo.”

According to previous reports, this claim stems from testimony from Laura Storrs, the city of Amarillo’s chief financial officer and assistant city manager, during the July 21 hearing surrounding the wording of the agenda item for the funding-related ordinance passed during the May 24 council meeting. During the questioning in that hearing, Storrs confirmed that while the agenda item was written that the ordinance authorized the issuance of “combination tax and revenue notes,” the notes were just tax notes.

At the time, Storrs said it was a mistake. However, she said that in discussion during the May 24 meeting, officials said tax notes were only going to be used in this case. However, because of this mistake in the wording, officials from Fairly’s legal team claimed that it was a violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act, prompting the request to look into emails that consist of conversations surrounding the ordinance prior to the meeting.

Through this request, Fairly’s legal team is asking if any city officials picked up on the typo on the agenda prior to the meeting being conducted. The documents said that the team also asked if “the proper description (was) discussed” and if the “revenue component (was) added to confuse the issue.”

In the city’s response, filed Wednesday in Potter County District Court, they said that Fairly’s legal team “seeks to invade the attorney-client privilege in an attempt to uncover something to support his case.” During Friday’s pre-trial hearing, officials said that there is no basis for this motion, saying the claim that “there might be fraud,” does not meet the threshold for this motion.

Sowder ultimately denied Fairly’s team’s motion to look at these emails, saying that there is no level of evidence from Fairly’s team that supports the motion. Sowder went on to say in his denial that a “fishing expedition is not evidence.”

What’s next and what can be expected next week?

At the end of the hearing, officials made the decision for next week’s bench trial to be live streamed on the 320th District Court’s YouTube page. Sowder said he expects for Tuesday’s proceedings to begin at 9 a.m. and the hearing can be accessed at this link.

After the pre-trial hearing, both legal teams also provided insight into what witnesses will be a part of next week’s bench trial proceedings. According to documents filed by the city of Amarillo’s legal team Friday morning, officials said the following fact witnesses will be expected to be a part of next week’s litigation:

  • Eddy Sauer, city of Amarillo councilman;
  • Freda Powell, city of Amarillo councilwoman;
  • Howard Smith, city of Amarillo councilman;
  • Cole Stanley, city of Amarillo councilman;
  • Ginger Nelson, city of Amarillo Mayor;
  • Laura Storrs, chief financial officer and assistant city manager for the city of Amarillo;
  • Jared Miller, city manager for the city of Amarillo;
  • Andrew Freeman, assistant city manager for the city of Amarillo;
  • Stephanie Coggins, city secretary for the city of Amarillo;
  • Alex Fairly, Amarillo businessman.

The documents also state that the following individuals will be expected to appear in the bench trial proceedings as expert witnesses:

  • Steven Adams, a financial advisor with Specialized Public Finance;
  • Jerry Danforth, director of facilities and capital improvement for the city of Amarillo;
  • Laura Storrs, chief financial officer and assistant city manager for the city of Amarillo.

According to documents filed Friday morning, Fairly’s legal team filed a subpoena for Stanley to appear at Tuesday’s bench trial. The documents state that Stanley is required “to attend and give testimony at the trial in this case on behalf of the Alex Fairly, and to remain in attendance from day to day until lawfully discharged.” The subpoena was said to have been delivered to Stanley’s counsel of record on Thursday.

As of Friday afternoon, no further documents have been filed in relation to this litigation. According to previous reports by MyHighPlains.com, the two-day bench trial, in this case, is expected to begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the 320th District Court of Potter County.