With no witnesses, Bastrop panel delays hearing on ethics complaint against Mayor Nelson

BASTROP — The Bastrop Ethics Commission that is looking into a complaint that Mayor Lyle Nelson had interfered in a city investigation took no action Monday because there were no witnesses to testify, the panel's chairman ruled.

"We have no witness list," said Chris Duggan, the chairman of the commission and also the 423rd district judge. "We have no sworn statements. We have nothing."

The ethics commission gave Nelson and the council member who filed the complaint, John Kirkland, seven days to present a list of witnesses.

If the commission doesn't receive any witness lists or documentary evidence in the next seven days, Duggan said, the complaint will be dismissed.

After the hearing, Kirkland said he was aware that he needed to testify and was prepared to do it. “I appreciate the clarity provided by the board regarding the additional step of submitting myself as a witness, which I will promptly fulfill,“ Kirkland said. He declined further comment.

Nelson's attorney, James Ringel, later said that he didn't turn in a list of witnesses or evidence because there was no evidence to submit and no witnesses to testify except for Nelson. Ringel said he would present a witness list to the board for a future hearing with the only witness listed as Nelson.

"As the chairman pointed out, the burden of proof is on the complainant and despite the City Council having drastically more available resources and an attorney who focuses on 'governmental matters' (per her bio on her firm's site), they clearly were unprepared today for the hearing."

Ringel said "we firmly believe that at the end of all this, the circus that the council has attempted to stir up will resolve with the board finding that Mayor Nelson did not violate the Code of Ethics."

Duggan said that both Nelson and Kirkland were notified on March 14 that they needed to produce witness lists, summaries of what the witnesses were going to say, sworn statements and documentary evidence four days before Monday's hearing.

The complaint, filed in January, says Nelson refused to give officials eight and half months' worth of communications between him and Susan Smith, who is being investigated for misuse of public funds while she was the chief executive officer of Visit Bastrop.

More: Bastrop City Council files ethics complaint against mayor, says he interfered in inquiry

Visit Bastrop is a marketing company that promotes tourism and is funded by more than $1.5 million of the city's hotel occupancy tax. Nelson initially denied that he had been involved with Smith until 232 pages of intimate text messages between them were discovered on her work iPad, the complaint said. He then admitted to the City Council "that there was a relationship that was sexual in nature and apologized to council for lying about the same," the complaint said.

During the investigation, a forensic audit of Visit Bastrop showed that from 2021-23, approximately $70,000 in public funds from the city were spent on Visit Bastrop credit cards and approved by Smith without itemized receipts or other required documentation, the ethics complaint said.

More: Lyle Nelson inherits challenges of ‘dramatic growth’ as newly elected mayor of Bastrop

"Some amount of the misreported public funds have been identified to have been used in pursuit of a romantic relationship with Lyle Nelson while he was a city official," it said.

An attorney hired by the city said in a report that there was no evidence that Nelson knew about the misuse of funds. Nelson also has denied that he knew anything about it.

The Texas Rangers are "looking into some allegations," said Deon Cockrell, a Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman after the American-Statesman asked him if Smith was being investigated by the agency. Cockrell declined further comment. The Texas Rangers investigate cases of public corruption.

The Bastrop Ethics Commission on Monday voted unanimously against a motion made by Nelson's lawyer to close to the public the evidentiary part of the hearing if one is held. The motion said state code permits a closed meeting "when a governmental body is deliberating the evaluation, discipline or dismissal of a public officer or employee or to hear a complaint or charge against an officer or employee."

Duggan said in the meeting that he thought the public should have a chance to hear evidence.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Lack of witnesses delays ethics hearing about Bastrop Mayor Nelson