Council spars over use of cellphones during public meetings

El Paso City Council unanimously voted to ban the use of private and public electronic devices by city representatives during council meetings, including executive session.

The issue was brought forward by representatives Michiel Noe, Emma Acosta and Carl Robinson.

“I am not trying to single anyone out. I’m just trying to clean up the mess,” Robinson said.

City Rep. Claudia Ordaz took it a step further and said the council should ban use of city phones as well during meetings. As a physician, Dr. Michiel Noe said he couldn’t communicate about patient emergencies through city email, which caused a tense exchange between him and Rep. Lily Limon.

“We were elected as city representatives and when we’re on the dais, we’re conducting business of the city,” Limon said.

Noe fired back: “We’re talking about emergencies and you’re going to say that if somebody’s child is in trouble, (I should say) I’m sorry I can’t help them. I’m just going to let them die!”

Limon brushed off Noe’s criticism, telling him to grow up.

Council agreed to ban all private and city electronic devices during public meetings. City representatives will have to step off the dais in case of an emergency call and they’ll only be allowed to communicate with their staff through city email on the dais computers which the public can check through an open records request.

The move comes about a month after government watchdog Barbara Carrasco filed an ethics complaint against city Rep. Claudia Ordaz, stemming from text messages from her private phone she turned over last year following an open records request. Ordaz purchased data retrieving software to find the deleted text messages and publicly release them.

That ethics complaint has since been rejected, City Attorney Sylvia Borunda-Firth said.

“It did not allege anything that was within the purview of the ethics commission. The ethics review commission can only review violations of the ethics ordinance,” Firth said of the complaint in an interview Tuesday.

Carrasco accused Ordaz of breaking the law by disclosing economic development negotiation issues discussed during a council executive session.
Carrasco referred to a text message conversation between Ordaz and El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar. In late May of last year, Escobar sent text messages to Ordaz asking her about financial incentives for private health facilities.

“From the very beginning I knew it was a frivolous complaint, she had no supportive documents either but it is her obligation if she feels like there was a violation it’s her obligation to file with the correct officials which would be a law enforcement agency,” Ordaz said in an interview Tuesday.

During the meeting, Ordaz said there was a bigger problem.

“The fact that there’s a lot of communication not just happening in city council. It’s happening before and after these meetings and how to obtain that information is up to the city rep. I voluntarily gave all that because I believe in transparency.”

City Rep. Michiel Noe then accused Ordaz of not being truthful.

“She actually did not turn over her text messages voluntarily. It wasn’t until the city attorney said ‘well you better find some because one of them is posted on a blog and everyone knows it’s out there.’ That’s when she turned them in,” Noe said.

Ordaz said she tried to obtain the text conversation the blog post referenced but it had been deleted. That’s when she purchased the data retrieving software.

“I only had to turn in that one thing and instead I turned over everything that had to do with public business. I’m not a liar. I am transparent,” she shot back at Noe, who accused her of being “good at politics” and spinning the issue to her advantage.

Violating the new cell phone ban during council meetings would be violation of ethics ordinance. The City Attorney will amend the ordinance and present it to council in two weeks, when the change will formally be adopted.