by Michael Robinson | Uvalde Hesperian
(Top Photo) Robb Victims family members show signs of frustration at Tuesday night’s April 2nd City Council meeting.
The Uvalde City Council held a special meeting last night back at City Council Chambers without a sitting Mayor. Just a few days before this week’s City Council meeting the City released a statement that Mayor Cody Smith has resigned due to reasons of health. At the meeting, Mayor pro-tem and City Councilman Everardo “Lalo” Zamora filled the role.
Despite the smaller venue compared to previous meetings held at the Ssgt. Willie de Leon Civic Center, attendance was at or near capacity attended by San Antonio reporters and TV cameras set up in the back of the room.
Speakers included Diana Olvedo-Karau, Brett Cross, Berlinda Arreola, Jesse Rizo, Denise Feldman and Vincent Salazar each took turns speaking at the podium shortly after the Council reconvened from its closed door executive meeting.
“The JPPI Report: I made public comments at the previous meeting. I made it very clear to all of you, I believe strongly that there was a failure in terms of leadership. The council not having reviewed the report before it was presented, not knowing exactly how the information was going to be put out to the public was really a misstep on your behalf. So here we are still waiting on an understanding,” Diana Olvedo-Karau said.
Brett Cross took the podium and said he believed that Mayor Pro-tem Zamora would show bias toward one of the Uvalde Police officers being criticized as the office is a nephew of Zamora.
Cross then took issue with the Council and the JPPI Report. “Why won’t ya’ll call it to a vote? You’ve read it, you’ve read it, you’ve read it, you’ve read it, you’ve read it, you’ve read it and you’ve absolutely read it. Why not? Ya’ll went through it over and over. Ya’ll know what it says. Ya’ll know it is a big steaming pile of BS and still won’t do nothing.”
“Just like Uvalde does, the same ole, same ole, y’all are going to do absolutely nothing. Are y’all not tired of being the joke of this country?” Cross said.
Berlinda Arreola said, “I spoke to one of y’all at the beginning, “Why haven’t those officers been suspended or put on leave? And the response was, we are going to be short staffed. That was the response that I got. And here we are, two years later. almost, and we’re in the same boat. And now, nobody wants to speak on it. We spoke openly on it when it first happened. And now everybody is hush hush and nobody wants to put it on the agenda. Everybody knows that JPPI report is a joke.”
Following the public comments, the Council moved quickly through several agenda items and then adjourned.
