Austin, TX, 44 seconds ago — On the first day of early voting in local elections, the Palestine City Council adopted an ordinance designed to ensure council member and mayoral hopeful Krissy Clark is not disqualified on the ground that she and her husband legally opted to defer their city property taxes.

After a contentious meeting on Monday that included public testimony, council members adopted the ordinance by a voice vote with no opposition. Clark and Councilwoman Ava Harmon abstained from the vote, though they both offered comments on the measure.

“The first (thing) is that my husband did obviously file for an over-65 exemption and chose to have our taxes deferred. No question at all about that,” Clark said before the vote.

The councilwoman told her colleagues she “literally did not think twice” about the deferral because she did not view it as “delinquent indebtedness,” which would disqualify her as a candidate under the city charter. She said she was “horrified” when she learned her deferral was being perceived as improper for a city official.

“When that happened, I thought, I will pay this, I will pay this, I will take our monthly money and I will pay the city portion of these taxes,” Clark said.

“I did that the next day, not because — as I have heard rumors — I was afraid that I had been caught out, because I never thought it was an issue. I did it because I had worked so hard to build trust and I did not want even the iota of a thought that I would do something like this.”

Advocating for the ordinance, she asserted it is unreasonable for someone to be barred from running for public office for exercising their rights under the tax code.

Clark presented a hypothetical in which someone had a water leak that cost $900 to repair and needed a few months to pay the bill, contending the hypothetical resident could be disqualified from running for public office.

Councilman Kenneth Davidson agreed, pointing out that if he had his taxes deferred as a disabled veteran he might also be disqualified from his city council seat.

When Harmon addressed the council, she seemed wary of how Clark’s deferral is being perceived in Palestine.

“The issue at hand is not the deferment, but whether someone who has deferred their taxes has a right to sit on the council — when they are not paying their city taxes and are contributing nothing to the financial welfare of the city — and are making decisions about how the tax dollars are being spent and setting the tax rate on the citizens,” Harmon said.

Mayor Justin Florence quibbled with another candidate for mayor, Mitchell Jordan, a former councilman who addressed the body and questioned its decision to act on the item of business in the middle of early voting.

Florence and others said they feared litigation and felt ethically compelled to address the issue because residents were raising allegations that Clark’s service as a city official violates the city charter.

Several times during the meeting, Florence lashed out at opponents of Clark, at one point asserting he would not be “bullied.”

As Florence became increasingly flustered, City Attorney Rezzin Pullum and other members of the council urged him to take a recess. He agreed.

When the meeting reconvened, Florence said, “I’m going to calm down a little bit. My wife texted me and got on to me and told me I needed to calm down.”

‘Delinquent Indebtedness’

State law permits some individuals to defer the payment of their property taxes if they are 65 years of age or older, disabled, or qualify as a disabled veteran.

Article IV of the Palestine City Charter lists the qualifications for city officeholders, including a minimum age of 21 years and a residency requirement of one year prior to the election.

Sec. 4.5, Paragraph (C) states: “If the mayor or any councilmember fails to maintain the foregoing qualifications, or has delinquent indebtedness to the city (or the indebtedness of an entity in which the mayor or councilmember holds a 50% or more interest), or shall be absent from three consecutive regularly scheduled meetings without valid excuse, or shall move from the district the councilmember represents, the city council must, at its next regularly scheduled meeting, declare a vacancy to exist and shall fill said vacancy as set forth in Section 4.8 of this charter.”

The charter also states in Sec. 4.6, “The city council shall be the judge of the election and qualification of its own members.”

Part of the ordinance passed Monday reads, “Pursuant to City Charter 4.6, the City Council hereby determines that tax amounts in deferment or under a quarter-pay agreement are not considered ‘delinquent indebtedness to the City’ for the purposes of the City’s qualifications.”

The ordinance also directs the city manager’s office to review the qualifications of city officials annually and at other times to ensure they are in compliance.

There are three candidates for mayor of Palestine: Jordan, Clark, and retired law enforcement officer Joe Baxter.

In a call with The Texan, Baxter said he decided to run because Clark originally had no opponents and he wanted voters to have a choice.

Baxter said while the way the city council adopted the ordinance is legitimate, he disagrees with the substance of the policy.

“We need to get a charter review board and go from there or get a petition to get it on the November ballot how we want it worded … if a person defers taxes they can’t run for office,” Baxter said.

He echoed similar arguments presented by other opponents of Clark’s candidacy.

“If you’re going to run for office, you should pay your taxes if you’re going to spend taxpayer dollars,” Baxter said.

A fourth candidate, Mike Ezzell, dropped out of the race after Monday night’s meeting and endorsed Mitchell. Ezzell told local media the meeting was like an edition of the Jerry Springer Show.

“There is a clique that wants to control who is and who’s not in this city,” Ezzell remarked in a statement to the Palestine Herald-Press.

“I found out quickly that I was not part of this crowd nor would ever want to be. I’ve endured insults, intimidation, and accusations.”

He added it was “not worth the stress and grief.”

The Texan reached out to Clark to speak with her about the ordinance and her bid for mayor, but did not hear back by the time of publication.

The last day of early voting is Tuesday, May 2. Election day is Saturday, May 6.