City manager: Resident ‘crossed the line’ with vulgar remarks

Killeen Daily Herald
By Kevin Limiti | Herald
December 20, 2023

A Killeen resident used the opportunity of citizens’ comments at Tuesday’s City Council meeting to berate and harass Mayor Debbie Nash-King by waving a folded dollar bill at her while making disparaging and sexual comments about her and her late husband, Elijah King.

Nash-King said Wednesday she is considering filing a sexual harassment charge against resident Michael Fornino.

Fornino said at the podium, while waving the dollar bill multiple times, that this was the only way he could get the mayor’s attention.

“You’re a scared little girl who has lost control of your little tea party,” he said, before he went to the back of the council chambers still waving the dollar bill.

Shortly after, Fornino started to sing and made a vulgar sexual reference to Nash-King and her late husband, Elijah King.

“Would you like to swing on a pole...,” Fornino sang, and then finished the verse with a vulgar comment using the name of Nash-King’s late husband.

Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Elijah King died from natural causes in 2017 and was a highly respected advocate for soldiers and veterans in the greater Killeen area. More than 500 people attended his funeral.

After Fornino spoke, Councilman Michael Boyd asked for clarification from the assistant city attorney as to whether they were allowing allegations and attacks directly at the City Council.

“I don’t think that should be happening generally,” Asha Pender, assistant city attorney, replied.

“I’m all for freedom of speech,” Boyd said. “I just believe that supporting it remains productive.”

Last month, the City Council voted to remove citizens’ petitions — a mechanism for residents to bring non-agenda items up before the council — and replace it with a three-minute period at the end of the meeting for comments from residents on non-agenda items.

In addition, the City Council voted to post signs indicating decorum at meetings. Such messages are already available on the sign-up sheets, according to city spokeswoman Janell Ford. The posted signs announcing the rules of decorum were not clearly visible at Tuesday’s meeting.

The council’s rules of decorum include refraining from distracting noises or disrupting the meeting.

Mayor’s reaction

In a phone call Wednesday, Nash-King said she is talking with the city’s legal team about the incident, and is considering filing a sexual harassment charge.

She said she heard from several council members after the fact who suggested getting rid of the citizens’ comments at the end of the meeting for non-agenda items.

“It just amazes me the things that come out of his (Fornino’s) mouth that I never would have thought anybody would be so evil spirited that you dislike a person and they don’t have a reason to dislike me,” Nash-King said. “The mayor does not vote. No matter what happens on that dais, it takes four votes from the council to move and put anything in place. I just facilitate the meeting.”

“I won’t allow them to make it a Jerry Springer show,” she said.

Nash-King said she warned the City Council months ago that attacks would get more severe as election season approached.

“We’re going to put on the agenda in January in detail with our legal team on how we can address the same five and six citizens who come up to the (podium) and only attack the council,” she said.

She also commented on some residents’ remarks that the City Council is racist.

“It’s untrue and its really slander,” Nash-King said. “It’s unfortunate for individuals to say they care about the city of Killeen to try and insinuate that the council is racist. It’s sad because the only people that are attacking me, they don’t look like me. So it could go both ways. But I don’t get on their level because it’s below me.”

In a follow-up email, Nash-King said this behavior from people such as Fornino and Mellisa Brown was damaging the city’s reputation.

“In my opinion, these individuals sleep, eat, and breathe the name Mayor Debbie Nash-King in an attempt to slander and defame my character by using the non-agenda citizens’ comment time on the agenda as their platform to execute their attacks against me,” she said.

Brown, a former city councilwoman, has said she intends to run for mayor in the May election.

“Their attempt to beat me down with their verbal abuse at council meetings and on social media platforms will not work because I will not allow bullies to pressure me to leave my position as MAYOR. I am here to stay in order to work with the council and staff to move the city forward. As my late husband, CSM (R) Elijah King Jr., stated, you are a KING, and KINGs don’t quit.”

Council Reaction

Councilman Jose Segarra said in an email Wednesday that the mayor possesses the ability to stop behavior like this with a gavel.

“However, given that this hasn’t deterred certain individuals from persistently behaving in the manner we observed, I believe the council will need to consider taking additional steps to uphold appropriate decorum,” Segarra said.

Councilwoman Jessica Gonzalez said in an email Wednesday that she didn’t know what Fornino was referring to in his statements but assumed it had something to do with bribery.

“But regardless, I do know that this sort of behavior is out of line and the way he presented was not in the appropriate forum. Personal attacks are never OK,” Gonzalez said, further stating that she did not feel responsible for the actions. Voting for holding citizens’ comments for off the agenda items was a way of honoring the requests of citizens. But she said the format is being abused.

“The larger challenge here is the fine line of a person’s freedom of speech vs unfounded, blatant attacks and slanderous statements that are being launched during the hijacking of our meetings,” Gonzalez said. “We need clarity on the rules and legalities and ultimately decorum of what we can and cannot do in this gray space. That is already a topic for our future agenda items and I hope that we will have a clear resolution. “

City Manager Kent Cagle Wednesday called it a “tough issue” but didn’t have an answer yet on how the city would respond.

“Either we allow people to talk about what they want to talk about or we don’t,” he said. “There is a fine line there and we’re going to be studying it in the next couple of weeks.”

He did say he felt Fornino “clearly crossed the line” with his comments Tuesday, which was the last council meeting of the year.

Cagle said somebody has to judge whether commenters are making legitimate speech or not, which makes it difficult.

“Where do you stop it?” he asked. “It’s not an easy issue.”