The group suing the city of Orange to stop the move of city hall from the historic downtown area has filed to appeal a state district judge’s decision to deny a temporary injunction.
Leslie Barras, a lawyer who filed the lawsuit, along with the non-profit group Historic Orange Preservation Empowerment, said they have hired an appellant attorney to take the cause to the Texas Ninth Court of Appeals in Beaumont.
260th State District Judge Buddie Hahn Monday morning ruled against a temporary injunction to stop the city from paying $2 million for the First Financial Bank building on 16th Street and to become city hall.
“All HOPE and I are asking for are public hearings on this important decision. The city council just spent a public workshop on a new fire truck,” Barras said Monday after Hahn’s ruling. “Why won’t they afford the taxpayers the same opportunity for a minimum $2 million expenditure to move 15 employees?”
The lawsuit contends the city charter, which is approved by voters, specifies the city must follow the comprehensive master plan. The master plan may be changed by a process that includes public hearings and votes by the planning and zoning commission plus the city council. The last comprehensive plan kept city hall in the Old Town Center.
Hahn in his ruling writes “The Plan provided that City and County services should be centrally located to increase their identity and effectiveness to the public. There is no requirement that City offices must be located in the Old Town Center. The purchase of the Bank and the moving of the city services is not in accordance with the suggested Plan, but it is not prohibited by it and therefore not in conflict with the Plan.”
Monday morning, City Attorney John Cash Smith issued a written statement saying “The ruling of the Court is not surprising. The State statutes, the City Charter, the Comprehensive Plan and case law supports Judge Hahn’s decision. He was not going to substitute his opinion over the seven members of the Orange City Council unless there was clear legal authority that required it. There was not.”
The city council in January unanimously agreed to buy the bank building for $2 million with no public discussion. The council had several closed-door executive sessions to discuss the “city hall campus.”
Barras Monday said the city had agreed to not complete the purchase of the bank until a decision on the injunction. She said she does not know if the city will continue the agreement through the appeals process. Smith was not available for comment on the agreement. -Margaret Toal, KOGT-
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