League City Transparency Project

03/01/2025

, The City of League City Council has called a special meeting to be held on Wednesday, March 5th at 6 PM. THe item on the agenda: A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LEAGUE CITY, TEXAS, CENSURING COUNCILMEMBER JUSTIN HICKS FOR VIOLATIONS OF THE CITY OF LEAGUE CITY'S RULES OF PROCEDURE AND FOR CONDUCT UNBECOMING A CITY COUNCILMEMBER. If you want to share your thoughts during a public meeting, you are encouraged to attend in-person. We are attaching a copy of the proposed resolution that will be discussed and voted upon during the meeting. It is important to note that the censure vote is essentially symbolic in that it carries no legal ability to remove League City Councilman Justin Hicks from office, but it sends a strong message surrounding expectations for legal, ethical, and transparent behavior.

02/26/2025

, if you feel this is a blatant abuse of power, start making the calls! We need to hold our elected officials accountable for their actions. Mayor Nick Long, now is the time for your leadership to take council in the right direction.

demands that “violate the law” * Hicks declared a “suspect” after wife made calls to police accusing her estranged husband of harassment Council member Justin Hicks finds himself accused by the city’s police chief of using his position on the city council in an attempt to gain access to po...

02/06/2025

🚨 Public Records & Transparency Update 🚨

, The City of League City is currently withholding police records related to a January 2025 call for service involving Councilman Justin Hicks. Typically, records like dispatch logs, police report summaries, and 911/radio calls are publicly accessible, but the City Attorney has chosen to delay their release pending a decision from the Texas Attorney General.

A report from the City Attorney’s office explaining this decision was released on February 3, 2025. Meanwhile, i45NOW has raised concerns about whether withholding these records aligns with the Texas Public Information Act.

Visit our website and review the public records request details, the City's letter to the AG, and other related documents and decide if the City Attorney's actions are appropriate. Check it out here: ⬇️

🔗 https://www.leaguecitytransparency.org/view-public-records

Send a message to learn more

10/20/2024

Did you know that all candidates for League City Council positions are required to file a Personal Financial Statement? Visit our website to download and review the PFS for all five declared candidates for positions up for election in November. Early voting starts tomorrow! https://www.leaguecitytransparency.org/view-public-records

08/14/2024

This evening, League City Council voted to postpone the agenda item related to the appeal of the relocation of Big Wig within the Helen Hall Library. Councilmen Tressler and Crews voted against postponement. What does this mean?

The book remains in its original location in the Helen Hall Library until such time that the City Council puts the appeal item back on the agenda. As the ordinance requires an affirmative 3/4 supermajority to uphold the Community Standards Review Commitee (CSRC) decision once their decision is appealed, the postponed vote essentially means that the CSRC recommendation is to be ignored until (if and when) council takes a formal vote on the item.

If the item doesn’t get back on a future agenda, the book cannot be relocated.

08/13/2024

Tomorrow, August 13 at 6 PM, League City Council will hold a regular meeting. Agenda item 9A is the appeal of the community standards review committee’s decision to relocate the book Big Wig. You are invited to give public comment at the beginning of the council meeting if you have an opinion you would like to share.

08/05/2024

On June 5, a League City resident sent an email with a concern about the book Big Wig by Johnathan Hillman in the Helen Hall Library. She was directed to submit a Request for Reconsideration form which she did on June 26, 2024. This Request for Reconsideration was reviewed by the League City Community Standards Review Committee on July 31st where the decision was made to relocate the book to a high shelf and require a parent to check out the book. The vote was 1:1, with the CSRC Chair Todd Kinsey casting the tie-breaking vote. The complainant claimed that the book contained material that is harmful to children, obscene, or sexually explicit.

During the CSRC meeting, all members agreed that there was nothing in the book that met any legal definitions for being harmful to children, obscene, or sexually explicit. Instead, one member claimed that "hidden messages" including pictures of rabbits (alleged to be a symbol of homosexuality) were within the text and made it unsuitable for children. She went on further to say it is the job of the CSRC to protect children from the "wrong thoughts." The CSRC made a decision to censor access to this book based upon their own flawed outside "research" and their personal biases. You can read the original email complaint as well as the Request for Reconsideration by visiting our website: https://www.leaguecitytransparency.org/view-public-records

The City of League City has redacted the images from the book in the original complaint, but we will be requesting an opportunity to make copies of what was submitted and will share once we have it.

07/31/2024

Community Standards Review Committee Meeting - July 31, 2024. The end result was a decision by the CSRC to relocate the book Big Wig to a high shelf in an area where only adults can check out the book. Reasons cited were implied messages including outlines in the shape of a rabbit (allegedly an LGBTQ symbol) as well as interviews with the author. No specific examples of sexually explicit, harmful, or obscene content from the book were provided by any CSRC members. One member stated the need to protect children from the "wrong thoughts." What are your thoughts? Is the City Of League City Government performing censorship and violating First Amendment rights by relocating this book? Or was this the right move? Watch the video and decide for yourself.

07/31/2024

Sorry we could not live stream the Community Standards Review Committee, but apparently you now need at least 100 followers to use Facebook live. So, please share and encourage others to follow us so that we can stream future meetings and events live. A separate post will include a recording of the meeting.