Mayor leaves legacy of openness
HITCHCOCK — Six years and more than 90 city commission meetings since taking office as mayor, Lee Sander bid adieu Monday. And, as has become the norm at city hall, Sander’s last full commission meeting did not include a closed-door session.
Of the accomplishments the mayor listed in his farewell address, the fact that the city commission never held an executive session during his tenure was near the top.
“I don’t understand, unless it is disciplinary action of an employee, why you would ever discuss something in private,” Sander said. “The (public) should know everything that’s going on.
“It’s not my money; it’s not the city commissioners’ money. It’s the taxpayers’ money.”
Sander said his goal of eliminating executive sessions from city meetings was forged by attending Hitchcock school board meetings.
“I may be the only person attending those meetings, and the school board would go off into executive session,” Sander said. “They (trustees) would come out, and one of them said to me, ‘Lee, you know if you didn’t come to these meetings we wouldn’t have to go into closed session.’
“And I asked, ‘Why would you want to do that?’”
Sander said that conducting executive sessions opens the door to the possibility that business that should be deliberated in public is discussed in private.
“I don’t have any proof that is what really happened,” he said.
“But you know it, I know it, (elected officials) know it, too. They are talking about stuff they shouldn’t.
“Now, I have had commissioners who wanted to discuss things in closed sessions, and I refused.”
The last executive session in Hitchcock was April 28, 2003 — before Sander’s time. The topic was the city secretary’s duties.
“Now what the heck could you discuss about the duties of the city secretary that you couldn’t discuss in public?” Sander asked. “She (Rose Marie Theiler) didn’t even go into that session, so what were they really discussing? The duties of the city secretary should be something you talk about in public.”
Sander said his time in office had run its course, and it was time for others to take the reins.
City Commissioner Anthony Matranga is running against Griff Temple to replace Sander in the May 9 election.
Outside of his stance on open government, Sander said the other accomplishment he is most proud of is an improved financial picture.
“We were broke when I came on,” he said. “You can’t do anything without money, so I had to accumulate money first before we could do anything.”
That meant restricting the police officers’ take-home car policy, delaying road projects and cutting other city expenditures.
The steps paid off, Sander said.
“We bought a lot of equipment and paid cash for every bit of it.”
Sander admits his management style — the mayor in Hitchcock also is the city administrator — at times earned him the nickname “Dictator,” but he said he didn’t mind.
“There were times I had to micromanage, but I have never worried because I am not a politician,” he said. “I am just a good old boy who was trying to do the best for this city.”
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