OPINION
In recent weeks, representatives of the Texas Government Accountability Association (TGAA) have gone door to door in Providence Village attempting to gather signatures for a petition that would force the town to hold (and pay for, at taxpayer’s expense) an election to add a provision to our town charter requiring TGAA membership.
TGAA claims to promote ethical and transparency standards and hold governments accountable.
Its members—local government bodies such as towns and cities—pay annual membership fees based on population.
They tout that it would only cost 20 cents per resident.
However, that would not include the cost of a forced election and additional costs of employees needed to administer their policies, audits and reporting to what is basically another layer of government, albeit a quasi-governmental entity.
According to reports, in TGAA’s brief history (it was created in 2024), only two municipalities have signed on as members.
One of those, the city of Kingsbury, has a population of 157 people, according to the 2022 census, and its city attorney has served as TGAA’s general counsel.
The other, the city of Odessa, is currently engaged in litigation to void its contract with TGAA, signed just over a year ago.
After signing a contract with TGAA, Kingsbury found the requirements oppressive for a city of its size and, according to Kingsbury’s mayor, looked into terminating the agreement and found that “it's a lot more difficult to get out than in.”
In the case of Odessa, the city’s contract with TGAA has no end date, and the annual membership fee can increase after five years, with no limits to what that increase could look like.
Terminating the contract is no easy task.
Earlier this year, the Pilot Point City Council rejected an interlocal agreement with TGAA, citing concerns about a lack of transparency from the organization itself.
Among other issues, the proposed contract would have required taxpayers to hold (and pay for) an election to terminate the agreement, and even if voters approved termination, taxpayers would have to continue paying the membership fee for an additional two years.
With cities rejecting TGAA’s attempts to voluntarily sign their contract, and the only two to have signed on expressing buyer’s remorse, the organization has apparently turned to other means to increase its membership base—one that relies on buzzwords and scare tactics to mislead voters into signing their tax dollars away to a nonpublic, third-party entity with no interest in the towns and cities they’re targeting.
Among other requirements, TGAA states that its members abide by various “conflict of interest” and “transpar-ency” policies.
Many, if not most, of these requirements are governed by state law and/ or are policies that Providence Village already has in place.
All Providence Village Town Council meetings are open to the public, agendas are posted physically and online at least three days before the meetings, and anyone—residents or otherwise— can submit public records requests to the town at any time.
Despite no legal requirement to do so, all of our meetings are broadcast live on Zoom, and residents have the opportunity to watch and participate in meetings without even attending in person.
In the coming weeks, we will be rolling out a new website, which will allow us to publish our full agenda packets, containing the reports, applications, ordinance drafts and other documents that the council reviews ahead of meetings, as well as store video recordings of our meetings so they may be watched any time.
Our town charter has contained a conflict of interest provision since it was first adopted, and we routinely examine our charter to ensure it meets our needs.
We are scheduled for a charter review again in 2026, which will involve a committee of residents that can propose changes, as well as a town-wide election to approve any changes.
The Town of Providence Village is committed to transparency and responsible local government.
Our council and other boards and commissions are made up of residents of Providence Village who dedicate their time to represent their neighbors with honesty, integrity and accountability.
Our residents voted to incorporate as a town in 2010 to control our own future and ensure that we had the opportunity to selfgovern, free from outside influence.
As TGAA continues to gather signatures and potentially force an election later this year, I encourage you to do your own research on the organization and consider whether we should pay a third party to dictate how our local government operates.
Linda Inman is the mayor of Providence Village. She can be reached at lindainman.pvtx@gmail. com.
