Hutto City Council members rejected a proposal to allow noncitizens to serve on city boards and commissions.
The proposal was presented by Hutto Mayor Pro Tem Peter Gordon, who serves on the Hutto Independent School District’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.
According to the agenda item report, the board discussed whether they should allow noncitizens to serve on city boards and commissions, including the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Commission, Parks Advisory Board, and Library Advisory Board.
The report asserts, “State laws relating to Boards and Commissions do not contain provisions that prohibit a Non-US Resident or Foreign National from serving on a board or Commission.” However, “if Council elects to allow Non-US Citizens to serve on City Boards or Commissions, Council may want to consider the state law creating the Board or Commission or the City ordinance establishing the duties and membership requirements of the Board or Commission.”
During the September 19 city council meeting, Gordon introduced the proposal saying that the idea came from when the council renamed the Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
“I have a growing number of friends and acquaintances who are not currently U.S. citizens. Many of them are working on their citizenship, many of them are working towards that, some aren’t,” said Gordon. “It just got me thinking, is there a way that we can be a little bit more inclusive and allow them to be able to serve in additional ways than they can serve now?”
Gordon said the first board that came to mind for allowing noncitizens to bring in new ideas was the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Commission.
“The first board that I really thought of was the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Commission. I thought that’s a great way for these individuals to bring in a lot of unique perspectives, especially coming from other countries.”
During the Thursday work session, Gordon continued to advocate for his proposal but said he would restrict noncitizens to only serving on three boards and only allow one noncitizen per board.
Mayor Mike Snyder disagreed with the proposal, citing his concern that allowing noncitizens on the boards could be a slippery slope and increase the number of noncitizens on the board over time.
After hearing from the audience—some for and some against—Councilmember Randal Clark motioned to keep the current city policy of requiring all board members to be registered voters and thus citizens.
The motion passed 4-3 in favor with Councilmembers Brian Thompson, Peter Gordon, and Evan Porterfield voting against limiting board memberships to citizens.
