The Denton City Council voted Tuesday afternoon at a special called meeting to certify election results and swear in old and new council members: Mayor Gerard Hudspeth and Place 5 member Brandon Chase McGee, returning to their seats, and new Place 6 member Jill Jester.
The council had also planned to honor outgoing Place 6 council member Chris Watts, Denton’s former mayor, but he was unable to attend.
Hudspeth struggled to hold back his tears as he thanked his family, who were in attendance, for supporting him. He also thanked his supporters for electing him to a third and final term.
“It’s truly an honor to serve,” said Hudspeth, who is Denton’s first Black mayor. “I say it regularly and as the mayor of my hometown, I’m truly grateful for each time. … Each time being the first to accomplish that is significant, and don’t take it for granted.”
For Jester’s first vote in office, the council elected a new mayor pro tem: District 3 council member Paul Meltzer.
Meltzer’s nomination caused Hudspeth to go on a diatribe against a majority of council members: Meltzer, McGee, Vicki Byrd and former Mayor Pro Tem Brian Beck.
In 2022, Meltzer challenged Hudspeth for the mayor’s seat in a heated election, losing by 652 votes.
A year later, Meltzer returned to unseat District 3 council member Jesse Davis, who was in attendance at Tuesday’s swearing-in ceremony.
“Like many aspects of council, the value of the mayor pro tem position varies based on what you put into it,” Meltzer said after the council meeting. “I see it as an opportunity to stay synced up with staff so that the council-led priorities don’t get lost in the shuffle among the huge number of objectives our ambitious staff pursues. Ideally, there’s a healthy push and pull, and ultimately a shared point of view on what must be addressed when.”
As Hudspeth explained it Tuesday afternoon, the mayor pro tem is like a placeholder mayor who makes appearances at city gatherings when the mayor is unable to do so, leads meetings when the mayor is gone and serves on the agenda committee.
Serving on the agenda committee may be the most important aspect of the job since only three people serve to set the council’s agenda. The other two are the mayor and the city manager, Sara Hensley.
Hudspeth made it seem like the mayor pro tem wasn’t a big deal until Meltzer’s name was mentioned. He first nominated council member Joe Holland, followed by Jester, who hasn’t served on the council before.
Jester, in turn, nominated Byrd, who declined to serve.
“For those that saw my post, this is why I asked you to be here and see this,” Hudspeth told a packed council chamber, referring to his message on Facebook. “We have to hold this [mayor pro tem] election every year, and there is no reason someone has to bend the knee to the four [to get someone elected]. Beck has done it twice. This is Paul’s second run, and everyone else is frozen out except for those in the four.”
Most of those in attendance seemed to be there for Jester’s swearing-in. They barely fit in front of the dais when she invited them down to pose with her in a photo.
Hudspeth was referring to a post he wrote Sunday on his “Gerard for Denton” Facebook page.
“If you are available this Tuesday (May 14th), I need you to attend my final oath of office as Mayor. It starts at 12:30 PM at City hall. I also ask for your prayers. Pray that I am reminded of the citizens’ support, while a majority at the dais seek to undermine that support (71%). Citizens-Over-Council. Thank you in advance. Yes — it will be live on city’s website & archived if you want to watch it,” Hudspeth wrote.
The 71% he referred to is the percentage of the vote he received in May when he won his final term.
However, out of 95,844 registered voters in the city of Denton, only 11,495 cast ballots in the May 4 election, for a turnout of 11.99%, according to Frank Phillips, the county elections administrator.
That’s less than the 16,153 ballots cast out of 87,123 registered voters in Denton for an 18.54% turnout in 2022, when Hudspeth won his second term against Meltzer, who previously served as the Place 6 council member from 2018 to 2022.
This month, Hudspeth received 7,451 votes to beat two challengers, Stephen Dillenberg and Lucas Wedgeworth, according to a presentation Tuesday by City Secretary Lauren Thoden.
Wedgeworth received 2,519 votes for 23.92% of the vote, while Dillenberg received 559 votes for 5.31% of the vote.
In a comment to Hudspeth’s Sunday Facebook post, Nick Stevens from Decriminalize Denton agreed with Hudspeth’s sentiment about “citizens over council.” Stevens pointed out that the mayor, along with a council majority, declined in 2023 to support a council-initiated cannabis decriminalization ordinance that would have added budgetary power to an issue Denton voters approved in November 2022.
“I know exactly what you mean, Mr. Mayor,” Stevens wrote. “While a majority of voters (72%) approved cannabis decriminalization, a majority at the dais seeks to undermine it. Citizens — over — Council.”
In November 2022, Denton voters cast 32,673 votes to approve an ordinance that would decriminalize misdemeanor amounts of marijuana, which the city has not enforced. The vote was the largest turnout for a municipal election and far more votes than any current council member has ever received.
Byrd, who is a former police officer, cast the deciding vote in not approving the council-initiated cannabis ordinance that would have strengthened the voter-approved ordinance.
At Tuesday afternoon’s council meeting, Byrd said she was “personally offended” by Hudspeth’s postulation and admonished him without saying his name for trying to “pigeonhole” her with the other council members.
Byrd repeated she was offended several times.
“I ran again because I wanted to be here,” Byrd said. “Everything I do is because I want to do it. I don’t have to do anything for anyone. I can walk out of here and be fine.”
