McKinney's annexation plan may violate state law, attorney general says

The city of McKinney's plan to forcibly annex thousands of acres just outside the city limits may violate state law, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton informed city officials Monday. 

According to the three-page letter from the attorney general's office, the city's annexation notices and a notice for an Aug. 28 meeting — when the McKinney City Council approved a resolution to consider annexing nearly 6 square miles of rural land in its extraterritorial jurisdiction — violated the Texas Local Government Code and the Open Meetings Act.

The attorney general's office asked the city to respond by noon Tuesday.

Landowner Harold Clyde, who lives in the proposed annexation area, called the letter the "hottest thing on the Internet" and a "game-changer."

Mayor George Fuller called it "suspect" and the timing "odd."

On Friday, Fuller announced in a Facebook post that he would not be supporting forced annexation. In that post, he lamented the inability of the city and landowners to come to terms on an agreement to delay annexation for 45 years.

The council's annexation vote had originally been set for Tuesday but it was rescheduled to Nov. 15 several weeks ago — if it goes that far.

"My decision is based on what I believe is the right thing to do, not timely letters from the AG," Fuller said in a phone interview Monday. "And I don't mean that disrespectful to the AG's office either ... but my position was formed long before receiving this letter today."

The mayor added that the city takes seriously the issues raised in Paxton's letter regarding the open meetings act and transparency, and will give a prompt response to the attorney general's office.

According to the AG's letter, the city's Aug. 28 notice and resolution do not provide a description of the property the city plans to annex. It also states the August agenda item was unclear that the city intended to give city staff permission to annex specific properties, rather than providing guidance on annexation policies.

"Behind closed doors, they decided which properties they were going to annex without telling anybody," Clyde said.

He and his family relocated to Texas two years ago with Toyota from a small house near the beach in the Los Angeles area. At their new home, they live with goats, chickens, bees and a horse.

"The city of McKinney needs to seriously look at what they did, and if they want to go forward with annexing, they need to explain how it is that what they did is acceptable. Because I don't think it is," Clyde said.

Other annexations planned

Clyde and other landowners have stood for hours in front of McKinney council members at three public hearings, giving them an earful on an annexation plan they said was being rushed to get ahead of a new state law. They called the plan un-Texan, un-American and even a "pile of crap."

The law, which goes into effect Dec. 1, will require voters' approval before their unincorporated land can be annexed.

McKinney's plan is one of several annexations underway in North Texas in an attempt to beat the approaching law. Officials in Celina, Melissa, Mesquite and other cities have told landowners in their ETJs that they plan to annex them soon.

Although the vote to annex the property is set for next week, Fuller said Monday he plans to ask the council during  Tuesday night's meeting to simply terminate the annexation proceedings right then.

"That's consistent with my statement I made three or four days ago and completely absent this letter," he said.