KILLEEN, Texas — Killeen’s city council meeting on Tuesday night lasted six minutes, but the city’s workshop meeting after lasted just over four hours.
At one point during the meeting, tensions were high.
Former city councilwoman Mellisa Brown was up at the podium for citizen comment.
“I was trying to finish my last phrase about how I feel we could best serve the community with the ARPA money and the $2 million that we have just set aside,” Brown said.
Any person who chooses to speak at city council is allotted four minutes to comment — an extra minute can be granted by city council with a vote, but Brown’s request was denied.
"I look to my left and right and looked each council member in the eye, and I asked them, 'Do you want to give this individual an extra minute?' — the only person that said 'Yes' was one,” said Mayor Debbie Nash-King.
Nash-King called for recess after Brown’s time, but Brown says her mic was cut off not allowing her to finish her statement,
“I believe that they all anticipated with that extra minute I was going to defend myself," Brown said.
"We can’t be afraid of conflicts, we can’t be afraid of a difference of opinion."
Mayor Nash-King said, during recess all mics get cut off, and that it wasn’t personal.
“There's no favoritism — there’s none," Nash-King said.
"It’s just if you have served on the council, even one term, you know protocol.”
This isn’t the first time a Killeen city council meeting has become heated.
A video of a meeting back in April shows a confrontation erupted during recess — Mayor Nash-King said the shouting shouldn’t be happening.
“You see it at the federal level, but you will never think it will get this aggressive at the local level,” she said.
During that recess, Brown took the opportunity to announce her candidacy for mayor in the upcoming May 2024 election.
