District 10 City Council Member Sheri Gallo is facing flak for the use of her city of Austin email address in regard to the contentious Grove at Shoal Creek, a PUD that, if approved, would see development in her district.
Critics of Gallo, who faces Alison Alter in a D10 run-off Dec. 13, allege that the incumbent has used her government email to assist nearby residents who would be affected by the Grove’s development in selling their homes. Opponents say this proves that Gallo has blurred the lines between her role as a council member and her profession as a residential Realtor.
The accusation is based on a May 4 email sent by Gallo that was posted recently to the oppositional website GalloforSale.com, run by the Crestview-affiliated Arbor PAC (see “Election Notes: Notes at the End of the Road,” Nov. 4). According to the post, Gallo asked a Rosedale couple via her city email address if they remained interested in discussing the potential sale of their property. Gallo also offered “to help facilitate a conversation about the potential sale” of their home – located on W. 45th and Chiappero Trail, close to the proposed Grove PUD site.
Earlier this month, District 10 resident Alex Keller submitted a complaint about the email – which he learned about through neighborhood networking site, Nextdoor – to the City Auditor’s Integrity Unit, which investigates fraud, waste, and abuse allegations by city employees. CAIU told Keller that it couldn’t investigate council members, and instead referred him to the Ethics Review Commission. A city auditor told the Chronicle that the agency “does not publicly discuss specific allegations or investigations.”
While he did not go to the ERC, Keller did file a grievance against Gallo with the Texas Real Estate Commission on Thursday, Nov. 17. Keller told the Chronicle he filed both complaints because he felt Gallo’s actions were unethical and presented a conflict of interest over a development she has been “pushing hard to pass” but the neighborhood opposes. “It’s inappropriate for her to use her city email to conduct personal business,” Keller said.
Gallo denies any wrongdoing. She told the Chronicle in a statement that she originally met with the homeowners and Mayor’s office in mid-April to hear their concerns about living next to the new road proposed under the Grove plan. They had told her during the meeting that they were considering putting their property up for sale. In turn, she offered to reach out to the Grove’s developers, ARG Bull Creek Ltd., “and encourage ARG to discuss” the matter with the couple, Gallo said. “It was a single email purposely taken out of context.”
“To be very clear, I never offered my services as a realtor to [the homeowners] and never offered to be involved in any negotiations on the [homeowners’] property,” said Gallo. “The definition of ‘facilitate’ is to ‘smooth the progress of,’ ‘make possible,’ ‘aid.’ Helping the [homeowners] have the opportunity to have discussions with ARG was what I did. Helping my constituents as a council member is what I do.”
The Chronicle had filed a public information request for the email under scrutiny. That same day, Gallo’s office sent over a copy of the email and the homeowners’ May 4 response “in the interest of transparency,” her spokesperson said. A review of the email chain found that ARG’s attorney, Jeff Howard, had contacted the homeowners in late April regarding the potential sale, but that Gallo didn’t know nor was involved in that conversation. The homeowners’ response also does not indicate that Gallo offered her professional services.
“The quick answer is yes, we certainly are open to the idea of selling our home, assuming we get a fair and reasonable offer,” the homeowners wrote in their response, dated May 4. “We really appreciate your offer to help facilitate things and I suspect you’ll soon hear if we’ve made a deal or not. From our standpoint, we do not want to move and certainly didn’t ask to be put in this situation.”
What the Chronicle received is only one piece of the puzzle. We reached out to the owners of the property in question for more information on their talks with Gallo. We’ll update the story as soon as we hear back.
It is accepted knowledge that known contributors to the Arbor PAC have also donated to Alter’s campaign. Alter told the Chronicle in an email that, beyond accepting monetary contributions, neither she nor her campaign has worked with the Arbor PAC.
“However, it is clear that Sheri Gallo has angered a lot of neighbors and community groups because of her pro-developer efforts on Council,” Alter said.
This article appears in November 18 • 2016.