City Council Accused of Illegally Tampering with City Records
By: Lisa Carr
Updated: December 18, 2008
More controversy is brewing at Lubbock City Hall. This time, the City's former Director of Homeland Security, Kevin Overstreet, is accusing city leaders of illegally tampering with city records in an attempt to avoid a possible lawsuit. Today, in a six to one vote, the council approved deleting nearly two and half pages from the minutes of the November 6th City Council meeting. Overstreet says, that was the day the council questioned him about his role as head of Lubbock Animal Services, and Councilman John Leonard publicly humiliated him. Now, after today's vote, most of that conversation is officially wiped from city records. Councilman Leonard says they merely deleted the pages to fix a few mistakes.
Here's a reporter questioning John Leonard on this issue.
Reporter: "Why are striking the majority of the minutes on the Overstreet issue?"
Leonard: "(Pause....) Ummm... There were some things that were not correct with the minutes so, we just cleaned them up a little bit."
Reporter: "But we're talking multiple pages that were deleted?"
Leonard: "Right. That's correct."
Sources say Leonard wanted to revise the minutes after he found out Overstreet may try to use them in an upcoming lawsuit against the city. Overstreet has made several formal complaints claiming that some city council members are trying to get back at him for instigating an FBI investigation into public corruption at Lubbock City Hall. Both John Leonard and Mayor Tom Martin have bee questioned in the investigation. Both men deny any accusations of retaliation, but Overstreet's attorney, Rod Hobson says this recent action by the council has added fuel to the fire. Hobson says, "I don't know that the people at the city seemed to be too concerned about the legality of anything they do. They seem to be doing just what they want to do."
