HOUSTON – Wayne Dolcefino, a media personality known for exposing public corruption, is suing the city of Galena Park over alleged violations of the Texas Public Information Act.
Dolcefino Communications filed the suit yesterday in Harris County District Court, also naming Galena Park Mayor Esmerelda Moya, City Attorney Robert Collins and City Secretary Mayra Gonzales as defendants.
According to the lawsuit, Dolcefino Consulting submitted its first open records request to the city on March 17, seeking financial records related to federal grants received by Galena Park for any natural disasters since Jan. 1, 2017, which includes Hurricane Harvey.
A second request was submitted two days later seeking invoices submitted by the city attorney since Jan. 1, 2017, past due invoices from Galena Park’s vendors since Jan. 1, 2020, internal audits, employee information, invoices paid to Moya and Primo’s Auto Service and information concerning water bills.
On April 1, Dolcefino Consulting submitted a third request, seeking itemized expenditures, employee titles, the city’s general ledger, video and audio recordings, invoices Galena Park received from the city of Houston for the use of water, and the publicly releasable portions of the personnel file for Jorge Flores, a Galena Park employee.
On April 12, a fourth request was sent seeking a copy of all bids for a pool contract and documents reflecting pool employee attendance.
“Generally, in response to the Requests, Galena Park failed to produce the records required under the (Public Information Act),” the suit states. “Accordingly, Dolcefino Consulting filed a criminal complaint against Galena Park and three of its employees, Mayor Esmerelda Moya, Secretary Mayra Gonzales, and City Attorney Robert Collins, based on their failure or refusal to provide access to public information.”
In his suit, Dolcefino also claims that when it was his turn to speak at a Zoom town hall meetings on July 6 and on Aug. 3, the host refused to unmute him, which violates the Texas Open Meetings Act.
Dolcefino seeks declaratory judgment. Houston attorney Jeff Diamant represents him.
Case No. 2021-51194