New Houston Holler keeps tabs on city council

HOUSTON — Houston City Council has a new set of eyes watching its meetings and a new pair of hands writing about them.

Julia Normand said that she has so far printed nine issues of the Houston Holler, a three-page newsletter written from her observations of the council’s discussions and decisions, tempered with some of her own fact-checking and opinion.

“People do tend to be reading it, as far as I know,” Normand said.

Normand is a retired teacher who continues to work as a substitute. She said she’s a writer, but doesn’t have a journalism background. Normand’s résumé cites her as authoring pieces ranging from haikus to essays to short stories.

The impetus for starting the Holler, she said, was her local city council. The council wants Houston residents to know more about what is going on in their city, so Councilman Glen Tilghman asked Normand if she’d do it.

Although approached by the council, Normand said she doesn’t work for the council. There’s a disclaimer in each issue saying the opinions expressed are Nordmand’s, not the council’s.

“What is printed there are my thoughts on what I saw, not necessarily what happened, and the council has not given their approval of it,” Normand said.

The Holler reads like a blow-by-blow account of each meeting. Few agenda items, if any, are spared from discussion. Even the most mundane are included, along with quotes from council members and the occasional interjection from Normand.

Houston’s mayor, Sandy McDonald, said she thinks the Holler is a good idea. She may not always agree with what’s written in the newsletter, but says it’s good that somebody is spreading the word about the council’s business. And she appreciates that Normand runs each issue by the council so it has a chance to check it for accuracy, something most media outlets or newspapers do not allow.

“We appreciate that she allows us to edit,” McDonald said. “And, of course, she really retains the last say if she wants to change the wording or not.”

McDonald said she thinks the newsletter is a step toward getting more Houston residents involved in city politics.

“I think people, when they vote, they need to know who they’re voting for, and oftentimes people vote without any history, without any information, and I think this starts laying that foundation of history,” she said.

But if McDonald is pro-Holler, that doesn’t mean the whole council is. The newsletters have already raised the hackles of at least one council member, Roger Purcell, as evidenced by a flurry of e-mails he exchanged with Normand. Purcell accuses Normand of printing a biased account of a discussion of a council agenda item relating to the city’s animal control department.

“You put in your personal opinions without researching the facts first,” Purcell wrote.

Normand was conciliatory in her response.

“Let’s see if we can’t write some correction item for the Holler that agrees with everyone’s facts,” she wrote to Purcell.

In an interview, Normand said she tries to give Purcell’s concerns on accuracy the same weight as she does for any council member and takes them into account when editing the newsletter as much as she can.

Houston council meetings don’t get the attention other, larger elected bodies do, McDonald said. Attendance at meetings is generally sparse.

“Most people can’t come nor do they want to come and spend three or four hours here,” McDonald said.

Normand said she’s often the only person in the building not sitting on the council or working for the city.

“I take my computer and I do as best I can to type out practically every word that is said,” Normand said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiers-man.com or 352-2270.