After a two-day trial, a Fort Bend County District judge ruled that council member Ebony Sanco is a legal resident of the city of Arcola and that city officials went beyond their legal authority to prevent her from voting and carrying out her official duties .
The court also ruled that city officials went beyond their legal authority by not placing items requested by council members Evelyn Jones and Rosemary Bigby on the agenda for the following meeting.
“I’m just thankful to God,” Sanco said after the meeting. “You just don’t know how much I love the city of Arcola. I’m so ready to go into the city building without the hostile environment.”
When asked what “investigative means” he took to get the information, he said that he “asked the proper questions in a proper way,” but denied lying to get the information. He said he did show his private investigator’s badge and license to a school administrator.
“I’m aware that the investigator did a good job in the means and scope of his business,” Burton said on the stand after being asked if he was aware that Weed had obtained information about Ebony’s children.
Burton said that he did not call Sanco to discuss the dispute over residency. But, he did call her younger sister, Jasmine Williams.
Williams testified that Burton called her earlier this year and asked her to come to City Hall. When she got there, she said that Burton and city administrator Annette Goldberg told Williams that if she did not get her sister to resign from her position, they would send information to the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office.
Williams said Burton showed her the lease to the home in Missouri City and footage from the private investigator. Williams said she felt intimidated by their actions.
City officials interfere with council members’ duties
After a January city council meeting, Sanco had a medical emergency. Heated debate over the disannexation at the heart of a contentious land battle in the city caused Sanco’s blood pressure to rise to dangerously high levels, she said.
Burton said he went by her father-in-law’s house to see how she was doing. He said it was then that her father-in-law revealed she lived in Missouri City. Ebony denies that her father-in-law said that.
Sanco has maintained that she lives in Arcola with her sister and her two children. While she is on the lease of a home in Missouri City, Sanco said that residence is for her hair and trucking business and also serves as a place to stay for her mother. Sanco said she previously ran her hair business from her sister’s home, but was told her hair tools and supplies were taking up too much space.
During a Feb. 13 city council meeting, Burton presented video footage from the private investigator in which he claimed that Sanco lived in Missouri CIty and not Arcola. Burton hired Weed, the private investigator, with $7,500 of public funds without required city council authorization.
Weed followed Sanco and her children for five days. He went through their trash and was even able to obtain directory information about her two children.
Burton has argued that because he believes Sanco does not live in Arcola, she is automatically disqualified from serving on council. Sanco, however, doesn’t believe Burton’s concerns have anything to do with her residency, but instead stems from her refusal to vote his way on disannexing land that would bring 350 homes into the city.
In March, council members Jones and Bigby asked the mayor to include several items on the March 12 agenda, including a discussion about the future of city administrator Annette Goldberg and City Attorney Grady Randle, and the resolution of a lawsuit between the city of Arcola and Fort Bend County.
But those items never made it to the March 12 agenda despite the city code stating that items requested by two council members must go on the agenda. When the items were added to the agenda at the March 26 special meeting, they were placed in executive session, which is not what the council members wanted.
“If the public is informed they can make better decisions,” Jones said during her testimony.
An end to a tense chapter
Stephen Dockery, a lawyer for Jones, Sanco and Bigby, said the judge’s decision closes a tough chapter in Arcola’s recent history.
“I think this judgment is as close to everything that’s been happening in Arcola.” Dockery said. “She is a legal resident. They committed illegal acts. The agenda items are mandatory. They did commit illegal acts. There’s no more open questions.”
Sanco said that she felt her late husband, Glenn “Bam Bam” Sanco, with her in spirit. He inspired her to get involved with city government when he died in 2019.
“I did it, Bam,” she said of her late husband. “God is my vindicator.”
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