Brandon Allen
The Fort Worth City Council has adjourned for the year, but when the 11 members reconvene in January there could be a chill in the air.
In a video of a conversation between Councilmember Chris Nettles and an associate leaked on TikTok Monday morning, Nettles is heard saying that Mayor Mattie Parker and council colleagues Michael Crain, Carlos Flores, and “every Republican” are racists.
Nettles was also critical of the job U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Fort Worth) was doing. Moreover, on another topic, Nettles appeared to issue threats against two men he accused of romantically pursuing his wife.
The six-minute video was released on the page of Payton Jackson, a former candidate for the U.S. House who also worked on Nettles’ successful council campaign in 2021. Jackson and Nettles both said the video was 2 years old.
“Recently, a recording from two years ago of a private conversation I had was released without my knowledge or consent,” Nettles said in a statement that he personally sent to Fort Worth Magazine through a text exchange. “I want to acknowledge that this recording, which may have been heavily edited, was made during a deeply emotional time for me. I was grappling with the realization that the Council would not have the votes to approve the creation of a police oversight board — an initiative I strongly believe would bring more accountability and transparency to our city.
“While I may have expressed frustration in that moment, I want to be clear: I do not believe my fellow council members are racist. I do, however, feel that there are systemic processes in our city that can and should be improved to ensure fairness, equity, and balances for all residents.”
The video appeared to clearly raise the hackles of Parker, the two-term mayor, who issued a terse statement to Fort Worth Magazine through a spokeswoman, who said Nettles’ allegation was without merit.
“Leadership means you attack problems, not people. Fort Worth deserves better,” Parker said. “As for the rest of the video, questions need to be directed to Councilmember Nettles.”
Nettles, who is expected to run for a third term in May, declined a full interview, saying he would rather rest his case with his statement than “give life” to the video. Nettles said he believed he is the victim of a smear campaign by someone with ambitions to run against him in May’s City Council election.
“The recording appears to be a deliberate attempt to damage my reputation, but I remain committed to serving the people of Fort Worth and working towards meaningful change,” Nettles said in his statement. “My focus has always been and always will continue to be on creating a more accountable, equitable, and transparent city for all.”
Jackson told the Dallas Express, a right-leaning activist-advocacy platform, that Nettles on Monday morning asked her to take down the video.
She later admitted to the Star-Telegram that her reasons for releasing the video were politically motivated.
“Any democrat that attempted to interfere with District 33 election will be exposed and/or publicly criticized in 2025,” she said to the Star-Telegram.
Texas’ Congressional District 33 is represented by Veasey, a Fort Worth native, who was elected to a seventh term in November. Jackson did not say how Nettles meddled, if he did at all.
Jackson, an activist, last year posted a video of Parker walking out of a public forum after Jackson accused the mayor of having a friend in the Ku Klux Klan. Jackson later called that a mistake.
Crain declined to comment, while Flores did not return a text message. Jared Williams also did not return a text.
Williams, too, was a subject of the conversation. Nettles called him “kind of weird” and suggested to Jackson that they collaborate on a “project so we can have leverage over him.”
There was no elaboration what that might have been.
In another portion of the meeting, Nettles is heard appearing to suggest harm to his wife’s romantic pursuers, one of whom was his brother, Nettles said.
“Is there a way to tap the phone?” Nettles said in the video. “It needs to be bad enough that he goes to the hospital; you’ll think twice before you ---- somebody’s wife.”
Jackson immediately suggested that Nettles was merely venting and being “emotional.”
Nettles’ biography on the city of Fort Worth website says he is married with four children.
Nettles’ first foray into elective public service was as a candidate in 2017 running for mayor against Betsy Price, who up to that point had never faced a challenger for reelection. Price won easily. He returned the next cycle to challenge District 8 incumbent Kelly Allen Gray, but she won a three-way race.
Nettles returned in 2021 to win in a runoff over the incumbent.
After graduating from North Crowley, Nettles studied Christian ministries at Dallas Baptist University.
He continues to operate a daycare center, Haven of Purpose Childcare Center, where he is also the senior pastor, according to the city’s website.
During his two terms, Nettles has been a proponent of a police oversight board in the aftermath of high-profile encounters between the police and Black community, including the shooting of Atatiana Jefferson. Police Chief Neil Noakes and some members of the council argued that the work of an oversight board would largely be redundant to the work of the city’s Office of Police Oversight Monitor headed by Bonycle Sokunbi. The council voted against establishing one. In its place, Noakes created a police advisory board.
In his statement, Nettles suggested that the issue of police oversight is what prompted him to accuse his council colleagues.
Nettles made news last week protesting the selection process of new city manager Jay Chapa, whose hiring the City Council approved.
Nettles, who represents District 8, called the process to hire Chapa “baked and unfair.”
He accused his fellow council members of orchestrating a process designed to favor their chosen candidate, adding that the process should have been open to more public scrutiny.
“We did it for the chief of police. We did it for heads of other departments. Why not city manager?” Nettles said to the Star-Telegram.
Williams, who represents District 6, agreed with Nettles’ concerns about the process, calling it a “sudden rush to finalize the decision.”
In the final vote on Dec. 10, Nettles was the lone “no” vote in a 9-1 approval. Williams abstained.
The city conducted a national search that led to more than 150 applicants. Fourteen vetted candidates were presented to the City Council. Five semifinalists were selected to be interviewed in December.
Flores, the longest-serving member of the council, stated that he believed a racial divide existed in Chapa’s hiring, with Hispanic leaders supporting the decision while Black faith and business leaders voiced concerns about the process. Nettles and Williams are Black men.
“That pains me to say,” Flores said. “Fort Worth is better than that.”
Gyna Bivens, the only Black woman on the council, who is not running for reelection in 2025, was an ardent supporter of Chapa’s hiring. She even went so far as to make a biting criticism of Nettles, saying that not everyone on the council comes to the table with experience hiring C-suite talent.
Eight members of the nine “yes” votes signed a letter expressing support of city staff, the city’s HR department, and legal department “who have worked tirelessly to ensure a diverse talent pool of candidates, fair process, and thoroughly vetted competitive finalists.”
Elizabeth Beck, another “yes,” did not sign it and, too, was critical of the process, though she said she believed that it led to the right outcome — Chapa’s hiring.
City Council elections are nonpartisan.
Nettles was also instrumental in killing the proposed $70 million mixed-use development, the Evans & Rosedale Urban Village project, by Dallas developer Hoque Global, which was awarded the bid in 2019. The project was in his district.
The city said Hoque Global missed key deadlines in financing and meeting its obligations to employ minority- and women-owned subcontractors on the project.
Hoque said the delays in financing were caused by the city’s holdup in issuing necessary permits as well as an environmental assessment on the property. Hoque said his firm hired a general contractor the city recommended with extensive experience employing minority- and women-owned subcontractors in Fort Worth but replaced them a year and half later at the request of the city’s Diversity & Inclusion and Economic Development departments, further delaying the progress.
