KIRBY, Texas – A Kirby City Council meeting ended with Councilwoman Susan Street being escorted out after she pressed city leaders on the proposed 2026-2027 budget, firefighter pay and a possible administration fee.
During a meeting on Thursday night, the exchange began when Street questioned City Manager Brian Rowland about numbers in the proposed budget.
Street said she had previously sent questions to Rowland but did not receive the information she was seeking until she arrived at the meeting.
“I’m not voting for a budget where I can’t get answers prior to the meeting or even in the meeting,” Street said. “I don’t know why you expect me to just roll over and say yes when we have not had any discussion over these items.”
Street also raised concerns about pay for firefighters. She said firefighters should be making at least $20 an hour, similar to police officers, and said the department had been waiting more than four years for a pay increase.
Street said she would not support a budget unless that raise was included.
Street said she was not given clear answers about firefighter pay, but Rowland tells KSAT there were multiple opportunities for questions to be addressed.
“It’s called gaslighting,” Street said in an interview with KSAT.
The council voted to remove Street during the Sept. 24 meeting over what city officials described as disrespectful behavior.
“I will say something at every meeting, which may force them to say I’m being disrespectful again,” Street told KSAT. “But I’m sorry, I’m allowed to address my government. And if they don’t like my tone, I’m really sorry. This is what God gave me. And that’s how I speak. I’m not beating around the bush. I’m calling it as I’m seeing it.”
Rowland said Street’s conduct violated the city’s decorum policy.
“While being disrespectful is not a crime, actually, it’s against the decorum policy,” Rowland said.
Dispute over firefighter pay
Street’s questions focused in part on firefighter compensation. She said firefighters should earn at least $20 an hour and questioned how a proposed $2 increase would be distributed.
“What he told me was they got a $2 increase, but it was up to them somehow to disperse that money,” Street said.
Rowland said council members and residents had multiple opportunities to participate in the budget process, including two budget town hall meetings held outside regular council meetings.
Rowland said Street did not attend either town hall. Street said she believed she attended one and said Rowland did not answer her questions there either.
Street also said she sent Rowland a list of questions about the budget 10 days before the meeting but received few answers.
The city manager also said Street attended part of a City Council retreat but did not attend the full retreat.
Budget approved amid tension
The budget was ultimately approved before its scheduled adoption on Oct. 1. The council, excluding Street, approved the budget including a property tax increase expected to bring in about $857,000 more than the year prior.
Rowland said the budget proposal already included increases for firefighters and public works employees.
“We were focusing on firefighters and public works pay for an increase that was already in the budget,” Rowland said. “When we start pitting departments against departments, we break down employee morale.”
Street said she will continue asking questions at future meetings.
“I’m going to keep asking the questions. He could start answering them,” Street said when asked about mending the working relationship between her and Rowland.
Rowland said Street does not have to agree with him but added that she has made his job as city manager “more difficult.”
The council’s next regularly scheduled meeting is Oct. 8.
Street said she will continue to speak up at future meetings, even if officials again consider her tone disrespectful.
She said she will continue to ask direct questions and will not “beat around the bush.”
