HOUSTON -- What initially looked like a dull Houston City Council meeting got interesting Wednesday afternoon. Several councilmembers, including the budget chair, refused to back a request by the Houston Police Department for another $750,000 for recruitment advertising.

They said HPD has been unable or unwilling to provide information on how many recruits came on board because of the last round of advertising. Councilmember Green said he's been “banned” from asking questions of the HPD public information office and instead has been told to go through the legal department.

Councilmember Anne Clutterbuck said she was shocked that she couldn’t find HPD job openings on common job search Web sites, while the Dallas Police Department came up all the time. She said when she asked HPD about it, all she got back was “rhetoric.”

“There’s a disconnect between what we on council are asking for, and what HPD is answering,” she said.

Councilmember Pam Holm was the first to bring the issue up, and now half the Council is jumping on board.