The City of Odessa’s interim city manager and interim city attorney have routinely “exceeded expectations” on their annual reviews in recent years, but Interim City Attorney Dan Jones was told his job was in jeopardy late last year after he was sanctioned by an Ector County District Court judge and “exposed” the city to legal action in other instances.
Jones, a senior assistant city attorney, was named interim city attorney Tuesday after the Odessa City Council voted 5-2 to fire City Attorney Natasha Brooks. They named Billings and Collections director Agapito Bernal the interim city manager after firing Michael Marrero.
The Odessa American asked for disciplinary records and the last three evaluations for Brooks, Marrero, Jones and Bernal through the Texas Public Information Act.
The city said it does not conduct written evaluations of its city manager and city attorney; the Human Resource Department found no disciplinary records for Brooks or Marrero. The five council members who voted to fire them have not voiced their reasoning for the terminations, nor have four of them responded to repeated requests for interviews. City Secretary Norma Aguilar Grimaldo set up a Jan. 9 interview for Mayor Javier Joven, stating that was his earliest availability as he’s going out of town.
Jones, who obtained his law degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law, was hired as a senior assistant attorney in early 2019. Prior to that he spent two and half years as a defense and personal injury attorney in Jackson, Mississippi, five years as the district attorney in Mendenhall, Mississippi and 10 years in private practice in Mendenhall. In that role he acted as the municipal attorney for two towns, the juvenile public defender and school board attorney.
According to Ector County court records, Jones was representing the City of Odessa in a car accident lawsuit last year when Judge James Rush of the 244th District Court agreed to sanction Jones on the request of the plaintiff’s attorneys.
Rush found that Jones filed a frivolous motion, signed pleadings that were “groundless and brought in bad faith” and contained unsupportable factual and legal allegations and he filed a motion “for the purpose of harassment and interposed for the improper purpose of causing needless increase in the cost of litigation.”
The judge further found Jones failed to make a “reasonable inquiry” into whether the city’s garbage truck driver was “within the course and scope of his employment” at the time of the crash even though the crash happened two years before the city responded to the lawsuit.
When Jones found out the man was working at the time of the crash, Rush said the city and Jones “still refused” to drop their motion to dismiss the lawsuit “to the detriment of the prompt and proper administration of justice,” court documents state.
The judge wrote in his order he found Jones’ explanations “were non-persuasive and lacked merit.”
The judge ordered the city to pay the plaintiff’s attorney for the more than 23 hours she spent on her motion for sanctions at a cost of $300 an hour. The city was ordered to pay $5,000 and Jones was ordered to pay $2,050.
“This court has the highest expectation that the city and its attorneys will read, learn and apply the provisions of the Texas Disciplinary Rule of Professional Conduct, the Texas Lawyer’s Creed, the aforementioned provisions of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, and the Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 13 prior to making any further appearances in court,” Rush wrote.
Ultimately, the lawsuit was settled.
Written warning
On Oct. 22, 2021, Brooks issued Jones a written warning, warning him in bold that his job was in jeopardy.
According to the warning, Brooks told Jones he’d been told by her not to appear in Rush’s courtroom for the hearing to discuss whether he and the city should be sanctioned and “as a result of your appearance” the city and Jones were sanctioned.
Brooks also noted that on Sept. 24, 2021, he disobeyed her instructions and continued to assign work to a newly promoted employee one day. She noted his insubordinate behavior had been addressed just one day earlier and he’d assured her it wouldn’t happen again.
She also wrote Jone had been told “numerous” times not to work on memorandums of understanding but continued to do so. Brooks wrote one of those MOUs came to her attention and it had “little of professional value.”
“I determined that it provided inadequate protections for the City of Odessa and was forced to intervene,” Brooks wrote.
Four days later, Brooks said Jones overheard a conversation between her and another attorney concerning a client communication. “Later, in response to a question from a city council member, you responded on behalf of the department with incomplete and inaccurate information despite having no personal involvement or direct knowledge of the facts.”
As a result, Brooks wrote “your lapse has exposed the city to legal action, created doubts about the legal department’s professionalism and competency and damaged the professional reputation of a colleague.”
Lastly, Brooks wrote Jones had repeatedly made comments of an “inappropriate” nature to others in the workplace and failed to make changes despite being challenged about it.
Jones responded to the written warning with the following message: “I’ve recently had a lapse in judgment. I apologize for my failures.”
Great reviews
On Jones’ personal evaluation forms over the last three years, Brooks consistently checked off “exceeds requirements” and routinely praised Jones. She said he has saved the city money “due to his great negotiation skills,” produces high quality and accurate work, dependable, helpful and reliable and kind and outgoing. She also noted he occasionally arrives late and leaves early.
Bernal was named billing and collection manager in 2006. He had previously worked as director of animal control in Mansfield and assistant director of animal control in Midland.
The most recent evaluations provided by the city for Bernal were conducted in 2017, 2018 and 2019. In each year, Bernal’s supervisors said he exceeded the requirements of his position. Konrad Hildebrandt in February 2018 said he actively trained and taught his department so they could get “better and better.”
In 2019, Assistant City Manager Cindy Muncy wrote, “Gapi has a great working knowledge of his department and performs very well as the director” and he is “always up to the task even when hit with impromptu projects or short turn-around deadlines.” She praised him for stressing customer service to his department, being reliable and dedicated.
