City Manager Michael Marrero and City Attorney Natasha Brooks were fired Tuesday night during the city council meeting in a meeting where the council was heckled and called out by citizens for firing the pair.
Dan Jones was appointed as interim city attorney. Agape Bernal was appointed as interim city manager.
The council went into executive session at 6:20 p.m. and were out before 7.
Hispanic leader Carol Uranga took the council to task for firing Marrero. She praised Marrero as a leader who built coalitions and also mentored countless Odessans. “He was somebody we could trust,” she said. “He’s a good man and knows what he is doing and the city of Odessa has lost.”
Local NAACP leader Gene Collins told the council that they are elected to serve the whole community and not their own personal desires. “Your decision needs to be explained to Odessa…I am really upset because of some selfishness on a few people’s parts he is not longer with us… you don’t run the day to day activities so actually you are all out of order for trying to run the city as if your corporation…you went and hid yourselves behind closed doors…we need a peaceful governing body.”
Local leader and attorney Gaven Norris complained the mayor disenfranchised his time and then told the mayor he was out of order. “I stand for District 1…you don’t give a damn what citizens think,” Norris said.
He then called out Mark Matta, Denise Swanner and Javier Joven and told them “the citizens want you to govern and you eliminated two people because of petty grievances.”
Norris says he will file a federal lawsuit against the city and the mayor, Swanner and Matta.
He railed against Matta for being a puppet of Joven. Wild applause followed Norris’ speech from about half the crowd.
Rumors have been running rampant about Marrero’s job for months, but crystallized when the agenda for Tuesday’s agenda was released late Friday afternoon.
The move came just one month after three new council members were sworn in and two months after the old council met in executive session to evaluate the pair and three other council appointees.
Council member Steve Thompson has been advocating on Marrero and Brooks’ behalf since the rumors began, saying both are exemplary employees who are the victims of a power play by Mayor Javier Joven and council members Mark Matta and Denise Swanner.
The idea of re-evaluating them appeared on the council’s regular meeting agenda Nov. 22, but was tabled because the three new council members were sworn in that night. It was also on last week’s workshop agenda, but due to the lack of a quorum, the meeting was cancelled.
City Secretary Norma Aguilar-Grimaldo said Mayor Javier Joven and Council member Greg Connell informed her in advance they would not be able to attend the meeting, but Matta and Swanner had simply informed her they “might” not be able to make it.
Before Tuesday night’s meeting Joven, Matta and Connell declined to comment on the agenda item, saying it would be discussed at the meeting. Council members Swanner, Gilbert Vasquez and Chris Hanie did not return texts, emails or calls.
Marrero, who was hired by the city in 1994, worked his way up the ranks. He was the director of the Community Development and Neighborhood Development before being named deputy city manager. He became city manager in May 2018. As such, he’s been overseeing 40 departments and divisions within the city, which has roughly 1,000 employees.
Marrero received his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Texas Permian Basin and his master’s in public administration from Sul Ross State University.
Brooks started with the city as a senior assistant city attorney in 2015 after having spent 11 years in the same position in Midland. She was elevated to the top position in August 2019. Brooks, who obtained her bachelor’s degree from Baylor University and her law degree from St. Mary’s University School of Law, said at the time being a city attorney was a lifelong dream.
Brooks replaced interim city attorney Gary Landers, who stepped in after Larry Long retired in 2018 when a sexual harassment complaint was filed against him. Shortly after her selection, Brooks said she hoped to update policies and procedures and work with IT so public information act requests would be filled more effectively and efficiently.
