After hearing comments from eight concerned residents, the Odessa City Council once again voted 5-2 to terminate City Manager Michael Marrero and City Attorney Natasha Brooks without explanation.
On Dec. 13, newly elected council members Greg Connell and Chris Hanie voted along with Mayor Javier Joven and fellow council members Mark Matta and Denise Swanner to terminate Marrero and Brooks. The action prompted a lawsuit by local civil rights activist and attorney Gaven Norris, who complained Joven declined to allow anyone to speak on the matter prior to the vote being taken despite it being properly noticed on the agenda.
Last week, Ector County District Court Judge John Shrode filed a temporary restraining order against the council, voiding the vote. However, the judge lifted the order once Monday’s council meeting was scheduled.
Many of those who spoke expressed bewilderment about the vote, noting it took place during Connell and Hanie’s second council meeting and just two months after Marrero and Brooks had been evaluated. They also expressed dismay Joven signed a $338,000 contract with T2 Professional Consulting the day after the terminations to assist Interim City Manager Agapito Bernal.
No one spoke in support of the council or the terminations, although a handful of those in attendance have applauded the council’s actions on social media and compared the actions to those of new presidents who appoint new cabinet members. Those who voted in favor of the terminations repeatedly ignored texts, voice mails and emails in the days leading up to the vote and in the days immediately afterward. Joven cancelled a scheduled Jan. 9 interview last week, citing Norris’ lawsuit.
Swanner and Hanie were the only council members who addressed those who spoke at the meeting, but they did not offer any explanations for the terminations. Instead, Swanner told former City Council member Tom Sprawls that despite what he said, she did not evaluate Brooks in October. She also took him to task for discussing something that took place in executive session.
Hanie took exception to City Council member Steve Thompson’s characterization of his Christian faith.
Good evaluations
Sprawls, who did not seek re-election for District 4 and finished his term in November, said he still wants to know why the pair were fired. He claimed Matta gave “raving reviews” for Marrero in October and Swanner gave “raving reviews” for Brooks and said Joven didn’t speak at all.
Mari Willis, who also did not seek re-election and finished out her term in November, said she was pleased to be at the meeting because the mere fact it was scheduled proves what happened at the Dec. 13 meeting was wrong.
She said Joven, Matta and Swanner announced when they were elected in 2020 they wanted to get rid of Marrero and she realized a year ago they were grooming Dan Jones to be the interim city attorney.
They had no reason to fire Marrero and Brooks, however, and now there’s a “mass exodus” of people who are afraid they’ll be fired if they don’t acquiesce to their desires, Willis said.
“You guys sat in a meeting with me to evaluate these two positions…and you agreed they’d done a good job,” Willis said.
The council skipped over Assistant City Manager Aaron Smith in favor of former billings and collections head Agapito Bernal, “someone who you now have to pay to train to be an assistant city manager or city manager,” Willis said.
Smith could easily have moved the city forward without having to pay more than $300,000 to do so, Willis said.
“He was not even considered, is my understanding, for someone…who is not properly equipped nor meets the standards of what the job application says should be the qualifications for city manager,” Willis said.
Willis also took a swipe at Joven for complaining about staff members speaking out of school.
“The mayor often speaks about leaks. If it’s something that you’re proud of, you can stand up and can be proud to stand behind, it’s not a leak. It’s a fact,” Willis said.
Hypocrisy?
Willis said she was “appalled” Hanie and Connell didn’t even study the facts before voting to terminate the pair, despite owing an obligation to the people to do so.
“Mr. Hanie…you took my place and I thought that my district was in good hands. I expect you to study. I expect you to not just be a cookie cutter for the mayor and these other councilmen. You’re above that. You’re smarter than that. You say ‘This is the day the Lord has made’ and he’s given you that opportunity to make the right choices and to do the right things.”
Later in the meeting, Willis said, “I believe that when we say that we are Christians, that we should do that in word and in deed and that includes treating people fairly, giving people a fair opportunity and I don’t think that’s been done.”
Several people clapped when Willis said the fact Connell and Hanie fired the pair indicates to her they can’t stand on their own and therefore shouldn’t be sitting in their seats.
District 2 council member Steve Thompson, who along with newly elected District 3 council member Gilbert Vasquez, voted against the terminations, also brought up the matter of religion.
He said he was never consulted about who should be named the interim manager or interim city attorney, nor was he consulted about the T2 contract that was apparently negotiated prior to Marrero’s firing and signed the day afterward.
“I don’t believe we’re being honest here. Mr. Hanie spouts Christianity every day and I find it hypocritical that he doesn’t live by what he says and that goes for everybody else, too,” Thompson said, to claps.
Hanie immediately responded. “I am a very Christian man. I don’t make any decision unless I pray to God. I do not make any decision unless I pray to God and I cannot believe you called me out on my Christianity, sir. I beg your pardon, but I am who I am.”
“I’ll second that,” Connell chimed in.
“And I’ll always be that,” Hanie finished.
Lanes
NAACP President Gene Collins said city councils can typically get what they want done if they have the votes and he doesn’t think city managers and city attorneys are roadblocks, especially when city council members stay in their lane and city managers and city attorneys stay in theirs.
“I think because for the last two years you haven’t really done anything that you are using them as scapegoats,” Collins said.
When people don’t agree with someone, Collins said “we sit down like mature men and women and discuss them.”
“That’s how a city works. You don’t come in with personal agendas,” Collins said. “You may have personal preferences, but it takes all of you to decide what’s best for the constituents that you have met with and you have discussed these issues.”
He’s getting calls from all over Texas and from the NAACP headquarters in Washington, D.C. about what’s going on, Collins said.
“There are lanes in which we operate and Mr. Mayor I hope you will recognize and respect those lanes. I would hate for a criminal investigation because of impropriety to be cast upon this council,” Collins said, drawing claps.
Norris said although he was glad to be given another opportunity to speak, his lawsuit will continue moving forward. He also promised more litigation.
“It shouldn’t take us threatening you to file a lawsuit, actually filing a lawsuit, for you to do the right thing. That’s what we’ve elected all of you to do. If you’re hellbent on not doing that, we’ll keep filing lawsuits. When I tell you that we have at least three other lawsuits we’re going to file. We’re going to file,” Norris said.
Norris also asked how Hanie and Connell could fire Marrero and Brooks being so new they didn’t even know where the bathrooms at city hall were.
“You don’t get rid of good people just because you don’t like them,” Norris said.
He also said he expects Marrero and Brooks to be paid for Dec. 13 through Monday’s date and there will be a lawsuit if they aren’t.
Fair representation?
Odessan Angie King told the council there’s no “logical explanation” for the terminations.
“There is no documentation of Marrero’s having shortcomings. There is no information available to the public that reveals any sort of incompetency. In fact, there is no information available to the citizens of Odessa that offers any explanations as to why Marrero would be terminated,” King said.
She flat out asked Joven if Districts 2 and 3 matter to him since Vasquez and Thompson were not consulted about the T2 consulting contract. She said he avoided even discussing the contract during last week’s city council work session.
The city has “various serious and real needs” and yet the council isn’t addressing them, King said.
Odessa resident Gary Dutchover, who referred to city council meetings as “King Joven’s court,” expressed dismay Joven recently said the city “used to” have a strong manager, weak mayor form of government.
“We can do things better. I agree with that, but that’s not the way it should be, at least not without our consent, not without our knowing what we need to be doing,” Dutchover said. “I just really wanted to come and say that this has been a circus…We need to be working together. We don’t need to be partisan. We need to be making decisions based on what we want. You guys work for us. I’ve been in the service business forever and this service is not what I want to pay for.”
Austin Keith, who said he has served on many boards and found Marrero and Brooks to be professional, expressed concerns about the monetary costs of the terminations. He suggested the council wait until Hanie and Connell had a chance to get to know the pair before taking a vote.
“What are we signing ourselves up for? Our mayor signed off on a $300,000-plus contract. What’s it going to cost us overall in this process right now because I’m kind of worried here. We’ve got this group here that wants to cut money and not spend money but yet now we’re going to be spending money and we don’t even know what the final costs will be,” Keith said.
Savannah Morales, who recently lost in a bid for Ector County Commissioners Court, said the city council and their “followers” have done nothing but cause division and problems within the city.
“It’s painful to see what goes on, but you know, a wise man once said, ‘Be careful who you let on your ship because some of those people will sink it if they cannot be a captain,’” Morales said.
Morales then gave a warning to Joven.
“You stated to me that I would not win my campaign because I don’t have the money. Well, I can guarantee you will not win your next campaign in 2024 because you will not have the support,” she said.
