Tempers flared at Tuesday night’s Tatum City Council meeting as recently resigned City Secretary, Stormy Rodriguez, addressed the council about an agenda item alleging criminal behavior.
The business item in question called for discussion and motion regarding “issues with the previous City Secretary of Abusing her position for paying herself vacation and etc.,” a topic considered in multiple previous meetings. No clear resolution was made in earlier discussions, but it was determined that the wording of the Employee Handbook should and would be addressed as parts were confusing to readers. No such changes or updates to the handbook have been made public or placed on subsequent agendas, but the argument still stands as to whether Rodriguez’s approved vacation time was applicable.
“We’re all aware of what’s been going on as far as where we were left,” said Council member Wendell Moore, referring to the resignation of Rodriguez two meetings prior. “It’s been on my mind because it wasn’t taken care of. It just bothers me because we basically allowed it. There might not be anything we can do, we’ve just got to be a little more in tune with what’s going on.”
Rodriguez responded asking, “So what’s the point in having me on the agenda? What is the point of putting it the way you did on the agenda?”
After a moment of verbal sparring, Moore reiterated his belief that the city’s policies clearly state that she was not entitled to vacation pay until she had surpassed a year of employment with Rodriguez questioning why Mayor Don Hall had signed and approved her vacation requests if the policy was clearly stated.
“I signed for days off. Look at it and see,” Mayor Hall stated, defending the position that Rodriguez’s paid hours were unapproved.
Rodriguez responded, referring to a photocopy of a January Employee Vacation/Days Off Request form marked approved and signed by Hall. “Vacation days off requested, you signed and approved. At what point was I told this is not a paid vacation?” She continued, questioning the consistent and unchallenged Mayor and Council approval of payroll documents within the time frame of the allegations of criminal behavior.
As tensions from the gallery grew, Nakita Hall, Tatum resident and wife of Mayor Hall responded, asking, “Who is supposed to approve payroll every single week,” Moore responded that all approvals are to come from the Mayor, as stated in the bylaws, which also define the terms for vacation time accrual. Rodriguez again questioned the fact that payroll documents, many of which included vacation time that she had requested approval to utilize, were approved on a weekly basis.
Seeing no end to the growing circle of questions and responses, Mayor Hall attempted to end the discussion of the contentious agenda item stating, “From now on we’ve moved past it. Do you agree to this? Now we’re done with this and I give you my word you will not be back on the agenda again.”
No action was taken on the agenda item.
Results from the May 6 election for Places 3, 4, and 5 Council seats were canvassed with Gregory Cole taking Kim R. Smith’s Place 5 seat while Tate Smith retained his position on the Council. Departing council member Dana Buddecke took a moment to thank Kim Smith for his more than 30 years of service to the Tatum community.
The 97/97 tied vote in the Place 4 Council seat race between Robin Palmer and Amy Keller, led to a bit of scurrying as time was ticking on the necessary recount and assignments of dates for a run-off election.
Elections official, Rayford Gibson agreed to conduct the recount after the night’s meeting adjourned to allow for election dates to be set. Appointed vote counters were hurriedly called and the Mayor, Elections Official, City Secretary, and candidates Palmer and Keller were allowed to sit in as ballots were recounted. The tie did remain and election dates were set.
Early voting will be held from June 5 through June 13 at City Hall, with the final election on June 17.
With requests to repair city streets mounting, especially after recent torrential rains and flash flooding, Mayor Don Hall hoped to discuss a way to quickly attain council approval for necessary city work without calling special meetings throughout the month. The idea to informally gather to quickly express opinions on needed work, or to utilize text messaging to vote for or against needed city work. Again, Nakita Hall stepped in to inform the council and Mayor that these would be considered illegal meetings and all discussions and decisions regarding city affairs must be held in a posted meeting or they violate the Texas Open Meetings Act.
“If you are voicing an opinion that is a vote,” she said. “You have to have a meeting if you are voting and it has to have public notice and it has to be 72 hours ahead of time.”
The council eventually approved a motion stating that work done outside of normal circumstances, costing more than $500 should be brought before the council for approval.
Cost quotes are being sought to replace city computer systems as the City Secretary stated that her computer is about to crash and the Police Department computers are more than eight years old and were purchased used. Tatum Police Chief James Smith added that while the computers are old a larger concern is the need for storage capacity.
“If these computers go down we’ve got the capability to store up to three days worth of footage,” explained Smith. “Beyond that we won’t be able to use our cameras and that’s just not how this job works. We’re okay for now but I can’t say how long that will last.”
Councilwoman Buddecke recommended reaching out to the East Texas Council of Governments to see if the city qualifies for any assistance. The agenda item was tabled for later approval to allow the City Secretary to gather the requested information.
Old, but certainly not forgotten, city business was discussed after the adjournment of the official meeting with Councilman Moore acknowledging openly that training documents thought stolen had been located. Moore hoped to make the recovery of these documents public as city officials had, for nearly a year, accused previously terminated City Secretary Kay Dyer of stealing the documents.
“The notes were found, that they claimed you had stolen with your lights,” Moore stated, referring to bulbs taken from the City Secretary’s office that Dyer purchased without repayment from city funds, which have become a point of contention. “Yes, the were found.”
Dyer remains in active litigation against the city, with mediation expected to begin in the coming weeks.
