Attorneys for the City of Odessa and former Assistant City Manager Aaron Smith have agreed to discuss settling Smith’s lawsuit against the city before the end of the year.
Smith filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the city in April 2023 after being fired for interfering “with a very serious investigation” just three months after he was hired.
Smith and his attorney, Bobby Bland, contend Smith was actually fired because he asked the Ector County District Attorney’s Office, Texas Attorney General’s Office and the Texas Rangers to determine if Mayor Javier Joven had illegally signed a contract with T2 Professional Consulting and if the city had violated the Texas Open Meetings Act when the city council fired City Manager Michael Marrero without giving the public an opportunity to speak on the subject.
Smith was hired by Michael Marrero and began his job Dec. 1, 2022, 12 days before Marrero was fired by a 5-2 city council vote.
Smith contends Joven hired T2 within hours of firing Marrero without having the city’s legal staff or interim city manager vet the contract as required. He further contends the city council was supposed to approve the contract.
Dan Jones, then the interim city attorney, didn’t sign the contract until two days after it was executed and a $50,000 check was cut. Then interim City Manager Agapito Bernal never signed it.
As for Smith “interfering” with an investigation, he and Bland explained that Smith went to Odessa Police Department Assistant Chief Matt Davidson because he had become aware an equipment services employee was “habitually GPS tracking a female Odessa Police Department officer” and he was concerned for her safety.
Smith later received an OPD’s police report and he forwarded it to Bernal, Davidson, Jones and Human Resources Director Charles Hurst, the lawsuit stated.
Smith informed Hurst and Bernal that although OPD had determined the tracking wasn’t a crime, he was concerned and Hurst indicated he’d continue to investigate the employee.
That employee, a garage supervisor, was fired for illegal harassment on March 1. Smith was fired the next day.
The Texas Rangers ultimately opted not to launch an investigation.
Ector County District Court documents indicate there have been two major developments in the case within the last week.
On Sept. 3, without explanation, Judge Ben Woodward of the Seventh Administrative Judicial Region assigned retired Judge John W. Smith to the case, replacing Judge John Shrode.
Then, on Monday, Bland and Jeff Whitfield, an attorney hired to represent the city, filed a document stating they’ve agreed to set aside a large number of deadlines previously set by Shrode.
They agreed they’ll work together to “get the parties to participate in an early mediation, on a date before Dec. 31, 2024, to explore the possibilities for a settlement.”
Barring a settlement, the attorneys agree they’ll work with Smith to come up with a new schedule, but that Joven, Bernal, Hurst and Jones won’t be deposed prior to Dec. 2.
They also agreed that if there isn’t a settlement, a trial will be held in the late winter or early spring 2025.
These latest developments come weeks after Whitfield filed a motion stating Bland blew a deadline to gather evidence and shouldn’t be allowed to depose Bernal, Jones, Joven and Hurst.
The depositions were scheduled for Aug. 26 and Aug. 27.
Whitfield also alleged that Bland, without conferring with him, filed the schedule of events with Shrode and the judge granted it “leaving the defendant with no opportunity to object or respond to plaintiff’s misleading request.”
The trial would’ve started on Dec. 2 under that schedule of events.
According to court documents, Bland said he didn’t miss any deadlines and that he’d provided Whitfield a proposed schedule of events back in May and he never responded.
