Just days after Odessa City Council members Steve Thompson and Gilbert Vasquez said they were duped regarding a nonprofit organization’s contract with the city, the two men are feeling betrayed again.
Thompson and Vasquez said they had no idea that when they voted to approve the employment contracts of City Manager John Beckmeyer, City Attorney Dan Jones and City Secretary Norma Aguilar in April they were actually giving the trio three-year contracts that will have to be paid out if they leave early, no matter the circumstances of their departure.
In Beckmeyer’s case, that’s $250,000 a year. Jones’ contract is for $215,000 and Aguilar’s is $135,000.
During the meeting, Mayor Javier Joven told the council the appointees had not been evaluated in October 2023 when the rest of the city’s employees received a cost of living adjustment and the appointees asked for their employee agreements to be placed on the council’s agenda.
Thompson asked “What updates are we talking about?” and Joven asked if there was anything about the agreements in the council’s packet.
Jones replied in the affirmative and then Councilmember Denise Swanner went on to describe the proposed raises one-by-one but not the updated golden parachute clauses.
Swanner also explained that Aguilar was declining the raise. The council then unanimously approved the contracts without any further discussion.
Vasquez said he was never given a packet containing the contracts and Thompson said he didn’t review them in-depth.
While both men acknowledge they should have either asked questions or studied the contracts or both, they insist Jones should have advised the council and the public the contracts had been revised.
“I was never given that packet and I was never alerted to (the changes) by Mr. Jones, whom I think had a legal responsibility to tell us,” Vasquez said.
Vasquez said he has requested a meeting with Jones to confirm what he’s been told — that Beckmeyer’s contract is vastly different from those of Richard Morton and Michael Marrero, former city managers, whose contracts did not include time frames.
“I want to know why I, as a council member, was not alerted to the fact that contractually he now has a different contract than the one he was hired under back in August (2023),” Vasquez said of Beckmeyer.
He is angry knowing that the city will now be forced to “fork over” a lot of money to individuals should new city council members be elected in November and should they decide to terminate Beckmeyer and Jones, Vasquez said.
Vasquez also said he is surprised to learn that Deputy City Manager Agapito Bernal, who earns $208,000 annually, has a similar contract. He also didn’t know that contract has never come before the council even though Administrative Procedure 92-03 stipulates all contracts of $50,000 or more must come before the council for approval.
Likewise he was unaware that the contract of Communications Director Monica McDaniel, who earns $161,200 annually, was also supposed to come before council, but did not. Her contract stipulates a 2% annual raise even if other city employees don’t get a cost of living increase.
“Now I may be at fault for not being more attentive to those things. I guess what I’ve been doing in the two years that I’ve been serving is allowing our city manager and the Human Resources department to take care of employment matters,” Vasquez said. “I guess I’ve been naive.”
Thompson was also filled with self-recriminations Thursday night, saying he assumed things despite knowing the adage about assuming and asses being made.
“Shame on me. Shame on me. I didn’t realize those were new contracts. I assumed we were all talking about the same contracts, just increased compensation. That was my thought,” Thompson said.
Still, Jones absolutely should have made it clear to everyone watching the meeting that the contracts had been amended above and beyond the salaries, he said.
“The city attorney’s job is to protect and he represents the city council. He did not say ‘Oh, by the way guys, these are new contracts. They’re different from the ones that we had before.’ I was duped. This was done intentionally and I’m mad about it.”
Jones said the new contracts were included in every council member’s packet, but he had assumed Beckmeyer was going to mention the changes to the contracts. He could not recall if he had.
“But, they were in the packet and for me, I just automatically assume council reviews them and if they have any questions they’ll ask them,” Jones said. “Usually the council members are very engaged and they read and look at the contracts and determine if they have any questions.”
When asked if he’s obligated to mention changes to contracts, Jones initially said no.
“I do not want to go to people that have college degrees and say, ‘Oh, by the way, let me tell you what’s in this contract,’” Jones said.
Later, Jones said he should not have assumed “everything was hunky dory” when the council members didn’t ask questions that night.
“It’s a lesson learned. From now on anything that’s even remotely odd, I’m gonna be like ‘OK, any questions?’ It’s a lesson learned for me to say ‘Hey this contract has now changed. Do you have any questions?’ Like a knucklehead I just assumed that everybody had read it and understood it.”
Jones said an attorney with the Kelly Hart law firm rewrote the contracts, not him.
“Those changes came to me from Mayor Joven. We were told this is what he wanted to do and it was done.”
Councilmember Mark Matta said via email Thursday night he was absent the night the contracts were approved.
He also wrote, ““Looks like the OA PAC is hard at it.”
Council members Chris Hanie, Denise Swanner and Greg Connell did not respond to questions emailed to them.
However, Joven called a reporter to read his answers and hung up before follow-up questions could be asked.
“I never called a law firm Kelly Hart. I don’t know who Kelly Hart is and I never said anything about Beckmeyer’s contract, Dan Jones, Gapi Bernal or Norma at all, so that’s false,” Joven said.
Joven agreed taking such action would have been beyond his purview.
Included in the email was the following:
”There was a lot of anger expressed when the city had to pay Marrero and (City Attorney Natasha) Brooks their annual salary when they were terminated because it was a great deal of money. If Dan, Norma and John left tomorrow, how could you justify paying them 2.6 years of their salaries?”
Joven responded by saying “Yes, and I was one of them.” As far as paying out Jones, Beckmeyer and Aguilar, Joven again said that it was Jones who was behind the contracts.
When asked if Beckmeyer and/or Jones should have mentioned during the April meeting the contracts had been rewritten, Joven responded, “That was an item that Dan Jones put on the agenda and he informed the council at that time about the terms of the contract and so that’s Dan Jones’ responsibility. It was his item and he’s the one who put it on there and presented it to the council.”
The official record does not bear that out. During the meeting Joven said it was “the appointees who asked him to place the item on the agenda.” The official meeting agenda shows the item was placed on the agenda by “council” not Jones.
Joven said if there is a city rule requiring employee contracts above $50,000 come before council he was unaware of it and Jones had never presented that rule.
“It falls on Dan Jones, the city attorney, to clarify that and to make sure why, if that’s true, why it wasn’t followed. So it falls back on the city attorney,” Joven said.
He also said he was unaware McDaniel and Bernal’s contracts were not presented to the council, but pointed out they are not city appointees.
“So there’d be no reason for myself in the mayor’s position and the city council to see any contracts, so completely unaware of that,” Joven said.
Joven did not respond to a text asking him if the contracts were in his packet, if he read them and how he feels about the terms within the contracts.
Late last month, Thompson, Vasquez and Hanie said they were second-guessing their decision to allow Beckmeyer to sign an agreement with TGAA, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help government agencies be more transparent.
Thompson and Vasquez said they were not aware Beckmeyer has a long-term relationship with Matt Armstrong, who emails show helped negotiate the interlocal agreement between the city and TGAA and who is also helping out on the re-election campaigns of Joven, Swanner and Matta.
Candidates Joven, Matta and Swanner did not sign conflict of interest statements although Beckmeyer confirmed Armstrong was involved with their campaigns as early as March. Beckmeyer and TGAA also didn’t sign conflict of interest statements either.
The TGAA contract doesn’t have an end date.
The first year is free, but after five years, the 20 cent rate per resident fee ($24,000 annually) can increase, and there’s no limit on that increase.
And the only way the City can terminate the contract is by holding an election — at taxpayers’ expense — for citizens to determine its fate.
Even if citizens vote to kill the contract, the City must pay for two more years.
Hanie and Thompson have said they are both wondering about the legality of the contract. They question how Beckmeyer can sign an interlocal agreement with an organization that isn’t a government entity.
Matta and Swanner have said that with the TGAA contract they wanted to make sure that no matter who is sitting on the dais, there will be transparency. Matta faces longtime Odessan and businessman Eddie Mitchell for the district 1 seat while Swanner faces Meals on Wheels Executive Director Craig Stoker for her at-large seat.
Joven is facing lifelong Odessan and attorney Cal Hendrick for the mayor’s seat.
Thompson said Thursday he suspects Joven, Matta and Swanner approved Beckmeyer’s contract for the same reason — they want to make sure he’s still in power should they lose their seats in November.
