Former Odessa City Attorney Natasha Brooks filed a complaint with the Texas Workforce Commission’s Civil Rights Division last month alleging Mayor Javier Joven and her replacement, Dan Jones, were hostile toward her, former City Councilwoman Mari Willis and former Assistant City Attorney Monique Wimberly because they are Black.
The Odessa American obtained the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint from the City as a result of a Texas Public Information Act request after it was leaked to the Odessa Accountability Project, a Facebook page operated by Jamie Tisdale, a vocal proponent of Joven.
The OA originally requested the document from the Texas Workforce Commission’s Civil Rights Division, but was told such records are confidential.
”If you are seeking confidential information on someone other than yourself, you must show authorization to receive these records by providing a written release signed by the party whose records are at issue,” the TWC wrote.
According to records obtained from the OA this week, Brooks’ attorney, John Wenke, sent the complaint to one of the city’s outside counsel, Jeff Whitfield, and Whitfield forwarded it to Jones at 1 p.m. July 7.
Shortly after midnight on Saturday, July 8, Jones sent a copy of the complaint to Interim City Manager Agapito Bernal, the city council and City Secretary Norma Grimaldo.
His message read: “Please find the EEOC complaint from Natasha Brooks. It is clearly filled with false accusations. However, I wanted you to be aware that I received this from our outside counsel. Thanks.”
It was in Tisdale’s hands soon after.
Tisdale wrote a lengthy opinion piece about the complaint July 9 while quoting from it liberally and posting pictures of it.
According to Brooks’ complaint, Joven openly “criticized, challenged and belittled” Willis and Jones once told former Assistant City Attorney Jan Baker he had coached Joven to make Willis look like an “angry Black woman.”
In another instance, Brooks said Jones told Baker that she (Brooks) and Willis were a “bunch of Aunt Jemimas.”
While Willis wasn’t named in the complaint, she was the only Black city council woman during the relevant time period.
According to the complaint, Brooks told Human Resource Director Charles Hurst about Jones’ comments, but she isn’t sure it was investigated.
“The mayor and Jones were often indifferent or rude in their interactions with complainant, often not acknowledging her when she was present or belittling her,” the complaint stated.
According to the complaint, Jones and Joven also treated a Black assistant city attorney disrespectfully and Jones removed so many of her duties and marginalized her so much she was forced to resign, citing “disintegration of work environment.”
The complaint doesn’t name that attorney, but according to records obtained by the Odessa American, Assistant City Attorney Monique Wimberly used that exact phrase when she resigned.
Wimberly declined to comment for this story, as did Baker.
In an earlier interview, Baker said she retired because “it was too dangerous to be there. I’ve had my bar license for 30-plus years and I didn’t want to lose it with what the mayor and his people were doing. They always blame legal when things go wrong and I didn’t want to lose my license over what they did. I didn’t trust them and I didn’t want to lose my reputation or my license.”
The complaint stated Brooks was never provided a written termination notice and it wasn’t until Jan. 30 that she was told she was fired for “good cause” and not entitled to her severance, which includes one years’ salary.
The complaint notes that allegations about her illegally backdating documents pertained to events that took place two years prior and she wasn’t provided an opportunity to respond.
“The proffered reason for the termination was created after the termination decision was made and is clearly pretextual,” the complaint stated.
Brooks, through her attorney, claims that in order to punish her for seeking her severance pay, Councilwoman Denise Swanner began “an assault on her professional reputation,” by filing a State Bar complaint against her and then reporting the confidential filing to a “local newspaper” to embarrass her.
Odessa Headlines, another Facebook page that supports Joven and is published by Odessa Development Corporation board member Jeff Russell, announced the bar complaint Jan. 30, the same day it was filed.
On Feb. 27, the complaint states Joven filed a “virtually identical” bar complaint. “Upon information and belief, this was done at the direction of the Odessa City Attorney’s Office.”
As of Friday, there is no public disciplinary history for Brooks from the State Bar of Texas.
The complaint also notes the city is paying Jones more than Brooks was earning despite the fact he’s only been practicing law in Texas for five years, while she had been an attorney in Texas since 2004.
Brooks alleges her race was a motivating factor in the council’s decision to terminate her and to not pay her severance, a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
