The Conroe City Council on Thursday fired two top city leaders, citing a lack of communication for one and financial decisions, including the approval of invoices from a construction firm for thousands of dollars in expenses for meals, sunglasses and T-shirts, for the other.
The firings of City Administrator Paul Virgadamo and Director of Finance Steve Williams, each by a 3-2 vote, are effective immediately.
The council named Assistant Director of Finance Collin Boothe as interim director of finance, but did not appoint an interim city administrator.
Council members Howard Wood, Harry Hardman and Marsha Porter voted to fire the two with Curt Maddux and Todd Yancey opposing.
The firings came a day after public comment on personnel items about Thursday’s agenda, which Virgadamo requested. Usually personnel matters are discussed in closed, executive session. Williams did not attend Wednesday’s discussion or Thursday’s meeting and could not be reached for comment..
A handful of Virgadamo supporters, including his wife Stephanie and former Precinct 1 Commissioner Mike Meador, urged the council not to move forward with his firing.
“You heard many people speak here saying we don’t know the reasons why, I haven’t heard the reasons why myself,” Virgadamo said of the council’s decision for termination.
Wood, Hardman and Porter cited a lack of communication as a deciding factor in their decisions, saying it had it interfered with their decision- making responsibilities.
Virgadamo said he was not contacted by Wood or Porter regarding any job performance concerns. In May, Virgadamo received a positive annual review from the council and was given a raise.
“I’m very disappointed neither of you came to me with concerns,” he said.
Pattern of problems
Wood and Porter said the council wasn’t informed of a recent Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint from an employee regarding a council member and the council was never notified that an outside law firm was hired a year ago to review the city’s charter.
Wood also said “unreasonable invoices” paired with the recent invoices submitted by construction firm DPR Construction for the new Hyatt Regency Hotel and Convention Center were a concern and that Williams should have better scrutized them..
During a July 15 meeting, council members were stunned after reviewing $7,000 in invoices from DPR Construction employees. Among the invoices were: more than $2,000 to Twin Peaks; $530.50 to Taco Veloz; $538.04 to Corkscrew BBQ; $347.34 to Chuy’s; $302.79 to Chick-Fil-A; $852.25 to Sam’s Club; $595.30 for Oakley Sunglasses; and $4,069.60 to Sportex Apparel for T-shirts.
The city is currently auditing those invoices.
Additionally, Wood said, updates to the city’s personnel policy, which were requested in January, have not been completed. He also said Virgadamo had not told the council the San Jacinto River Authority is planning to reduce the amount of water the city receives as part of the Ground Water Reduction Plan . The plan delivers surface water from the treatment plant at the Lake Conroe dam to seven sites, including Conroe, via a 57-mile pipeline system.
“These are issues that could be a potential suit against the city or action from the EEOC,” Wood said. “If we had known some of this stuff, we could have looked at it. We could have been educated on these matters.”
Virgadamo said it has never been the procedure to inform the council of an EEOC complaint. As for the water issue, he said he did know about the planned reduction but had not told the council because he has not received an official letter from the river authority officials.
Virgadamo maintained he has communicated with the council via emails.
Hardman said his concerns are coming from some city employees, who are claiming Virgadamo had created an “atmosphere of fear and intimidation.”
“They are reticent to give us information because of fear of reprisals from you,” Hardman said. “One of the things you told me when I got on council was to not go to department heads, come to you.”
Virgadamo fired back “that is not true, sir.”
Agenda concerns
Virgadamo also questioned whether city leaders violated state law after two items _ regarding his and Williams’ employment _ were added to Thursday’s agenda after it was orginally posted last Friday.
City Secretary Soco Gorjon said she was contacted by City Attorney Gary Scott Saturday to add the executive session items to the council’s Wednesday workshop agenda and add four related action items to the council’s regular agenda Thursday.
Under state law, an agenda must be posted in a place readily accessible to the public for at least 72 hours before the scheduled time of the meeting.
Gorjon said she did not add “revised” to the updated agenda but did change the date of when it was posted from Aug. 5 to Aug. 6. She also said she notified Mayor Jody Czajkoski.
Czajkoski, who called the updated agenda “suspicious,” acknowledged he was contacted by Gorjon before she posted the revised agenda .
Scott said Gorjon did not violate the law regarding the posting, adding that the word “revised” is not required. Scott also said that according to the council’s rule for agenda, two council members can add an item to an agenda.
Virgadamo started his career with the city in 1997 as the director of Conroe Parks & Recreation. In 2005, Virgadamo was named assistant city administrator and on April 21, 2010, the city council unanimously appointed Virgadamo to replace retiring City Administrator Jerry McGuire.
cdominguez@hcnonline.com