Sweeny city manager retains job; council will review charter for changes

The Facts
By SUSAN AVERA HOLT West Brazos Weekly
July 19, 2023

SWEENY — After 30 minutes of compliments about her job performance and concerns about her residency, input from the police chief and unscheduled comments from audience members, Sweeny City Council took no action on City Manager Lindsay Koskiniemi’s tenure.

The discussion into the city manager’s residency began with a closed session agenda item requested by Councilman Reese Cook, Koskiniemi’s predecessor as city manager. Koskiniemi asked the discussion take place in public.

“I believe that when Ms. Koskiniemi was appointed, I think today is exactly a year, last year there was a request made in the interview that the residency requirement of the charter effectively be put on hold for a year because your daughter was graduating,” Cook said. “You requested to not go straight into the residency requirement. I think it’s prudent to revisit that with an attorney present to kind of help us work through these requirements in the charter, and I guess just really see what options we do have, what’s on the table, how we have to fit into the charter because currently, to my knowledge, you don’t reside in the city limits as of right now.”

The city charter, available to view on the city’s website, states, “The City Manager shall be chosen by the City Council solely on the basis of his or her executive and administrative training, experience, and ability, and need not, when appointed, be a resident of the City; however, during the tenure of said City Manager’s office, he or she shall reside within the City.”

Sweeny incorporated in 1945. In 1999, the city adopted a Home Rule Charter, giving it greater authority and control over the governing and administration of the city, and voters approved it in May 2000. Koskiniemi was hired by unanimous vote. She does not have a contract.

Council explored its options with City Attorney Charlie Stevenson, among them extending the residency leniency.

“I can only tell you what the city charter says. How y’all deal with that is up to you,” Stevenson said. “It’s really y’all’s decision. You can read those words as well as I can. If you’re going to grant extensions, it needs to be with the goal, the end line of accomplishing residency.”

Councilman Brian Brooks said the issue with the charter is there is not a timeline included.

Lake Jackson and Angleton have home rule charters and neither have a residency requirement, Cook said.

Stevenson told the council one legal option that’s available is for the council to place a charter amendment on the ballot for the next general election.

“If you don’t like the job the city manager does, you fire ’em,” Councilman Tim Pettigrew said. “Don’t matter where they live. They could live in town or a high-rise. Who cares where they live?”

Mayor Dusty Hopkins said the council needs to come up with a resolution and stick to it.

Brooks advocated for getting rid of the residency requirement in the charter, and Cook said some items in the charter are “severely outdated.”

Stevenson outlined a way for council to address the charter’s limitations by proposing the council create a charter review committee to make recommendations for changes and updates to put before voters.

“I already have at least 38 changes, 40 changes that I would like to see,” Pettigrew said.

After 15 minutes of council discussing her position, Koskiniemi addressed the room.

“I would like to make it really clear that it was never my intention to create a wedge,” she said. “It was not my intention to not make good on any situation I thought feasible at the time. I have experienced some hardships. … I am a public servant first and foremost. My salary is public information. I have no problem telling everybody in this room that I have the same obligations that probably everybody in this room does. And when I took out a VA loan on my home eight years ago, we were approved at 3 1/4 percent. Having better credit today, I would not get that rate on my home. I would go upside down, and in looking at it ,I just have not been in a situation where it would make sense to lose the equity in my home. I hope that nobody sees that that has been a hindrance to my performance.”

Immediately after her explanation, Police Chief Brad Caudle addressed council, beginning with the fact he does not live within the city limits either.

“Things, in my opinion, have gotten so much better here,” Caudle said. “She’s done a wonderful job on the grants. Of course, she’s supported the police and I’m very happy about that.”

He and Koskiniemi correspond at midnight and 1 a.m. discussing city matters, Caudle said.

“Because I live outside the city, I still come here every day, and guess what, any of my guys who live outside the city do,” Caudle said. “They put their life on the line for this city. So, they’re putting as much skin in this game as what you possibly can.”

Cook asked Stevenson again about the process for creating a charter review committee. The attorney explained the council will need to pass a resolution to set it up and find people to serve on it, and council has the right to submit proposed charter changes.

Hopkins closed the discussion with no action taken on the city manager’s tenure.