Assistant city manager fired Thursday

Mar. 3—Assistant Odessa City Manager Aaron Smith was fired Thursday and his attorney believes city officials were upset Smith had 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.

"Aaron Smith, the whole time, has done what he thinks is right and when he sees something that he thinks is wrong, he's not afraid to speak up. As a result of him speaking up, as a result of him doing the right thing and reporting violations of law to law enforcement, his reward was to be fired by the City of Odessa," said Bobby Bland.

Smith was hired by City Manager Michael Marrero and began his job Dec. 1, two weeks prior to Marrero himself being fired by a 5-2 Odessa City Council vote.

Interim City Manager Agapito Bernal, and council members Gilbert Vasquez, Chris Hanie, Greg Connell and Denise Swanner did not immediately respond to interview requests.

Joven said via email: "Typically we don't answer personal issues. There is an active investigation Into Mr. Smith by City of Odessa."

Prior to joining the city, Smith was a senior managing director at Texas Tech University and had served as the city manager in Whitehouse, Texas; Ogallala, Nebraska and Tulia, Texas. He has a bachelor's degree in history and political science and a master's degree in public administration from Texas Tech. His wife is an Odessa native and Permian High School graduate.

Around the same time he was speaking with the AG's Office and the Texas Rangers, Bland said Smith became aware of a city employee who may have engaged in unrelated criminal activity. Smith informed Interim City Manager Agapito Bernal and the Odessa Police Department about his concerns.

Bland, who spent 15 years as the Ector County District Attorney, said it is his belief the city is using Smith's reporting of that suspected criminal activity as a "pretext" to fire him.

On Feb. 27, current Ector County District Attorney Dusty Gallivan informed the Texas Rangers he'd been asked by Smith and others to look into the T2 contract and potential open meetings act violations and asked them to launch an investigation, Bland said. Shortly thereafter, Human Resource Director Charles Hurst brought Smith into his office to discuss the alleged criminal activity.

Smith terminated the meeting because it had turned into an interrogation, Bland said.

"During that time, because he felt like they were going after him because of his complaints to the Attorney General, the district attorney and the Rangers he wanted to stop it, because clearly they were using this potentially as a pretext to terminate him," Bland said. "He said, 'I think you're coming after me because of the fact that I've reported this to law enforcement and I want my lawyer here.'"

Bland and Interim Dan Jones set up a meeting for 2 p.m. Friday, March 4 to complete the interview and Jones assured him Smith was not being investigated and his job was not in danger, Bland said.

Friday's meeting was cancelled on Wednesday with Jones saying the circumstances had changed and they'd meet at the appropriate time, Bland said.

"(Thursday) he was summoned in by the interim city manager and fired, given the reason that they were terminating him for interference with a very serious investigation and other related issues," Bland said. "(Because of ) the fact that he was fired after we reported a violation of the law and it began being investigated, they changed their tune and we will certainly be exploring all of our legal options."

Hurst and Jones were present when Smith was fired, Bland said. Smith was then escorted out of the building.

During a Feb. 14 interview with the Odessa American Joven expressed concerns about how Smith came to join the city.

"I found out about it because somebody in the community said, 'I heard you got a new assistant city manager.' I looked at him. 'Excuse me? He goes 'Yeah.' He goes further. I asked 'Who is it? He goes, 'I'm not sure. It's just some guy' and I'm sitting there looking at him and I have no freaking clue what they're talking about. I didn't even know there was a search going on," Joven said. "Was this sent out (via) an RFP? An RFQ? How was this done? Was this dude done by Indeed? You know, when I met Aaron? That one day when we were talking about interlocals, and he stood up. Remember, he started dictating and I said, 'Who are you?' He said I'm Aaron Smith. When did you start and he introduced himself as the assistant city manager."

During the same February interview, Joven also questioned why Smith was participating in discussions with the county about the formation of a joint airport zoning board instead of himself, the council and Bernal.

Councilmember Steve Thompson said it is not typical for the city council or mayor to get involved in the hiring of city staff including assistant city managers.

Although Smith was only with the city three months, Thompson said he had formed a favorable opinion of him.

"I saw him at a lot of meetings, he's very knowledgeable and he had some very good ideas," Thompson said.

According to an email obtained by the Odessa American, Marrero announced Smith's hiring as the assistant city manager of community services on Nov. 15, 2022. The email was sent to all city employees, the mayor and council members via "[email protected]" and provides details about Smith's qualifications.

Marrero also wrote: "Throughout his career, Aaron has established a reputation as a collaborative servant leader driven by challenges and committed to furthering standards of excellence. He and his staff built prosperous communities by launching an Economic Development Corporation and completing capital improvement projects that addressed street, water, sewer, and stormwater infrastructure needs. Aaron and his teams also completed other transformative projects, such as a downtown streetscape, utilizing CDBG funds, and were creative in revitalizing a recreation center."

City Councilmember Mark Matta said he was aware of Smith's termination, but said that since he doesn't get involved in the day-to-day operations he wasn't clear on the exact reasons.

"I don't think it has to do with Michael Marrero hiring him. I would think it would probably be just because of, maybe, lack of productivity or some other HR issues, but like I said, I don't have all of the information on that," Matta said.

During a recent radio interview, Matta and Councilwoman Denise Swanner also expressed concern at the way Smith was hired, indicating they believe he was vetted by the Odessans for Ethical Leadership group, but not them.

Thompson said he and Councilman Gilbert Vasquez have been getting barraged with phone calls from people, many of whom felt Smith was "the last voice of reason in management."

"This is causing hell at city hall," Thompson said. "Everybody at City Hall's nervous, I can tell you that. Heads keep rolling."

Thompson said Bernal informed him of the termination Thursday, but he remains unclear on the reasoning.

Thompson said he suspects Joven and others at city hall simply wanted to remove the last vestiges of the Marrero era. Thompson voted against Marrero's termination and that of City Attorney Natasha Brooks saying he didn't see any reason to fire them.

Since Marrero and Brooks left the city in December, all of Odessa Fire Rescue's fire chiefs, Assistant City Manager Cindy Muncy and Downtown Odessa Executive Director Casey Hallmark have also left. In addition, Utility Director Tom Kerr suddenly announced his retirement in the middle of a city council work session, citing stress. He later said he intended to rescind that decision.

Also, four of the City's six attorneys left following the firing of Brooks.

"This is out of control. I don't know where we go. I wish I knew what to do, but I'm not that smart," Thompson said Friday.

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