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Bee Cave council adopts whistleblower policy, pairs it with updated ethics training
Summary
The City Council unanimously approved Resolution 2025-04 to add a whistleblower reporting policy to the personnel manual. Council and staff said the policy complements recent ethics reforms, includes anti-retaliation protections and will be rolled into employee training.
The Bee Cave City Council unanimously approved Resolution 2025-04 on Feb. 11 to amend the city personnel policy manual to add a whistleblower reporting policy for reporting illegal, dishonest or fraudulent activity.
Human-resources staff said the policy is intended to give employees a clear and protected avenue to report suspected fraud or abuse to supervisors, the human resources office or (in cases involving the city manager) directly to council members. The presenter described the policy as a companion to the city’s recently updated ethics policy and said both will be covered in forthcoming staff training.
Council members discussed how the whistleblower policy and the revised ethics policy differ: the ethics policy includes an investigative process historically handled by the city attorney, while the whistleblower policy places reporting mechanisms in the personnel manual to make employees comfortable reporting suspected wrongdoing at any level. Council members emphasized anti-retaliation language in the draft and the need for citywide training so employees understand the protections and reporting steps.
One council member noted that the city charter historically limited direct contact between employees and council members and said the policy addresses that by allowing certain protected communications (for example, if an allegation involves the city manager). The resolution passed unanimously; council directed staff to develop training on both policies.
