The Windcrest Ethics Commission voted unanimously on Dec. 13 to find no violation of the city’s ethics code after considering a sworn complaint filed by Police Chief Jimmy Cole against volunteer Pamela Dodson over social-media posts about the care of animals in city custody.

Chief Jimmy Cole testified that the complaint arose from a December 18, 2023, post about a dog named “Sugar” and related posts that he said were misleading and abusive toward city employees. “The posting attacked was abusive towards city employees,” Cole said, adding he believed the posts had affected staff morale and, in his view, improperly influenced a request-for-proposal process for the city animal impound facility.

Pamela Dodson, the respondent, denied abusive conduct and urged the commission to consider context. Dodson provided a timeline of transfers and veterinary dates for several dogs, including Sugar, and said the purpose of her posts was to make the public aware of what she described as substandard care. “The intention of that posting was to make Windcrest aware of how the animal control department was providing care for the dogs they pick up in our city,” Dodson said during her testimony.

Multiple public speakers supported Dodson and accused Chief Cole of bringing “frivolous, retaliatory, and fraudulent” complaints. Cheryl Lynn Flick told the commission the complaints were a punitive response to Dodson’s advocacy: “These frivolous, retaliatory, and fraudulent complaints filed by Chief Cole against the citizens of our city,” Flick said, urging the commission to recommend a city investigation into the chief’s conduct and possible restitution.

Resident Cindy Sewell Yax asked the commission to review whether the complaint-handling process had been followed and raised that the chief had been publicly described as on administrative leave while still appearing in uniform and using city equipment, a procedural concern raised during public comment.

Commission members questioned Chief Cole and witnesses about when the complaints were filed (Cole said he submitted a report in August 2024) and about whether Texas WE ACT and the Windcrest Animal Control Task Force had formal city authority. Cole said volunteers assisted at adoption events but disputed that they were city officials during the time in question; Dodson said she had not been sworn to any task force during the December 18, 2023–Jan. 12, 2024 timeframe and that she was sworn into a committee later in February.

After adjourning to executive session under Texas Government Code Sections 551.071 and 551.074, the commission reconvened and a commissioner moved that there be no finding of any violation of the ethics code. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously; the chair announced the commission’s decision as a unanimous vote.

The commission did not announce any further disciplinary action in the public session. Dodson and several supporters said they remain concerned that time and city funds were spent on the complaints; she is scheduled to appear again to address related complaints at a future meeting referenced during public comment.

The ethics commission’s meeting materials include the complaint covering alleged actions from Dec. 18, 2023, through Jan. 12, 2024, and the record shows both public testimony and extended questioning of the complainant and respondent prior to the commission’s unanimous decision.