Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Employee Survey Charter Complaints topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Residents urge action after Windcrest employee survey; council memorializes Charter hearing outcomes
Summary
Several residents told the Windcrest City Council the city must act on an employee survey that alleges retaliation and low police morale; the council adopted resolutions memorializing November Charter hearing decisions while discussing procedural limits on stopping ethics and Charter complaints.
Dozens of residents raised concerns about city leadership and police department morale during the Windcrest City Council meeting, pressing the council to address alleged retaliation and what they described as a costly pattern of Charter complaints.
At the meeting, resident Pam Dotson said the city attorney had inappropriately reviewed complaints against council members instead of referring them to outside counsel under the City Charter, citing Charter section 3.08 and arguing the council should have adopted procedures by ordinance. ‘‘If the city attorney believes the complaint should be reviewed by an independent outside attorney … the city attorney may refer the complaint to an outside attorney to perform such review,’’ Dotson said, adding that delays had exceeded the 60‑day guidelines the Charter contemplates.
Geralyn Flick and another commenter, who identified themselves as current or former department staff, recited results from an employee satisfaction survey and alleged high staff turnover and a hostile work environment under Police Chief Jimmy Cole. Flick told the council, ‘‘I have observed Chief Cole to be severely unethical … I have seen retaliation and targeting firsthand,’’ and later said roughly 21 officers had left over a two‑year period.
A speaker who identified as Rainbow Prestige urged the council to force leadership changes, saying the public airing of the survey’s comments and a pending investigative report warranted immediate action: ‘‘I am asking that Chief Cole either step down or be terminated. To the city manager … you need to step down or be terminated. And to the city attorney, I suggest that you also step down or be terminated.’’
City Attorney: procedural limits and council duties
The city attorney responded to procedural questions by explaining that the Charter sets a scheduling deadline (commonly described as the ‘‘60‑day’’ timing) that requires hearings be scheduled within that window but allows the city to set the precise hearing dates; the attorney said the administration had historically followed that approach.
Council action
Separately, the council voted to adopt two resolutions memorializing its 11/25/2024 Charter hearing decisions in complaints filed by Chief Jimmy Cole against two council members. Councilmembers discussed adding the names of those who voted and who abstained to the resolution and correcting a typographical error, then adopted both resolutions.
What happens next
Council members and staff said the city’s ethics ordinance vests initial screening with the ethics commission and that changing that process would require a council ordinance. Several residents urged immediate council action to stop what they called frivolous complaints and to seek restitution for legal costs; the council discussed, but did not adopt at the meeting, any changes to the ordinance or any administrative discipline for staff or officers.
The council directed staff to bring back procedural clarifications and said the employee survey itself could be discussed in full at a future meeting (the earliest date mentioned by staff was February 3, 2025).
