Memorandum of Grievance April 7, 2018 To: The Honorable City Council of the of Kempner From: John Wilkerson, representative of Chief of Police Forest Spence and officers McDonald, Cerda, Ingram and Dunshie. Authority: Texas Government Code section 617.005 City of Kempner Personnel Manual, Policy 2.22 RE: Mayor Carolyn Crane City Council of Kempner Texas: Greetings, My name is John Wilkerson. | am writing to you on behalf of the Officers listed above, all members of the Texas Municipal Police Association and Officers for the City of Kempner. ‘The purpose of this Grievance is to seek remedy for ongoing issues pertaining to the Mayor of Kempner and her actions/ treatment towards the officers protecting this community, In this grievance, you will find both the description of events that led to the need for the grievance, as well as the desired change. The officers of the Kempner Police Department understand the City’s obligation to the citizens of this community. The officers faithfully execute their duties daily to preserve life, liberty and property while ‘making valiant effort to fulfill the mission of the City. The City of Kempner opted to hire a Chief of Police, putting their faith in his abilities to lead the department, however the Mayor is not allowing that to occur. For example, in July of 2017, two officers were working abnormal hours to complete the mission of the Kempner Police Department. During this time, the two officers sought permission from the Chief of Police to drive their marked patrol cars home, as they were to return to work soon. The Chief granted this, and when the Mayor noticed the cars were taken home, she contacted the Chief of Police while he was on vacation, questioning his decision on this.In another example, not long after this event, the Mayor called the Chief to complain that an officer left earlier than what was recorded on his timesheet, The Mayor did not make an inguiry into whether a valid reason for this occurred, only an accusatory statement saying the officer assigned to work went home early. The Mayor apparently came to this conclusion as she observed a patrol car parked at the office. The reality of this situation was the Sergeant left his patrol vehicle at the office and the officer assigned to be working was in fact working. ‘Another example is the training of the officers of the police department. The Mayor began to question the training Officer McDonald was attending, making baseless accusations that the only officer receiving. training was Officer McDonald. Training records revealed this was not only another baseless accusation, but further evidence of the targeting of this one officer, which will be discussed under Grievance Item Il. In another issue, the Mayor wanted an investigation completed on an officer for accusations he left a door unsecured at the office. The chief advised the mayor to submit to him a written complaint, as required by Chapter 614 of the Government Code. The mayor directed the City Secretary to find out if she really needed to file a complaint. The Texas Government Code requires complaints to be provided to officers, and those complaints be properly investigated before an officer can be disciplined. Not following this can lead to the City being involved in litigation for violating the rights of the officer as described in the law section listed above. As a citizen of Kempner, Ido not understand why the Mayor ‘would take any chances on this. Perhaps she is ignorant to the laws affecting Peace Officers, which is, understandable. This is exactly the reason a council places a qualified person in charge of the police department and allows them to run the department. Action requested of the Council: ‘The Officers request the City Council to adopt a policy or resolution that would require the Chief of Police to answer directly to the City Council. f a complaint on an officer, (from the Mayor) arises, we ask the Council to adopt a policy that would require the Mayor to notify the Chief of Police of the nature of the complaint, and that she will be presenting the Council. We ask that this policy be worded in a ‘manner that would give the Chief sufficient time to conduct a thorough investigation and provide the results of the investigation to the City Council, including disciplinary action taken against the subject of the complaint, at the next regularly scheduled city council meeting.The Officers also request the City council to adopt a policy authorizing the officers to take their patrol vehicle home. This request is solely for those officers who live within 10 aerial miles from the city of Kempner, and inside Lampasas County. This policy would allow officers to respond quickly during an ‘emergency if they are called in. It will also allow for the safety and security of the vehicles. At least one ‘marked patrol unit has been damaged during an attempt to break into the vehicle, while it was parked at the city of Kempner City Hall. Aside from the fact someone attempted to break into the car, the criminal element that either lives in Kempner or frequents Kempner will know when itis safe to commit their crimes if they can simply drive by and see all the cars are at the Police Department. Gri Item II: The Mayor having a personal vendetta against Last year, Officer McDonald's spouse came to a City Council meeting to voice her concern over the Mayor not wanting to purchase one of the vests for the Officers. After this meeting, the Mayor ‘expressed her displeasure in this and required an apology from Officer McDonald, for his spouse exercising the rights afforded to her by the United States Constitution. Officer McDonald refused to apologize, which we believe has painted a target on his back since. During the Thanksgiving 2017 holidays the Mayor wanted coverage for the city by the Police Department. Officer McDonald worked that day. Officer McDonald, within city policy, recorded the hours he worked on his timesheet and submitted it. The Mayor, seeing these hours, contacted the Chief, stating she was changing the timesheet (as this was not the “spirit” of the policy) and would be withholding Officer McDonalds paycheck until such time as he came in and signed the changed timesheet. It should be noted that employees who have made false entries on timesheets have faced potential criminal charges for tampering with a governmental document. The altering of this timesheet to reflect inaccuracies is not only ethically wrong, but could be considered criminal. Officer McDonald departed a secondary job out of town and drove to Kempner to address this issue, thus costing him ‘more money. Officer McDonald composed a written grievance to the City Council. The Chief recommended officer McDonald and the Chief sit down with the Mayor to try and work out the issue Officer McDonald agreed to this, and the result yielded in Officer McDonald settling for the time he should have been paid for (by city policy) being placed in his Flex time. It should be noted that while every other employee that the Mayor had gotten a Christmas present for had received theirs, she withheld his until this meeting, which was concluded with a mutual understanding from everyone, and the Mayor hugging Officer McDonald and giving him his Christmas present. The point made here is that the withholding of a gift, simply because you disagree with someone, shows the emotional instability and irrational behavior of an individual. Not long after this event, the Mayor expressed her displeasure in not seeing a write up in officer McDonald's file for what the Mayor describes as “disrespectful behavior” during the meeting. The Chief responded back to the Mayor that he did not feel Officer McDonald was disrespectful, and that the meeting was an opportunity for them both to openly voicetheir concerns and nobody in the meeting raised their voice or participated in name calling or other negative behavior. Not long after this event, Officer McDonald proposed to the Chief that a 3" signature line be added to the timesheet. This third line would be used by the Mayor. An employee would sign the timesheet after putting their time on it, then the second signature line would be used by the department head. This would ensure that there was proper accountability at all levels. The Mayor expressed her displeasure of this to the Chief, it should be noted that after the Mayor negatively criticized officer McDonald’s suggestion, this third signature line became used some time afterwards. Around this same time, the Chief, being concerned of liability the City may have, directs Officer McDonald to look into getting the records secretary into a training course that would allow her to handle the sensitive documents she works with on the police side of the city business. This training educates the employee on what they can and cannot do with certain records made available to them by the State and Federal Government. Officer McDonald discussed this with the records clerk. The records Clerk made no complaint that Officer McDonald was rude or demanding, but when the Mayor found out he had discussed this with her, she called the Chief to complain that officer McDonald was “creating problems” at City Hall. We do not understand how limiting liability for the City is “creating problems”.Action requested by the Coun ‘We ask the council to acknowledge the Mayor has targeted officer McDonald simply because her feelings were hurt by officer McDonald's wife exercising her constitutional rights and publicly state they do not support her in her endeavor to create a hostile environment for Officer MeDonald. Grievance item Ill. Communication with the Mayor. ‘The Mayor told the Chief of Police when he started she preferred communication be in email format. ‘This makes sense as it is not only memorialized, but convenient for the nontraditional workforce that does not have a 9-5 work schedule. Since the targeting of Officer McDonald, the Mayor has told the Chief to stop emailing her and to call her about issues. The Public information Request | have submitted will likely show this is due to the fact it was becoming obvious there was targeting of Officer McDonald, and if it continued in email format, then the evidence would be there to show it. Action sought from Council: We ask the Council to issue a directive to the Chief to communicate in email format to the Mayor on issues affecting labor as well as other issues with the department. We understand the Council has no power to order the Mayor to comply with responding to him, however we seek to ensure the Chief will not be accused of being insubordinate and therefore subject to termination by the Council.We also ask the Council require the Chief to submit a monthly report to the City Council, so the council can assess the activities of the department and provide further guidance and direction if needed, based on factual data. Grievance Item IV: Unknown documents appearing in the personnel file of Chief of Police and negative annual evaluation. The Chief of Police received negative marks on his annual evaluation, with poor explanation from the Mayor. The Mayor felt the Chief should have disciplined officers, however she was not specific as to the officer or the reason. ‘The Chief of Police also had a document placed in his file regarding what can best be described as a record of counseling. This form is not only completely subjective, but has no option for the employee to respond, especially when the form is placed into the personnel file without the knowledge of the employee. Relief sought from Counci ‘We ask the Council order the annual evaluation of the Chief of Police to be amended and corrected. The Chief found no reason to discipline his employees this year, and furthermore there are no written 's against the officers that would justify him doing so. We believe this perceived “failure to discipline” resulted from the Mayor's personal vendetta against Officer McDonald.