But Ford said he wouldn’t step down and let Martinez know that he expected to be compensated under his employment contract with the city if he was dismissed by the City Council.
Details of the exchange between Ford and Martinez were revealed in a document obtained by the Bee-Picayune on Thursday.
In that document, a letter from Patton to Martinez dated July 22, the beleaguered city manager asked the mayor to place the item — his possible dismissal — on the City Council’s agenda as soon as possible in order to resolve the situation and end the speculation.
The Council discussed the subject behind closed doors on Tuesday — three weeks after Patton said he was first asked to resign. The Council took no action that evening but agreed to resume the deliberations on Tuesday, Aug. 4.
The meeting begins at 6 p.m.
Less than two months after taking office, Mayor Martinez began taking steps necessary to remove Patton as city manager, according to the correspondence between the mayor and city manager.
“City Attorney Frank Warner conveyed your verbal request to me on July 7, 2009, that I resign my position as Beeville City Manager,” Patton notified Martinez in the letter. “Your request did not surprise me given the inquiry you made through the City Secretary’s office sometime prior to June 23, 2009, for the value of my accrued vacation, sick and compensatory time that would be due me in the event my employment ceased. You also requested the number of accrued hours for a few other employees, but only for me was the monetary value requested.”
Why Patton was asked to resign was never explained in the letter, and Patton has declined to comment on the matter publicly.
Martinez also declined to comment on the matter, saying he feared speaking about subject matter discussed during executive sessions.
Warner has denied ever asking Patton to resign.
“I did not go there for the purpose of asking for his resignation,” Warner said Thursday. “The only subject that came up (regarding Patton’s employment) was a possible separation. I was not asked to do that by the mayor.”
But Patton said the subject of his separation included discussion on possible compensation if he were dismissed by the Council.
“I discussed your request with Mr. Warner in the context of my employment agreement with the city, which includes provisions that describe the terms under which my employment relationship with the city will cease in the event a council member(s) suggest (requests) that I resign,” Patton recounted in his letter to Martinez. “I assured Mr. Warner that I will handle the matter in an amicable and professional manner as long as the city honors its obligation to me.”
In his letter, Patton said he would have picked a different time of year to resign, or step down, if it had been up to him.
“I also discussed the timing of the request with Mr. Warner in that if I had initiated the action to sever employment I would have done it with more advance notice and at a different time of the year,” Patton told Martinez in the letter. “However, the Council has initiated the action and thus chosen the timing of the matter.”
Since he claims he was asked to resign on July 7, speculation of his employment with the city has run rampant at City Hall and throughout the community, Patton told Martinez.
“Even though this matter should be confidential, it is being discussed on the streets and I hear rumors about it almost daily,” Patton explained to Martinez in the letter. “Additionally, I continue to work in a more uncertain and uncomfortable council/manager relationship each day. Therefore, I respectfully request that the City Council take up the matter of severing its employer/employee relationship with the city manager ... at the Council’s earliest opportunity.”
Patton’s request was granted six days later when the Council met.
Two items on the July 28 City Council agenda called for the “deliberation of the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline or dismissal of the city manager pursuant to the Texas Government Code Section 551.074” and “deliberation of the appointment, reassignment or duties of an interim city manager pursuant to Texas Government Code Section 551.074.”
The council met in executive session for more than an hour. Patton and his wife, Kathlyn, sat in on the closed-door meeting.
The Council returned to open session but took no action on the two agenda items.
Mayor Pro Tem Mike Scotten made the motion to have the two items on that agenda tabled until the Aug. 4 meeting.
Two council members, John Fulghum and David Carabajal, said they had heard of a request by Martinez for Patton’s resignation prior to Tuesday’s meeting. But both councilmen said they had only heard rumors of the request and not through any official channels or notification.
“I was just as much in the dark about this matter as anyone else prior to our scheduled meeting,” Carabajal said.
Fulghum said he knew nothing about the matter “other than what I had heard on the street.”
Bee-Picayune reporter Gary Kent contributed to this story.
Click here to download a pdf of the letter.
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