The Texas Supreme Court will decide whether the city of Denton illegally fired two municipal power company employees for blowing the whistle on a former city council member who leaked documents to the Denton Record-Chronicle.
Justices heard oral arguments Wednesday in what is now the city's second appeal of a lawsuit it first lost in 2020. One central question: whether then-council member Keely Briggs was representing the city when she shared documents with the newspaper concerning the proposed construction of a natural gas power plant.
The city claimed she was not a city employee at the time, since council members are elected officials paid only a stipend. That would mean the two Denton Municipal Electric employees aren't protected under a whistleblower statute, the city's attorney Christopher Kratovil told the justices Wednesday.
"We have a volunteer, unpaid elected official, who my friends on the other side don't even contend is another public employee," Kratovil said during oral arguments.
Former DME employees Michael Grim and Jim Maynard sued the city for firing them in 2017. They argue they were fired because, 10 months prior, they had told the then-city attorney that Briggs shared documents related to the potential Denton Energy Center in violation of the Texas Public Information Act.
A Dallas County jury found Grim and Maynard’s firing violated the whistleblower law and awarded them more than $2.7 million in lost wages, benefits, damages and front pay.
Briggs voted against the construction of Denton Energy Center, a natural gas power plant. The proposed plant drew criticism from some residents concerned about its environmental impact and hefty cost.
The Texas Whistleblower Act only protects public employees from termination if they report a violation of law by an “employing governmental entity” or another public employee.
Eric Roberson, attorney for Grim and Maynard, said local government code and the day-to-day responsibilities of city council members imply Briggs was representing the city when she shared the documents.
After the documents became public, she led an effort to delay a vote on the measure by a week.
“Not only was she doing it for a public purpose, she succeeded until the other members of the city council took a look at the documents and said, ‘no, there's nothing wrong here, what are you talking about?’” Roberson said.
In addition to arguing the whistleblower statute doesn't apply, the city also argued Grim and Maynard were fired for lying during an investigation into fishing and hunting trips they took with Denton Energy Center vendors. The trips raised concerns about potentially violating Texas’ vendor communications law, the city said.
But the men say that was pretext for the real reason they were fired, and that they were singled out — especially after the May 2017 election, which created a city council less friendly to the Denton Energy Center contracts passed in 2016.
“We want justice in this case,” Roberson told the justices. “We also know that you want to set up a structure so that we can prevent mismanagement in government.”
Justice Jimmy Blacklock questioned whether the men's firing was retaliatory or par for the course in local government.
“That seems to be a normal and natural consequence of an election that has sort of a political turnover of governance like this,” he said.
But Roberson, the men's attorney, referenced testimony in which an assistant city manager was quoted as saying the council members “got the heads on pikes they wanted" after Grim and Maynard's firing.
“They all denied it,” Roberson said. “But that denial is unworthy of credence.”
Editor's Note: KERA acquired the Denton Record-Chronicle in August.
Got a tip? Email Toluwani Osibamowo at tosibamowo@kera.org. You can follow Toluwani on Twitter @tosibamowo.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.
