Has city council stepped out of bounds?

Depending on your perspective, the recent actions taken by the Sealy City Council are those of brave men and women willing to make difficult choices in the best interest of the city or those of authoritarian micromanagers who have overstepped their bounds. 

There is an element of truth to both perspectives. There’s no doubt that each member of the council feels they are doing their job and doing what they honestly believe to be in the best interest of the Sealy taxpayers. No decision or vote appears to have been taken lightly or without serious consideration and deliberation. 

The city’s charter clearly defines the roles of the city manager and the city council. The city manager runs the day-to-day operations of the city and the council serves as overseers, much like a board of directors would oversee a corporation and its president and CEO. 

If the board is unhappy with their CEO, they remove that person from the job. The council appeared poised to do that with City Manager Lloyd Merrell. He preempted them by resigning at the end of his contract. The council opted to accept his resignation, but rather than let him work out the seven weeks left on his contract they removed him immediately. That was their prerogative. 

Merrell resigned because he felt the council was violating its charter and interfering in the daily operations of the city. If corporate board members start interfering with the employees and operations of the company, there could be some serious ramifications. I don’t think that’s very different than what’s happening here. 

Consider these points: 

Councilmember Jennifer Sullivan took it upon herself to make budget amendments that slashed the budgets of various departments and cut unfilled positions. The council, and not an individual member, should have directed the city manager to trim the budget. Although she technically has that authority to do what she did, she clearly did an end-run around the city manager and department heads. 

Sullivan has a history of acting on her own volition. In the past she contacted Sealy ISD officials to try and get them to follow through on their agreement to pave the gravel overflow parking lot at the football stadium. That line of communication should never have come from a council member. It should have come through the city manager or his designee. 

Councilmember Larry Koy has a tendency to meddle in personnel matters. My first indication of this was in 2015 when he and former mayor Mark Stolarski orchestrated ending a six-month “continuity of service” contract with former city manager Chris Coffman three months into the contract. They made a deal to buy out his $50,000 contract for $45,000 without giving a public explanation. 

More recently, after Sealy EDC Executive Director Robert Worley announced his resignation to take another job, Koy got ticked off when Worley emailed him regarding a rumor that Koy wanted to shut down the Main Street program. Apparently there are rules in place regarding staff and council having direct email contact. But Koy is on the EDC board of directors, so contact in this regard is a gray area. The rule should probably not apply between an executive director and his board of directors. 

It doesn’t seem improper to go directly to the source of a serious rumor like that. Instead of having the courtesy to answer Worley he emailed the city manager to demand that an item be placed on the next agenda to fire him. In a compromise, Worley will be paid through the remainder of his commitment, but he was removed from office. 

Koy refused to return an email and phone call to The Sealy News regarding it and when confronted in person deferred comment mayor. 

Apparently Koy has a problem differentiating between his role on the EDC board and his seat on the council. When the EDC board was deliberating promoting Kimbra Hill to fill Worley’s position, Koy voted against it saying that the city had a hiring freeze. (Koy has been very adamant about the freeze.) That should not have been a consideration coming from a board member. That would be a decision considered by council as to whether it accepts the recommendation, rejects it, or postpones it. The EDC board was tasked with recommending a replacement, not mulling the city’s finances. Yet as a city councilmember Koy voted for Hill’s promotion, so go figure! 

Councilmember Chris Noack deserves credit for calling out staff for their purchase of a $1,200 stove for the planning department, especially as funds were getting tight during the pandemic. This sounds like a bonehead purchase that never should have happened unless it was specifically budgeted (thus approved by council) and the money for it was secure. 

At the Dec. 15 council meeting, Noack read a long statement in which he discussed the obligations of city council members. 

“It’s imperative that there is an open line of communication between city staff and the city council,” he said. 

This is ironic when Koy had just sought to fire Worley for emailing him. Clearly there are problems with internal communications, and it looks like it has to do with a history of mistrust. 

At the Dec. 15 council meeting, resident Helen Burchfield blasted the council for removing Merrell and Worley from office before their employment was up. She also noted that Sealy has a reputation for being a very difficult place to build a business. That’s far from being the first time that complaint was made. 

It is now being born out as the council is in the process of amending its ordinances to require that minor commercial plats be approved by council. Currently, the planning director can approve minor plats and will continue to approve minor residential plats. This just further exemplifies micromanagement by the council and also doubles the time it takes to get minor commercial plat approvals, making it harder to develop in Sealy. 

I could go on, but there you have it. Is the council demonstrating leadership or micromanaging?