City Council finds Marshal Dietrich negligent, terminates employment

Editor’s Note: The Bandera Bulletin went to press before Dec. 6’s city council meeting, where agenda items addressed the now-vacant city marshal position.

Marshal Will Dietrich’s employment was terminated last week after the Bandera City Council voted unanimously they had no confidence in him and found him negligent in duty.

Dietrich was placed on administrative leave Oct. 23 pending a department audit. Results from that audit were shared at Nov. 30’s meeting, and the following allegations were cited and examined during a 33-page report:

1. Being directed to obtain multiple quotes before repairing a city vehicle, and failing to do so (sustained by audit)
2. Multiple purchasing, procurement and seized forfeiture concerns (sustained)
3. Deleting files from a city hard drive (not sustained) 
4. Allowing previously terminated city employee back into city facilities to train a new employee (no opinion given)

The floor was then opened for additional concerns and questions.

At approximately 11:05 p.m., council took a break before meeting in closed session with their counsel. They reconvened at 11:41 p.m.

Councilman Jerry Russe motioned, “City Council, having sustained allegations put forth in a formal complaint from City Administrator William Cox following a personnel investigation, hereby finds that sufficient facts exist to indicate Will Dietrich has engaged in behavior and activities that reflect the neglect of duties and responsibilities of the office of City Marshal and demonstrates general lack of confidence to fulfill the essential job functions of the office.”

Councilman Jeff Flowers, sworn in that night, seconded.

Russe said, “We took this very seriously. We put a lot of thought into it, and it’s been extremely difficult. I know how this can affect someone’s life.”

Council voted unanimously in favor.

Comments were shouted by an upset crowd to the council: “You just ruined Bandera;” “Gutless hoodlums;”, “Rigged, rigged;”, “This is just so wrong;” “A Salem witch hunt!”

Cox told the Bulletin Dietrich is entitled to the balance of his accrued vacation time and received his annual longevity pay.

Mayor Rebeca Gibson, the former Mayor Pro Tem also sworn in that night, gave the Bulletin the following statement: “Last week, the City Council of the City of Bandera made the very difficult decision to part ways with our longtime City Marshal, Will Dietrich. Marshal Dietrich honorably served the citizens of Bandera for nearly a decade, and we sincerely thank him for his service. This aspect of the role of the governing body is often made even more difficult when the personnel in question is so truly cared for.

“City Staff, Administration Mayor and Council work closely together for the community so it is natural that friendships develop, especially with someone like Will because of his personable character and long standing service to the residents of Bandera city and county. As difficult as it is, friendships and personal feelings can not supersede the statutory obligation of the governing body.

Over the last few years, the City has undertaken department level performance audits to identify areas of our organization that are in need of improvement to better serve the citizens. The City Council has received the final performance audit of the City Marshal’s Office. To date, this process has resulted in significant changes in city policies, procedures, and in some instances, personnel.

Changes present any organization with opportunities. It is the responsibility of the Mayor, City Council and City Administrator to make certain those opportunities result in positive growth and organizational improvement for the City.

We wish Marshal Dietrich success in his future endeavors, and we appreciate and respect the support given to him from the community. It is our hope that the Marshal’s Office and future City Marshal will continue to earn and deserve that same level of support from Bandera.”

Mary Hesalroad, a retired police officer of the Austin Police Department and Internal Affairs Detective turned Sergeant, now a Freelance Internal Affairs Investigator, was asked to assist by her former Austin Police colleague, Max Westbrook of Public Safety Solutions, the firm conducting the initial audit of the Marshal’s Department.

Per Cox, the city agreed to hire Hesalroad on Nov. 2 as a temporary employee to conduct the investigation.

As required by state law, Dietrich was given a signed written complaint citing those allegations, which were discussed during last week’s meeting in open session.

When asked if employees were sworn under oath and obligated to provide honest answers, Hesalroad said, “Yes, it’s called a compelled statement. Whenever you ask a government employee to give you information, they don’t have a choice. They have to tell you and if they’re caught lying about it, then they don’t have a job, so it’s pretty serious stuff.”

ALLEGATION 1: Dietrich was directed to obtain multiple quotes for vehicle repair, but had a vehicle repaired without doing so.

Per Hesalroad, on Sept. 28, Michael Frederick of Bandera Paint and Body sent an estimate to Dietrich, who then forwarded it to Cox and City Secretary Jill Shelton.

Shelton responded she could file with the Texas Municipal League. Cox agreed and said he told Dietrich personally he had to seek multiple estimates in Boerne, Kerrville or even Helotes.

“By the time he had told me that,” said Dietrich, “it was already too late. I had already made arrangements to get the truck repaired.”

Dietrich said he had no intent to be insubordinate.

Shelton told Hesalroad that Dietrich said it was unnecessary to get more estimates.

When Hesalroad asked Dietrich if it would have hurt to get a second quote, he said, “No, other than we’re wasting his time, ‘cause we know we wouldn’t be using the other body shop in Bandera. This is the process we’ve always done. We have a $1,000 deductible, and it doesn’t make sense driving all over to other places. If Cox would have given me the directive in a timely manner, that’s what we would have done.”

Hesalroad found this allegation to be sustained.

ALLEGATION 2: Purchasing, procurement, and seized forfeiture concerns.

Hesalroad said she obtained statements and receipts from June to September from the City Treasurer to examine Dietrich’s purchasing history..

“In August, he submitted an order sheet to Finance from Ebay without receipts. Besides several of the purchase prices, Dietrich wrote a different number than what was listed. The handwritten prices make the amount shown on the August statement match, whereas the Ebay-provided prices do not match. Dietrich included coding instructions so Finance would know what line item in the budget went with what purchase.”

Hesalroad continued, “Some Ariat shirts were coded to code compliance, while others were coded to the City Marshal. Dietrich said he buys used shirts, that’s why he buys on Ebay. The 19 shirts that he purchased were to cover 18-19 shirts that he can no longer fit in, so he is going to gather those up and give them to code enforcement. He hasn’t done it yet.”

When Hesalroad asked if he was a good steward of taxpayer money, Dietrich replied, “Yes, I went through great trouble to

- Will Dietrich purchase used work shirts. That’s $424 worth of shirts that would have cost around $1,500. Frankly, what does it matter? I take good care of my shirts. I spend $75 to $85 every two weeks on drycleaning that the city doesn’t compensate me for.”

Dietrich’s contract cites an $800 uniform allowance, although Dietrich said he never received it. Hesalroad confirmed the purchases went toward that annual allowance.

On Aug. 23, Dietrich purchased an insulated water bottle for $56.99 and charged it to the city credit card. On July 22, he bought a Kodak Pro Digital camera and batteries totaling $264.94 after speaking with an officer using his own cell phone to photograph crime scenes.

On Aug. 9, Dietrich bought a Canon Rebel SLR camera, case, lens and batteries totaling $852.90. Dietrich said officers asked him to stop buying cheap cameras.

On Aug. 23, Dietrich bought a RIFD-blocking wallet for $21.99 and a business card holder for $5.75. He also bought Apple watch covers for $23.32 after his was damaged while working on the city truck.

Per Hesalroad, one of Dietrich’s key responsibilities under his job description is managing department activities by developing, implementing and reviewing policies.

“Do you have any procedures for spending?” Hesalroad asked Dietrich “No, the problem is we’ve been through about eight city administrators,” said Dietrich.

“Do you need the city administrator to come up with that? Can you do it for your department?” asked Hesalroad.

“No. I mean, I could, but you have to have approval for all this, and we’ve spent the better part of four years trying to get the city into 2018 building codes. You can see my frustration,” said Dietrich.

On Oct. 4, Dietrich purchased batteries for Motorola radios. On Oct. 11, he purchased handcuffs. Both items were shipped to the Bandera Post Office.

Hesalroad said Dietrich was told in an email city purchases could only be shipped to City Hall or Public Works.

“Well, in my eyes, I was shipping to the city’s PO Box at the Post Office,” said Dietrich, adding he did not have a key for the box, whose mail is picked up by City Hall employees. He told Hesalroad he did pick up items from the Post Office he had purchased for October’s Nightmare on Maple Street event.

Hesalroad asked if Dietrich had a form in his office for when something needs to be replaced or is damaged. Dietrich said officers inform him and he takes care of it, though he had no method of tracking the situation.

“Then how does the city know if you didn’t purchase a personal item if there is not an incident tied to it? How does the city know that you damaged that Apple cover while on duty if you didn’t document it?”

“I understand what you’re saying, we have no policy for that,” answered Dietrich.

On the issue of the seized forfeiture funds, Finance Consultant Kevin Rule stated Dietrich was the only signatory on the seized forfeiture, which lacks an internal control measure. Treasurer Allyson Wright verified there are two accounts, one for seized funds and another for forfeited funds, and said she found no spending irregularities.

When asked by Hesalroad, how many signatures are required to withdraw money, Wright said two.

Dietrich said the last two checks written out of the forfeited funds account were to the D.A’s Office and the Bandera County Attorney’s Office.

“But the checks that you wrote only had your signature. Is that correct?” asked Hesalroad.

“Probably,” said Dietrich. Hesalroad found these allegations to be sustained.

ALLEGATION 3: Marshal Dietrich may have deleted data from a hard drive containing video surveillance in potential violation of government retention requirements.

Per Hesalroad, on Oct. 19, Shelton emailed Dietrich with Cox cc’d asking for video from the council chamber camera from the Sept. 20 Council meeting.

Dietrich said he told Cox videos were only available back to Oct. 2. When he checked the hard drive, Dietrich saw that it was full and was overwriting itself.

Dietrich told Cox the problem could be solved with a new DVR or reformatting the disk and starting over. Dietrich said Cox told him it was up to him.

Hesalroad asked Cox if he told Dietrich that the hard drive needed to be preserved because its videos were government records.

“The conversation we had was a followup to an open records request for video surveillance from Councilman Russe,” responded Cox. “During the conversation, Dietrich stated he needed to reformat the hard drive, which stores the camera footage. I asked what would happen to the current files. Dietrich said they would be erased. I then provided two options: download the currently available footage or purchase a second hard drive and exchange the unit so the records were retained.

“We had a brief discussion concerning the retention schedule for the surveillance files, which neither one of us knew the exact time frame. Afterwards, I reached out to the City Secretary for a response to the Texas Library Retention Schedule requirements.”

Dietrich told Hesalroad he didn’t know why the other DVR he brought in didn’t work, so he felt his only option was reformatting the drive. He said if Cox had told him not to reformat the drive under any circumstances, then he would have obliged.

“But we were discussing reformatting the drive, and he said it’s up to you, and that’s the problem,” said Dietrich.

Hesalroad said she found this allegation to not be sustained and said she found no criminal intent associated with destroying a governmental record.

ALLEGATION 4: Allowing a previously terminated employee into city facilities, against orders, to train city personnel while unsupervised.

When asked by Haselroad why former Deputy William Smith was terminated, Dietrich said Smith was accused of inappropriate comments to a young woman over several years.

Dietrich said he later discovered Smith was related to the woman through a distant marriage, which he felt was a conflict, and asked then-City Administrator David Jordan to take over the investigation.

“I thought it was odd that she took two years to bring this forward, and I wasn’t really getting honest answers. Jordan wanted to terminate [Smith]. I’m not saying it wasn’t a serious offense, but I just didn’t agree with firing someone without knowing all the information,” said Dietrich.

Dietrich told Haselroad the woman gave a statement but was not truthful.

“The big, big problem I have with it is I go to church with her, and a year prior, she got up in front of the church and asked for forgiveness for all the drinking and fornication that she had done, and I had a hard time with that,” said Dietrich.

Dietrich said Smith admitted to saying the woman’s eyelashes looked like pubic hair but denied most of the remaining allegations in her complaint.

“He was terminated, and I could not find anyone else to hire. I had a convo with two council members who confirmed there is no policy against rehiring. But hey, we all make mistakes. We’ve all done stupid stuff. Oftentimes, if you learn from a mistake, you may not make that again,” said Dietrich.

“But that’s not the first time he’s had a sexual harassment issue,” said Hesalroad.

“That’s correct,” said Dietrich, then confirmed he had placed Smith on leave before for sexual harassment.

In an interview with Haselroad, Councilwoman Toni Kunz said Dietrich approached her about rehiring Smith after Jordan had left and before Cox was hired.

“Do you really think it’s in the best interest of the city of all the stuff that Willy has done over the years and all the reprimanding you have done and given to him in suspensions. And he’s how old now? He still can’t figure out how not to be juvenile,” said Kunz.

She recounted to Dietrich a time when she went to Dough Joe’s to meet a friend for dinner, where she saw Smith make an inappropriate comment to a young woman passing by.

Kunz told Hesalroad, “I just remember being so disgusted. The thought came over me that Smith will never learn.”

She said Dietrich agreed, “He’ll never learn. He’s sitting there in his uniform.”

Kunz asked him, “Do you still think it’s the best thing for the city to bring back?”

Dietrich ended the conversation, “Ok that’s what I needed to hear.”

Cox said Dietrich told him Smith was a good candidate to fill the vacancy.

“Dietrich was not forthcoming with Smith’s name until I asked, which lacked transparency,” said Cox.

Dietrich was emphatic he never asked Cox to rehire Smith.

“That was off the table after the Kunz discussion,” said Dietrich.

Smith was fired November 2021. Dietrich said Smith’s dismissal was a general discharge classification, which would not keep another department or his rehiring. Hesalroad asked Dietrich why he allowed Smith back on the property to teach a course.

“He’s a Bandera Volunteer Fireman. He’s on the property pretty regularly. The fire department is part of City Hall property,” responded Dietrich. “He’s come in there several times when we’re not there. The doors are locked. He’s come to City Council meetings occasionally. His parents and him both have city water,” said Dietrich.

Dietrich said he wanted Smith to do the training because he is a Texas Commission on Law Enforcement instructor, and the Marshal’s Office had paid to be certified in teaching while still employed with the city. He added Smith agreed to do the training free of charge.

Dietrich said Smith was supervised when he did the training at City Hall. He witnessed three armed patrolmen onsite.

“He wasn’t running around freely. He was sitting there at the council table providing instruction to two officers. To say that he was not supervised is not truthful and honest. At no time was I ever told by the City Administrator that Willy Smith is not allowed on any city facilities. Never.”

Hesalroad did not share what her findings were on this allegation.

ADDITIONAL CONCERNS

Hesalroad asked for any additional information, after which Cox expressed concern for his family’s safety.

Cox said two officers knocked on his door on Oct. 22 looking for a different address. Cox said he had never seen law enforcement in his neighborhood and called the Medina County Sheriff, who verified officers were sent to do a welfare check at the address provided to Cox.

Dietrich said he believed he was receiving hateful emails from Cox and provided Hesalroad a copy of an Oct. 25 email which read, “The social media post authored by Misty Dietrich to rally support on your behalf has directly resulted in threats being sent to my wife and I.”

Cox demanded Dietrich and his wife cease and desist any call for action which had potential to jeopardize the safety of his family. Dietrich emailed back, “I certainly have nothing to do with any threats to you or anyone else, nor does my wife. I would never endorse or condone that type of behavior. I will gladly report any knowledge or anything I hear to Danny McMillon.”

On Oct. 17, Cox said he noticed items at his workstation were not as he had left them and documents sorted previously were intermingled. Nothing was missing as far as he could tell, and he asked staff to change his code on his office door and documented the incident on Oct. 21.

On October 20, Treasurer Wright noticed her account payables were out of order in her filing cabinet. She asked Shelton and Cox if they had been in those files and they said no. She filed an incident report on Oct. 24.

“These aren’t allegations that Will’s running around doing this and that. These are things brought up to me in separate interviews during the course of the investigation,” said Hesalroad.

City officials said they were concerned about Dietrich’s refusal to keep officer personnel files in HR as required by the personnel manual. They added Dietrich refused to turn on the GPS tracker in his assigned take-home vehicle, saying he believed it a privacy violation.

Per Haselroad, all other officers are required to use this function. Dietrich told council he had never been asked to produce GPS tracking on his vehicle.

When asked why he was not turning in sick time or vacation, Dietrich said, “I don’t punch a time clock, I don’t accrue comp time. I’m a salaried employee. [Cox] just arbitrarily decided to turn in timesheets from my vacation time when he doesn’t know.”

Dietirch added if he has a doctor’s appointment but works part of the day, then it is not not sick time. He said that he often works many hours over 40 per week, so it should be compensatory.

After a break, councilwoman Lynn Palmer said, “I am hearing that his office has not had the proper oversight. I had full confidence in Will when he took the position that he would be able to run that department with all of the confidence with all of the proper procedures that the city council would expect him to do, without supervision. This is disappointing.”

Gibson told Dietrich, “It really strikes me that as a leader of your department for so many years, that much of that hasn’t been done. Particularly with purchases, hours worked, and leave policy. For a lot of this time, you have been accountable to the council and not to a direct supervisor. That was restructured because the council needed that to happen. It’s felt like there was a lot of resistance in the restructuring of the accountability in putting you under the previous city administrator. That would have been your initiative to create those policies for your department.”

Dietrich responded, “I agree, I’m not trying to deflect that. Please understand that it’s been very very challenging to have been here 10 years and had eight or nine different city administrators. I also tend to like to answer to the council, but that offers its challenges as well because I was still mandated to work with the city administrator previously. Every one of them is vastly different. Now we have one that seems like he’s almost OCD. And we’ve had every extreme in between.”

Palmer said, “We have this employment agreement signed by you on September 25, 2018. Part of this agreement says the foregoing should be approved by the City Administrator in advance of the expenditure in the manner saved in the city’s personnel policy and should be anticipated when preparing a marshal’s division annual budget. It also says that employees shall provide the City Administrator Office of any intent to use vacation time in writing in conformance with the City’s personnel policy. Said communication can be provided electronically. Now you’re saying that you were never told this, when you actually signed onto this in your written agreement.”

Dietrich responded, “Well, that agreement was executed when J. Horry was City Administrator, and he had a vastly different way of doing things than Jordan did, who had a vastly different style than Cox does.”

Councilman Flowers asked, “As a leader, do you think audits are necessary?”

“100 percent”, said Dietrich.

“As part of your agreement and part of your role, as a supervisor, is one of your responsibilities to help create new policy or procedure for your specific department?” asked Flowers.

“Yes, I agreed with Jordan that our City Marshal’s policies are antiquated. They were stolen from the City Ingram. That might have been the ideal thing at the time. It’s just a cookie cutter policy. Frankly it’s hard to read. It almost has no relevance to the City of Bandera itself,” answered Dietrich.

Dietrich told council that he was hopeful during the executive session he would be able to get staffing and work on policies.

Flowers said, “I think that eight years is a long time for things not to be done. You have the ability and the authority to create your own procedures and follow them, whether there is a new city administrator or not. You have half a department that feels your present and the other half doesn’t know where you’re at. That’s concerning to me, these gray areas about what your role is and how efficiently you’ve been managing it.”

Regarding spending and coding, Councilman Jerry Russe told Dietrich the city shouldn’t have to tell him how to run his department.

“It’s one thing if another department tells you how to code their stuff, but you have complete control on how to code your department’s stuff with no intervention by an administrator or council,” said Russe.

Gibson told Dietrich, “You clearly disagreed with both the previous city administrator and with the council regarding Willy Smith’s employment. On the first occurrence with the 14-day suspension and the sexual harassment training, did that training take place?”

“Yes ma’am.”, said Dietrich.

“Would that documentation be found in the HR file?” asked Gibson.

“I’ve never seen the HR file,” answered Dietrich. “I would have to get access to my computer, but yes I can document it,’’ said Dietrich.

Gibson asked Shelton if there were separate HR files for the Marshal’s Office. Shelton confirmed Dietrich keeps his own HR files in his own department.

“If that training was done, it’s probably in Willy’s HR files in Will’s office,” said Shelton.

Hesalroad said she could not find proof of the training.

“After a while, I had to give up,” she said.

Council’s vote followed.