My inbox has been flooded in support of my recent TSB opinion column that our city manager, Jason Gray, mishandled the process of firing Doug Kowalski and replacing him with a new chief of police, Joe Williams. But I believe in continuing to research and validate a strong belief, even if in some cases that makes me admit I’m not on the right track.
So, I decided to follow up on the thoughts I conveyed in my column and do just that – more research. More conversations with people close to the situation. And in this case, my initial beliefs have become even stronger.
A little history of the situation is probably important here. On Friday morning, Oct. 5, then Chief of Police Kowalksi was relieved of his position, reassigned as special assistant to the city manager, asked to turn in his gun, badge and uniform shirt on the spot and was instructed not to return to the police station to talk with the officers he’d led for more than a decade. Gray announced Kowalki’s reassignment, as well as the appointment of former assistant city manager Williams as the new chief of police, to members of the McKinney Police Department via video on YouTube. That announcement was available for public consumption.
Members of McKinney City Council, including Mayor Brian Loughmiller were unaware of Gray’s actions until they received an email following Gray’s termination of Kowalski. On the day it happened, many our city’s elected leaders received frantic texts and emails asking them about something they knew nothing about.
I still find it appalling that our city manager would have the audacity to take such actions without discussing it with our council members, who were caught off guard. Blindsided is the word I’ve heard some of them use. It appears obvious that no plans were made to construct consistent messaging that would empower members of council to deal with the press and public.
As I said in my previous column, I don’t have any idea if Kowalski deserved to be terminated. Gray stated that it was due to philosophical differences. That is often to be expected when new leadership steps in. But I’m outraged about the way in which the processes were handled.
Gray could have let Kowalski go with dignity, giving him an opportunity to speak to his officers and a chance to choose to resign or retire. He could have avoided this public debacle that has ensued and has given a black eye to our city. He should have discussed his plans with the council and the city’s communications department and plotted out a process for announcing the change. Instead of appointing his buddy as the new chief, he should have opened up the position for recruitment, appointing a member of the current police force as interim.
Outcries of cronyism were heard throughout the city. Sources close to the situation say that it has been Gray’s intention to hire Williams as Chief of Police since his arrival in McKinney, and, they say that Gray fired former Deputy City Manager Jim Parrish in 2011 to make room for Williams. Williams was Chief of Police for the City of Celina during Gray’s tenure as City Manager there.
What I found in the Code of Ethics of the International City / County Management Association (ICMA) and the Texas City Management Association (TCMA) Code of Ethics makes me questions Gray’s ethics and intentions.
The ICMA code states that members should “Be dedicated to the highest ideals of honor and integrity in all public and personal relationships in order that the member may merit the respect and confidence of the elected officials, of other officials and employees, and of the public.
I ask you, does Gray’s behavior merit the respect and confidence of our elected officials and the public? Do we have confidence in his ability to handle similar situations in the future?
The behavioral guidelines of the TCMA further clearly state:
Tenet 11. Handle all matters of personnel on the basis of merit, so that fairness and impartiality govern a member's decisions pertaining to appointments, pay adjustments, promotions, and discipline.
Guideline: Equal Opportunity. All decisions pertaining to appointments, pay adjustments, promotions, and discipline should prohibit discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, political affiliation, disability, age, or marital status.
It should be the members’ personal and professional responsibility to actively recruit and hire a diverse staff throughout their organizations.
If it should be the professional responsibility of our city manager to “actively recruit” and hire a diverse staff, why did Gray simply appoint Williams to the position without going through a recruitment process to find the best candidate for the job?
I contacted multiple individuals who have a combine 70 plus years of city manager experience, all of whom asked not to be identified. All of the city managers I interviewed agreed that it is, in most cities, within the city manager’s power to hire and fire department heads. They also made it clear that they did not have enough information to comment on whether Gray’s firing of Kowalksi was appropriate. What they did agree on is that the process could have been handled in a more professional manner.
The sources commented that it would be “highly unusual” for a city manager to fire a senior executive without first apprising council.
"It may not be required, but it’s a courtesy to let them know. It’s wise (for a city manager) to maintain a cooperative role with council,” one of the city managers I talked with on Monday said. Another source said the cardinal rule in the business of being a city manager is “No surprises.”
My sources repeatedly mentioned that city managers should act in a manner that fosters trust between the city manager, council, staff and the public. All felt that Gray’s actions betrayed that trust.
With regard to Gray’s appointment of a new chief of police, my contacts said they felt it would be more prudent to go through the process of recruitment.
“It is always important to go through the process. You can’t separate the process from the product,” one said, saying that Gray now has an issue of building confidence in the product (Williams as Chief of Police) because he didn’t go through the process.
As it stands now, McKinney citizens may not have the trust and confidence in the appointment of Williams because he was not required to meet the qualifications for applying for the job. He came from managing a department of approximately 9 officers in Celina to now being responsible for a department of 200. I wonder what Mr. Gray was thinking given this decision. I wonder if I can trust his decision making processes in the future.
So, citizens of McKinney, what do you think? Did Gray violate the public’s trust?
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I do think he has violated the trust, and maybe there is a way we can measure how much he has violated the trust. In his history, how much has he overpaid the replacements compared to the current employees that he is replacing? Also, how many times has he actually interviewed applicants instead of just naming Williams? I now wonder how Williams feels, does he realize he has very little support from McKinney taxpayers because he is bound with Gray forever? Did Williams know about the plan to become police chief in McKinney? Does a person like Williams even possibly consider the chance that he could remain "under the radar" and have a longer and better career if he had remained as asst. city manager instead of taking the police chief job?
I think the players could back off, and they would be much better off. I think Gray could change his mind, announce Williams will return to asst. city manager, have an open search, and everybody except the former chief would be happy. I would think the asst. city mgr. position would be a cakewalk anyway, compared to police chief. The pay appears to be about the same.
I imagine Gray has bigger ambitions? Maybe he wants to continue to move up to a bigger city, and pull off the same thing? How high could he go?
Also, someone should do some research and find out how many city managers McKinney has had in the past 10 or so years. Why do we go through so many? Do all city managers like to spend more money each time they hire someone? Are there successful city managers that believe in trying to save taxpayer dollars? We should look to those cities and seek advice from them.
Dear Survivor, that truly was a wonderful comment posting on your part. Before joining this forum on TQB I too read that nasty posting by that individual concerning the two black woman who ran for the city council of McKinney. How dare that poster make such an observation in a wonderful city like McKinney where every color and race have equal opportuniity under the watchful eyes of our city council and those in the shadows that feed off of and run this city!
Angie. I'm new to your column but have enjoyed reading what you have to say. I must admit that I don't agree with what's being "reported" by today's press over half the time because of special interest that influence all of it. However, I find that you seem to have a significant grasp on your information and are paying due diligence to investigating and asking questions as to get to the truth. I've worked in this city for a long time, made large amounts of contacts and have come to trust a lot of the information that I've found reliable from people that have a thumb on the cities pulse. Unfortunately, you seem to have a very few "readers"...(haters) out there that not only do they have a SIGNIFICANT and endless case of diarrhea of the mouth but are also completely off the mark in every way as far as facts towards the MPD and the Chief. It seems that the loudest, and most obnoxious people that comment on here are usually the most uninformed. More so than that, one individual feels the need to voice personal racial issues with their filthy, racist opinions and statements. I can only hope they will continue reading your column so that they will return back from never-never land and join the real world.
Keep it up!
Thank you Angie for a well written, objective article and providing the information from ICMA & TCMA Code of Ethics. I know I will be following closely what happens within our city government to rebuild trust and confidence in our city leaders during the aftermath of this debacle.
Has anyone checked if Williams is legally holding office as Chief of Police. To be chief you must hold a TCLEOSE certification as a peace officer. He left Police work, did he maintain his certification?? McKinney you need to check this out. Whether Kowalski's firing was justified is another story that needs to be probed, hopefully McKinney has its duck in a row or else Gray will be in front of council in executive session explaining why they ar ebeing sued for wronful termination. The method this was executed is appalling, Gray should be so lucky to experience what he has handed out. I still can't believe McKinney council hired this guy as city manager, they must have been asleep at the wheel, well I think they are awake now and Gray should start polishing his resume as he is about to be sent packing
Great points Angie. I would add one thing to your comment that the way the City Manager handled this gave the City a black eye. Though that is a very true statement it needs to be taken even further in that the Mayor and Council also contributed to the City's black eye by hiring such an inexperienced City Manager to begin with.
Also just like the Mayor and Council can't hire and fire direct reports to the City Manager or other staff we (the citizens) can't hire and fire the City Manager but we can and do hire and fire the Mayor and Council and I hope with 4 positions on our Council coming up for election next year I hope the Citizens remember this and other things that the Council is responsible for and fire all 4 of them if they run for re-election especially if the Council doesn't take swift and immediate action in rectifying the hiring of this City Manager.
Angie, very well said. As a citizen of McKinney I am waiting and watching to see how our leaders handle this and who has the leadership to fix it.
elevenfourteen: Bolton was a great Police Chief for Dallas. He became a broken man after the "White Establishment" of the DPD decided to "rail-road" him out of his well earned position of trust for the majority of miniority citizens of Dallas. This same principle has held true for two outstanding black woman in McKinney that in the past ran for seats on our city council. The last one that ran, had her political signs removed from the streets at night while the MPD actually stood by and watched. Hang your heads in shame McKinney for allowing such thugs in our community.
The possibility exist in the way it was written: "elevenfourteen: Bolton was a great Police Chief for Dallas" It is possible to interrupted that I wrote he was a great Chief.
I want to clarify and make sure all the readers in this forum realize that I certainly don't think Bolton was a good Chief of Police for Dallas.
I'm not trying to argue about Bolton. I'm just clarifying and letting people know that McKinneyTaxpayer was the author of that post, not me.
Angie, That was well written and objective. Kudos.
Q and A. Was this firing the right decision? no idea. Was it handled well? no. Is more transparency required when firing a visible iconic chief than say a dogcatcher? no. is it a good idea to have more transparency in such a situation? yes. Can you hire williams without an interim tag? It appears so. Is it a good idea? no. Can you dodge questions? for a while I guess. and lastly This country is forgiving. except with coverups. its like a pack of wild dogs with the fatted calf. do you not get that? really?
Cronyism, Stay the course...Robert Daake, Jack Carr, Tadd Phillips, Chris "Big Boy" C. IT., Jason Gray and Joe Williams.
To fix the City of McKinney's Outlaw Cronyism problem, You must fire the above mentioned! Would Becky Oliver's services be warranted?
There's not any doubt Gray violated public trust. Anyone with half a brain now realizes that Gray's plan from the get-go was to put Williams in as "his" Chief of Police. I've worked for City government for 40 years and this is probably the worst cases of abuse of power I've seen. I don't personally know all the players involved but it's not necessary. Just reading the history of events and common sense is enough to realize this is not the way things are done. Gray and Williams are obviously buddies of several years at other cities since they follow each other around. Another thing that is obvious; you don't take a chief of a city with 9 officers and put him in charge of 200. Williams doesn't have the clout to supervise the professional officers of the McKinney Police Department.
After reading comments about this from many sources of the news (some nationwide and not just local), I would venture to guess that if they knew about this, more than 1/2 of the McKinney populations would not approve of this firing. Not only will the City Manager never reclaim any trust by the citizens but the City Council will also loose the confidence that was entrusted to them by the citizens if they allow this situation to stand.
A City Manager can not effectively lead when even 10% of the citizens lack confidence in him. Like I said, I bet the number is closer to 50%.
The issue of the column that Ms. Bado addresses is not necessarily whether or not the police chief's termination was justified. If you read her column objectively, her issues are the manner in which the termination occurred and the obvious, blatent and factually documented cronynism that the city manager Gray has practiced. She questioned integrity and intent. Are his actions consistent with the professional standards of his professional organizations and if not, why? Secondly, what was his intent? Based on his record, it is obvious his intent was to put his buddy Jim Willams in high level positions for which he was not qualified, or did not have to compete for. This is cronynism by any standard which is unprofessional at minimum and based on the professional code of ethics of his organizations, it is unethical.
It is clear that the police chief is held is very high regard by citizens and his police officers, everyone I know in this community is questioning whether or not his termination was justified. The city manager did the same thing in Celina. There was a petition to support the Celina police chief after he was fired by Gray there as well.
Thank you Les. I have heard similarities of Gray's actions in Celina from a close friend of the former Celina Police Chief.
I am curious, I thought this was an objective news/community blog site? The word on the street is that you are a close and personal friend of the our now ex-chief. It seems to me that many McKinney resident postings are forgetting the long twelve year history of the MPD, a history that has been a great sorrow to the McKinney community many times over the years. It is interesting how many officers are loyal to our now ex-chief by their postings under various site names defending our ex-chief. Facts, twelve years ago our ex-chief was fired by then the Police Chief of Dallas, a Terrel Bolton. Our ex-chief at the time was one five assistant chiefs that was terminated. He did collect unfairly over a million dollars from the city of Dallas for wrongful termination. Bolton then had great justification for the firing, was a true great Police Chief for Dallas. At that time frame in coming to McKinney as an Assistant Chief, Kowalski brought many of his buddies from the Dallas Police department to join him in McKinney. Many of these individuals were part of the "False White Baking Power Arrests" that made all the Dallas papers at the time which resulted in the false arrest of many innocent spanish individuals where false evidence was planted on them by then those DPD officers. Many of those suspected officers came to our department to avoid possible arrests as many detectives were charged by the then Dallas DA. The great part to all of this, the innocent planted victims of this Dallas Police Department were released from jail. It is my belief now, that our City Manager Gray handled this termination in this way, out of personal fear of his safety from our very own MPD. If anything Mr. Gray deserves a medal from the City of McKinney for his courage. We need to stand with our City Manager, Mr. Gray and his selection of our new Police Chief, as a majority of members of our city council have also decided after hearing in closed session for the reasons of the firing. What has made the city of McKinney, Texas number Two in the Nation as a great place to live, has been its residents. Now with the upcoming "Cleaning house of our MPD," we truly will become a number One city.
First, word on the street is incorrect. My only connection with former Chief Kowalski has been a business connection in the role of journalist. If you read my column objectively, it isn't about whether or not Kowalski should have been fired, it is about the how that process, and the process of appointing a new chief, that took place. We are not debating the merit of Gray's decision to replace Kowalski.
Thank you Angie for being objective and sticking to the facts that Gray handled the situation horribly. None of this would be an issue if Gray hadn't posted that youtube video, as most of us would have never known that Gray named Williams the new chief without doing an appropraite search.
Take off the tin foil hat McKinney Taxpayer. I don't think there is even a single thing that is factual in your post.
If you looked at the City of McKinney as a large corporate organization, there is no way these actions by Gray would be acceptable. It just ain't done this way out there in the real world of business. And our city is a business. Really Gray, didn't you think this one through before you acted?? Seems like common sense that you would inform the City of your intentions, whether they were right or wrong in this instance.
Excellent article and points!
Angie, I could not agree with you and the people you spoke with more. It definitely smells of cronyism as far back as Jason's appointment of Williams as asst. city manager. It just smacks of arrogance and disrespect to Chief Kowalski for his many years of service. As you well know I don't sugarcoat much so why doesn't the City Council "grow some ....." and do something? May be time for the citizens of McKinney to re-evaluate our present Council excluding Brian & Ray who have made their feelings known about this.