Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Mayor Dismisses City Secretary

In a Press Release dated today, August 19,2008, Mayor Don Hudson placed City Secretary Crystol Birdwell on unpaid administrative leave pending termination. Click Here to View the Full Press Release.

Citing fourteen instances of complaints against Ms. Birdwell, Husdon's letter quoted only seven specific incidents. Hudson went to state his opinion that, "The City Council has lost confidence in her ability to discharge her duties as City Secretary.", according to the Press Release.

The Press Release also named Alice Holloway as Hudson's choice for hiring as the interim City Secretary at least until Secretary Birdwell's termination can be approved by the City Council Meeting of September 4, 2008.

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here is the way I heard about it at about 10:00 a.m. this morning. And, if I am not mistaken this is the 19th.
Phone rings.
I answer.
Voice says, " Don Hudson fired Crystal Birdwell this morning and he is hiring "name".
Well, well poor dumb me. I thought one or both of the following had to be on file: 1) an annual review stating your short comings and giving you a set time to improve, or 2) if your work had slipped since your annual review,at the very least, a follow up review of the quality of your work along with a a set time to improve or be dismissed. And, how can the Mayor select a replacement without advertising. Sounds like he had the replacement lined up. And, was there a City Council Meeting sometime this morning sometime between the time Ms. Birdwell was fired and the "named-one" was hired. Or, was there a City Council meeting this evening about 5:30 p.m. The lights were on in the Administration Building and cars parked in front.
Beware "named-one" if you are not a relative of one of the elected you won't last long. If you have and sense of right and wrong or ethics* you won't last long either.
Ethics defined in the dictionary.

Anonymous said...

You know what's interesting? Almost Every council member is/was out to fire at least one employee...Tiny was after Thom, Marlena after Crystol, Don after Ernie, Old Man Lowe after Marcus, from what I understand Matias doesn't like Bobbie Jo. I guess Dean is the only one not included. Unless someone else knows different. Hmmm...
I like how your title says Mayor "dismisses" City Secretary. That sure was a nice way to put it. It interesting how SHE was "dismissed" for incompetence and because of how THEY can't trust HER. Ha ha. Wilmer's freakin' mayor lives in Palmer! They can't trust her to their standards because she won't lie, steal, or do their dirty deeds. They are accusing her of misconduct! If anything the citizens of Wilmer have or should lose confidence in their council.
The mayor said this was a difficult decision for him...yeah, I'm sure it was, not only does he have to cash out her vacation time, the city owes her $62,000 in back pay from when she was illegally fired last time!
I bet that was a really hard choice. Guess they better put their officers back on the highway so they can meet their quota...oh wait, it is illegal to give officers a quota. What to do now?
Oh what a tangled web we weave.

Anonymous said...

Moron, if you read the letter it stated she could be heard before the council on sept 4. All I want to know is why did it take him so long to get r done? You go girls, that is what we want to see. Wilmer and city hall needs to be cleaned up, your on the right path keep up the good work.

Anonymous said...

We all know who the named person is, it is in the press release. It does not matter what decisions are made for the city, not every citizen in wilmer would be happy. In a community there are always a batch of sour grapes. It does not matter who is hired or not, what changes or does not change, "anonymous" will never be happy

Anonymous said...

Didn't Mayor Root dismiss Ms. Birdwell for performance issues? And didn't the Council bring her back? And wasn't Mayor Hudson then a Council member? Is Mayor Hudson now agreeing that Mayor Root had a viable reason for terminating Ms. Birdwell? Will the Council bring Ms. Birdwell back again?

Anonymous said...

We all know who the named person is, it is in the press release. It does not matter what decisions are made for the city, not every citizen in wilmer would be happy. In a community there are always a batch of sour grapes. It does not matter who is hired or not, what changes or does not change, "anonymous" will never be happy

Anonymous said...

Just amazing. The new secretary should adjust to the job ahead of her by your inviting comments. I feel like a high schooler with this kind of snippity comment being posted constantly. It is fact that the city administration is in shambles due to incompetence. But I dont only hold the secretary accountable, but also the mayor. That is the reason I am willing to cut Mr. Hudson a LITTLE slack. He made a change . Let time determine if it was for the betterment of the city or just another far fetched reaction with no plan of action. I also think the anonymous post hold no water. If you complain about the corruptness of city officials that hide behind the cloak of secrecy then posting anonymous is just as guilty. Just my opinion.

Concerned Citizen
Jeff Steele

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm, another victim in the making. And what a choice, Alice Holloway. Jerry Clark's right hand girl when the Clark bunch ran amuck. Remember Jerry Clark of the "Bring Back Jerry" campaign?

Clark was the Police Chief that was fired for having an inappropriate relationship with one of his dispatchers (that worked under Alice Holloway) while his wife was making policies from the Council bench? The dispatcher by the way that was taking money from prisoner's property. What an exciting new era for Wilmer. And what was it she did while she was City Secretary in Ferris? Hmmmmm.

Nice move "Big 5" (Hudson, Lange, Wells, Leal and Hagen). You are certainly moving us in the right direction now.

Anonymous said...

It's all politically motivated. If there are no write ups or documentation in an annual review of a poor performance then it's probably political. One of the big dogs got mad about something and she had to go. That's the way it usually works in small towns. In my line of work we have to have 3 write ups or documented unsatisfactory job performance evaluations. This prevents the abuse of a management position or in this case mayor/council. I think it's a little suspicious too that they had another city secretary lined up and ready for the job...I bet the new lady has some ties to one of the council members. Any takers?

Anonymous said...

Note to Jeff Steele a/k/a Janie Fricke's spouse, who knows, maybe you or your wife can write a song about it and make some money!

Anonymous said...

Name calling is really mature.

Anonymous said...

Isn't Alice Holloway the City Secretary from Ferris that grossly discharged her duties to the point of termination? And isn't she also the one that Crystol Birdwell personally spoke out for and asked the Ferris council to put her back to work? I bet Crystol Birdwell is taking a hard stance on 20/20 hindsight right about now. I know I would be! I bet Alice Holloway never said thank you either! Is this how she thanks people. Employees watch out, Alice is the one that used to go on the Houston warrant roundups with Tiny Lange and Robert Wells....... Wonder how close they really are? Ponder that one!

Anonymous said...

Has anyone noticed the little crown atop Chief Wells head? Yeah, the way I heard it, Hudson, Lange, Hagen, & Leal melted his badge and then made him a little crown to wear, now in their circle he is known as Chief "King" Wells to you, and don't you forget it, or they will fire you too!

Anonymous said...

Oh wait, Chief "King" Wells is only to wear the crown when he is sitting on the wicked witches (Tiny Lange's) shoulder. I get it now....took me a minute.

Anonymous said...

All I can say is, Thanks Joe for the space to vent and the means to get it out there. "The Big Five" are all about freedom of speech until it hits home (Palmer, Gilmer). Here is your free speech.

Editor Publisher said...

To Anonymous of 08/21/08 7:32AM - free speech but at what price.
Crystol Birdwell is certainly paying a price for our "Free" speech.

Anonymous said...

all the anonymous said has Linda Root all over it just stay in Red Oak

Anonymous said...

Wait a minute....Birdwell was fired once and should have stayed fired. If you cost your employee over $450,000 how long would you have kept your job? Then if your employee had to pay $68,000 because of you, how long would you have had a job? Hudson brought her back, knowing she had not changed, Lange defended her actions in 02'and now she wants her gone... Lange was OK with her when Birdwell cut Lange a check for over $9,000, without council approval,now I guess Lange doesn't need her anymore. She could not do her job then and she can't do her job know, she just pissed off Hudson and he showed her who holds the power. Mr. Terry lost his job, because he pulled over Hudson's granddaughters. Thom is gone because he crossed Hudson with Rader. Now, Crystal is gone because Hudson believes she leaked the information regarding the drug testing for Hudson's granddaughters. There was never any doubt as to her incompetence back in 02' and everything that Hudson listed is the SAME THINGS she was guilty of in 02, there has not been any change in her work performance. She just crossed Hudson. Look, Hudson and his believers can say that he is trying to do the right thing and make some positive changes for Wilmer, but I think the facts speak for themselves. YOU CROSS Hudson you lose your job. That is just the bottom line here. No one sitting on that council has ever cared if these employees did their jobs. They only required that you hid their dirty dealings and hide their misdeeds. So with that said lets get back to Birdwell, she's claiming the city owes her $64,000 for an illegal firing. That figure has grown by $12,000. All she did was collect her unemployment and waited for Hudson to bring her back. The city of Wilmer owes her NOTHING. She owes the city $68,000 for her incompetence for not paying the employee payroll taxes for 4 years. I worked hard to get IRS to reduce $500,000 to $68,000. For this to happen I sent a letter to IRS stating that Birdwell was gone and that certain steps were being taken to prevent this from happening again. As soon as we received confirmation that the IRS lowered the penalty's from over $500,000 to $68,000, Hudson and Lange hired her right back. Look, Hudson is playing "GOD" and his kingdom is Wilmer, make no mistake this was retaliation for Birdwell crossing Hudson. The sickening thing is the vote was clear, the citizens of Wilmer want him as their Mayor. We can complain all we want, we can cry he lives in Palmer, but when the day is done, he sits at the head of the city. I would stand by the council for firing her if it had been for the reasons that Hudson stated, but if the truth be told it was simply because she crossed him. Her incompetence was never an issue when they brought her back in 02' it was done because Hudson wanted to correct a wrong done to her and her family. For the last 5 years or so, she has done the same job she always did for the city, including running it incompetently.
The real problem is, that the whole head of this snake is rotten and you can't kill the snake without cutting off the head. Some of these post are ignorant at best. They may very well ruin a good thing here for the rest of us. Just as they have ruined Wilmer with total mismanagement and their lies. Again, she should never have been brought back by Hudson & Lange the first time, so Hudson gets no kudos for doing the right thing 5 years later. He gets no kudos for firing Lauer again. If he wants to clean house he needs to start with his own. Look, we are no better off now than we were 6 years ago. It is business as usual in Wilmer. The citizens gave them cart blanch with each election. We should hold the voters responsible for this. Those that stayed home, because they did not want to become involved need to wake up. It is not hard to look around Wilmer and know that something is very wrong. Quit waiting until it affects you on a personal level. By then it is to late. Each year, we are given a chance to make changes in Wilmer. And each year, more and more voters stay home.
TO those who call names and just want to hurt someone, please go somewhere else and vent your frustration. I know that you won't but I just thought I'd ask.
As to the Ann comment, yes there is always a group you can't please, so is the way of politics. Whether or not we agree with the decision of bring Ms. Holloway back, time will tell. I wish her the best, she certainly has stepped off into a den of thieves. Thom is gone, Crystal is gone, there maybe no one left to blame for a council that is also incompetent. So we will all wait and see how this year will finish playing out. As to those who think that certain procedures should have been followed, that may be true in the business world, but not in Wilmer. In Wilmer, you work at the will of the city. The state of Texas is a right to work state. This means that you can be fired without cause and ask any employment attorney and he will tell you the same thing. When you work at the will of anyone, they can fire you with or without notice.
She claims they cant fire her without 2/3 vote, because she is an officer of the city. Lets see if Hudson has the votes!

L. Root

Anonymous said...

I love this....Anonymous claims that it's politicaly motivated if there isn't a write up or documentation. How do you know there isn't? Been talking to Crystol? Think she would admit it if there is? Get real!

If you had planned on letting an employee go, and they were in a critical job position, wouldn't you have someone lined up to take their place so there wouldn't be an interruption of services? No difference!

Anonymous said...

I think it was Mrs. Birdwell who got the city in troble a few years ago with the state of Texas and the city had to pay over 500,000.00 dollars to get clear. I was told that by someone. anybody know anything about that. I think Mrs. Root can answer that, she was the Mayor at that time. Mayor Hudson, any comments

Anonymous said...

Crystol Birdwell is paying for what they made her do. They sat in city hall gave her unobtainable goals and then got pissed off when she couldn't keep up with the work load they already gave her to do along with whatever riff raff they threw her direction. You cannot sit in an office all day long and bark orders and expect someone to do them when you won't leave. She got fired for doing what they told her to do. If anyone has any confidence lost it was the council and their backroom politics that have been going on since May. Don't worry May will come around again and by the looks of things the political future of these yayhoos looks pretty bleek to me. I heard the S**t hit the fan back when Joe broke the story of the drug tested granddaughter. I always thought that if you didn't want something to get out because it was illegal you just didn't do it right. She was doing what her boss told her to do and now look where she sits. All wilmer employees are damned if they do damned if they don't. I think they should start talking. I bet some council people would run scared. Maybe talk about the quota that they where giving in the police department. Or how about fake license plates. Hum just a suggestion.

Anonymous said...

To Anonymous of 8/21 3:28 and 3:59 Can't you Hudsons & Eggens stay off this Blog site? As for Linda Root, why don't you go do a little shopping? What caused you the election was your hidden agendas and the illegally filed BANKRUPTCY, go run up some more bills and file again, the laws are stiffer now! As for Ann and her "sour grapes" you fell right off the muskadine grapevine yourself. Who cares about your infinite wisdom. You are now blogging cos you can't hear or what?

As far as I know Crystol can't be reached, they took her phone, not out of necessity, out of sheer nosiness, to see who was calling her. She has no phone to reach her by. All of you who used to lurk around her house after her 02 firing are just guilty, nosy and vindictive ruthless morons! One thing for sure LR never said "this time" the $1.5 millon was missing, LR must have found it and took it with her before Hudson could grab it! You are all morons!

If I were C. Birdwell, I would be jumping on the council bench singing "Take this job and shove it", they have no intent of bringing her back or giving her a chance for an "innocent until charged hearing". Their minds are set and their ears are shut, and that is that. Too bad for those that did not want an auto auction, there went the testimony and the records!

Good luck Ms. Birdwell, you always stopped everything you were doing to help me, no matter what important task it took you away from. I always liked you and all your family. Really Good down home folks. Too bad you got caught up with those 7 losers (Hudson, Lange, Hagen, Leal, Rolison, Lowe & dont forget Wells). When I see you again I will hug your neck for taking the leap with grace and dignity, as always.

Wonder who Lange is going to be borrowing money from now that Birdwell is gone? Isn't she the one that kept milking Birdwell almost every week after payday? I think she just lost her free interest checking and Bank!..... And isn't there something about some hot checks floating around written by lange? Why couldn't she pay these off after all the money that the Allen Group and Dalport gave her for unreported campaign funds? Someone should call the ethics board, attorney general, district attorney, secretary of state, somebody, just make a call!
She blogs about her husband then tries to hire her live in boyfriend's nephew, but yet went to the DA when the previous council hired Thom back. MMM Double Standards if there ever were any!! My My!

Anonymous said...

Well said Linda, thanks for the input. Some of us appreciate it and you.

Anonymous said...

In response to anonymous that said I must have been talking to Ms. Birdwell about her write up file. I have not spoken to Ms. Birdwell and do not even know Ms. Birdwell..If you read the first posting another anonymous says Well, well poor dumb me. I thought one or both of the following had to be on file and they give there 2 reasons. I was going off of that. There may be written statements of a bad performance but I can almost bet there aren't.

Now normally when I'm getting ready to fire an employee no I don't have a backup immediately available because we post the job in the employment section or on a website for interviews to be conducted. We don't have someone walk off there current job to come be the "Interim" secretary, wouldn't it be a little strange to give up your current full time job to come and be an interim secretary when it's not fully done until September 4th?? I don't think I would put myself in the situation with the economy the way it is and there's no gaurantee of keeping a job that's full time much less interim.

So no I have not been talking to Ms. Birdwell nor do I know her personally just using the brain God gave me and the knowledge that I have about the council and the mayor.

Anonymous said...

OMG Alice the Ogar has moved from Ferris to Wilmer. I'm praying for you people. She ripped Ferris apart and then ran away when the heat got on her, she will do the same to Wilmer! I'm sorry for your hell she is going to put you through. The people of Ferris already have lived it.

Anonymous said...

To anonymous of 08/22/08 9:08am
You must be kidding....$1.5 million? Darn, if that were true, I certainly would not be blogging, I would be shopping....
As for hidden agenda...Just another campaign lie to along with all the others...As for the bankruptcy, true, true, true...Didn't know it had to become public or I would have told it myself..Nothing to hide there, PUBLIC RECORD...Lurking around her house...WHY she was never that important to begin with...The facts are what they are and the proof has all been documented. I will continue to blog, whether or not I live in Red Oak or Timbuktu..As far as Birdwell goes, when she was fired in 02'there were 3-4 boxes of unopened mail when I took office. Bills were unpaid, notices unanswered, hundreds of $$$ spent in Audit fees, because she would not get the information to them in a timely manner. $$$ in late fees, because she couldn't get the bills paid on time. None of this was because the money was not there, it was because she was and is, INCOMPETENT...
And whether or not you or anyone else likes it, I was the Mayor of Wilmer. And for 2 years, I took more abuse (both verbal & physical) from city officials, citizens and anyone else who thought they had the right to do or say anything nasty about me and my family, to you and people like you, I feel nothing but contempt & pity.
The only things I have said in any of my blogs has been nothing but the truth. For you and people like you, "If you can't prove it, make it up". Hide behind anonymous and keep making it up as you go. You sound like you have a good imagination, to bad you can't find something better to do with it. Lies are an endless stream of made up truths, when you have no facts to back them up.
To the person who stated something positive about me, THANK YOU, there are still decent people who live in Wilmer, it's just that the few nasty ones seem to be heard above the rest.
Former Mayor Linda Root

Anonymous said...

To Former Mayor Linda Root and Mayor Don Hudson and present council members.
You are the only nasty people that lived in Wilmer, the others all live in Palmer. As for Lange, Hagen and Leal, I pity you. You are all about to find out what responsibilities fall on your head whether you like it or not. You should read up on the laws instead of listening to someone else quoting something they know nothing about either. Mr. Matias claims to be an ex-Reserve Dallas County Sherriff, so what? That does not mean you know parlimentary procedure or anything about what went on in this City prior to 5/10/08. You didn't, except what certain ones wanted you to know, their version! Marlena is a number nut. She can't even figure out which husband she wants, so she keeps bouncing back and forth between 2nd and 4th, next month will she go back to number 1 or 3? Lange is lost as a goose, been on the council since 2000 and still can't make a motion right. The place purchased in East Texas is not for her and "her husband", its for her "husband" to send her so he can get away from her too.
Root is a psycopath, no harm done as long as she stays on Hidden Lane. Blog away baby, your the one my mother warned me about when I was a child. As a matter of fact, all of you are. You are scary.
Don Hudson has held two private meetings (that we know of) with Carroll Estes to help him bring in that auto auction. If that keeps up, you will go down and go down hard. Just an observation.