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Brymer BRYMER'S DEMANDS
Ousted College Station City Man-
A.-_--- _ _ ager Tom Brymer is threatening a
From
lawsuit if the City Council does not:
reatens pity Council t' determine ■ Declare t actions illegal.
whether Brymers firing was i Reinstate stato Bryrrier or allow
handled legall y, according to him to resign.
the Texas Open Meetings Act. ■ If reinstated, give reimburse-
If reinstated, Brymer is ask- meat for back pay, benefits and
ing that his personnel record be legal fees.
awsul corrected to reflect he was not ■ If allowed to resign, provide a
terminated. He also is request- written apology, corrected person-
ing reimbursement for back nel record, 1.2 months' severance
pay, benefits and legal fees. benefits and reimbursement for
Ousted city manager tolresign, the former city rman legal fees,
ager is asking for a written not giving Tom Brymer the
outlines his demands apology, 12 months of sever- opportunity to address the
ante benefits and reimburse- council with the reasons that
By APRIL AVISON ment of legal fees. the council was concerned
Eagle Staff Writer Brymer received a severance about his performance and the
package that included six reasons they wanted him ter-
Ousted College Station city manager Tom months' pay from his $145,814 minated.
Brymer charged Tuesday that he was fired ille- annual salary. "I think that is not a proper
gally and threatened to sue the city and each of If the council does not agree way of handling an evaluation.
the four council members that voted for his ter- to either of the two options out- I don't think that was right."
mination if they don't reverse course. lined in Rife's letter, the attor- Silvia said he could not com-
The City Council will ney said he will file a lawsuit ment further, citing the pend-
discuss , Wednesday- on Brymer's behalf against the ing litigation.
how it will respond to IF YOU GO city and the four members of -
Brymer, whose attor- The College- Station the council - Nancy Berry,
ney outlined his posi- City Council meets at 'J Ron Gay, John Happ and Chris
tion in a letter sent to 2:15 p rn Wednesdav Scotti - who voted for his ter-
the city. initiation.
The council voted 4-3 at City Fiala. 1101 Texas The City Council already had
'to terminate Brymer Ave, Meetings are broad- a meeting scheduled for 12:15
following a closed ses cast live on Channel ;t9. p.m. Wednesday, but discus-
sion that ended in the sion on the "threat of litigation"
early hours of Friday morning. The posted has been added to the agenda as
meeting agenda did not indicate that the coun- an emergency supplement
cil would be discussing the city manager's because Brymer has requested
employment. a response by Friday.
Wayne Rife, Brymer's attorney, sent a letter College Station Mayor Ron
Tuesday to City Attorney Harvey Cargill stating Silvia joined council members
that a lawsuit will be filed if the council does not Susan Lancaster and Ben White
meet certain demands by 5 p.m. Friday. The let- in voting against Brymer's ter-
ter also was distributed to each council member. mination. Silvia said the coun-
Rife states in the letter that Brymer was cil plans to address the letter in
"completely blind sided with the news that [the executive session and "see what
council] had deliberated the matter in closed we want to do."
session and that he had been fired." "Seeing as how Tom
Brymer declined comment Tuesday, defer- Brymer's termination was han-
ring fo Rife. dled, there are some concerns
According to the letter, Brymer is asking that that we have as a council," Sil-
the council declare its action was illegal and via said. "I'm concerned about
either reinstate him as city manager or allow
him to resign. The Brazos County District
Attorney's Office is reviewing the actions of the
Councilman Gay initiat(
the discussion at the meetir
fast week about Brymer
employment. He said in a
interview with The Eagle c
Monday that he chose
broach the subject because tl
mayor has insisted that perso
nel issues be discussed in tl
presence of the full council, ai
"we were reaching a period
time where it's going to be dif
cult over the next several me(
ings to have all seven count
members present."
The four council membe
who voted for the ouster hw
declined to give specific re
sons for the termination. B
Gay said it has to do with "lea
ership and goals and visior
while Happ called it a "dill(
ence in philosophy."
Gay confirmed Tuesday th
he received the letter from Ri
but declined to comment.
"It's a threat," he said.
don't have any reaction to it.'
■ April Avison's e-mail address
apri I . avi son@theeagle. com.