JARRELL, Texas — Things got heated at Jarrell City Hall on Tuesday night as the city council, the mayor and community members gathered to address a complaint filed against certain council members.
Jarrell City Manager Danielle Singh said some council members sexually harassed her and discriminated against her because she's a woman. She filed a formal complaint last month.
People who attended Tuesday's meeting said City Hall was packed, with people filling city council chambers, out to the lobby, and even outside.
“I know some of the council members asked that this be done in closed, executive session, but it’s my First Amendment right to speak,” Jarrell Mayor Patrick Sherek said. “I’m going to go through a series of communications that I’ve had with council members that I find concerning and would like an answer to.”
Sherek read out every text message, call, email and accusation in the complaint Singh filed, and council members got to respond to them in real time.
So did people from the community.
“It's time to put it to rest. Let her [Singh] do her job, you [council members] do your job,” Rusty Bryson said.
Bryson was the first person to speak from the crowd. She’s a resident of Jarrell and a former city council member and mayor pro tem.
“I was on the council that hired Danielle, and I knew that she was what we needed,” Bryson said.
Bryson said before her last term on city council ended, she noticed tension between certain city council members and the city manager, just a few weeks into Singh’s employment last summer.
“Mr. Seidel – she was not doing what he wanted her to do. She was doing what was right and what was legal, and I think that’s where the issues started,” Bryson said.
She said things escalated once other council members were elected into office. She said she wasn’t surprised to hear about the alleged sexual harassment and gender discrimination complaint.
“It's very embarrassing. It's a black eye for Jarrell, and it's not the type of publicity that we want,” Bryson said. “I love Jarrell, and I love the people. I don’t think this is what Jarrell should be known for. We have great things going on.”
“We have three bad councilmembers … You have no idea what you're doing. You're a puppet and you're going with this clown,” Jarrell resident Nicole Mills said to council members at Tuesday's meeting.
Mill said she appreciates the transparency from the meeting.
“I think it opened our eyes even more than we thought we knew,” she said.
Mills said she was never really interested in local politics until she started living next to one of the accused city council members.
“We have had some not very good communication with him about other stuff. So, between that and the things that he’s been complaining about the city manager, we became even more involved due to what we feel is corruption,” Mills said.
She said the accused council members avoided taking responsibility for their actions, and she thinks the city needs better.
“We want to grow in the right way. We don't expect councilmen to be perfect, but we expect them to be honest. We expect them to carry on with good character and try to do what's best for the citizens,” she said. “We do not want self-servers. Those three are self-servers.”
Mills said she supports Singh and the work that she’s done for the town.
“She put together a Christmas event. She got all of the small businesses involved – put together all of these events and vendors. All those small businesses thrived that night,” she said.
Mills said she's been collecting signatures for the past month to see if they can remove those city council members.
“It has become very the norm that crime and bad behavior is normal, and I don't believe in that,” she said. “I think at some point, we have to take a stand for what’s right.”
“[Singh is] just what Jarrell needs,” Bryson said.
KVUE reached out to all city council members for a second time on Wednesday. Councilman Adam Marsh said the complaint was eye-opening and should be taken seriously. He also said the one claim he's mentioned in was taken out of context.
Singh’s attorney, Brent Wertzer from Kaplan Law Firm, said the city council did not take action on disciplining or firing Singh. Wertzer said he will continue to advocate for her right to work in a respectful, harassment-free environment.