Bee Cave City Council members unanimously rejected former Municipal Court clerk Jennifer Curry’s request for a grievance hearing by the council and her settlement offer at their regular meeting April 27.

The city fired Curry on Feb. 25 after suspending her with pay as it investigated Municipal Court Judge Jack Stick’s allegations that Curry was in indirect contempt of court for failing to release original court documents to Stick to take home.
Council members noted Curry’s and her attorney John Judge’s absence at the meeting and questioned her intent.
“If somebody is asserting a right or [making] a request and they don’t show up to that meeting, I’m very curious as to their conviction. Why should we accept it if they are not even here?” council member Bob Dorsett said.
City Administrator Frank Salvato recommended that council members deny Curry’s request for a hearing because he believed she did not follow the city’s grievance procedure.
“There’s an intermediate step after they file a grievance. They are supposed to appeal it, essentially. We’re not sure that that step was taken care of,” before Curry and Judge requested a hearing by the City Council, City Attorney Patty Akers said.
Akers and Salvato met with Judge on March 31 to discuss the grievance process.
“I argued that they would be required to meet with the City Administrator. They argued that that is a waste of time because he had already been involved in the decision regarding termination,” Akers recounted.
The city attorney and administrator offered to meet with Curry and Judge on April 20, but Salvato alleged that they made no attempt to meet with him on that date.
Council member Bill Goodwin said that Judge did not attend three of four scheduled meetings that affected Curry.
“Does he realize what that looks like for his client? Am I wrong to think that that looks bad,” Goodwin asked. “Despite their seeming incompetence, why would we not want to hear it? What happens if we don’t?”
Council member Chad Bockius responded that he would not want the council to violate city policy approved by the council.
“I’m not willing to violate the policy that the city has out there today. I think that sets a bad standard,” Bockius answered. “If [Curry] were to complete the process, if she were to complete the steps, if she were to do the things that we require, I might reconsider.”
Curry has declined media requests for interviews, but Judge said that the City Council’s denials will likely lead to litigation.
“I think that leaves the door open for her to file suit, and I believe that is her intention,” Judge said Monday. “In my opinion, the City Council has made a grave mistake.”
He said he was unable to attend the April 27 council meeting because he was in East Texas attending to an ill relative.
“I told my client to stay away [from the meeting] because I did not want her to be there without me,” Judge said.
He declined to release the settlement offer submitted to the city, and the City of Bee Cave is seeking a ruling by the Attorney General to determine if the settlement offer is subject to open records requests.
The catalyst for Curry’s eventual suspension and termination began when Judge Stick ordered her to release hundreds of original court documents to him to take home Jan. 26 for review, her attorney Judge said, but because she is the custodian of those files, Curry denied Stick’s request.
A week before that request, the issue over document management was building to a head in a string of e-mails.
Curry e-mailed Stick on Jan. 19 to ask him to come in to sign papers that she said were piling up in office baskets.
“Can you please start coming in weekly to sign? It makes it difficult to locate files and makes me more behind when I have tons of responses to send out/etc.,” she wrote.
On Jan. 26, Stick asked Curry to have someone bring him the documents that required his immediate review to that night’s council meeting for him to take home.
“Alternately, I will start whittling away at this stuff tomorrow. I’d rather be able to bring some stuff home tonight, like the letters. They usually take a while,” he e-mailed her.
In her response to Stick, Curry cited her Texas Crime Information Center and National Crime Information Center training that specifies how files should be stored in a secure area.
“Court files are supposed to remain in a protected area. I am responsible for court files … . They are supposed to remain locked,” Curry wrote.
Stick ordered her on Jan. 26 to release the records to him to sign.
“Jennifer, it is inconceivable to me that a judge cannot review court papers in the evening hours. I have never heard of such a thing and will not countenance it beginning in my court,” he replied via e-mail.
Bee Cave Deputy City Administrator Travis Askey told Curry on Jan. 27 that Akers determined the documents must be turned over to Stick and he would bear the burden of responsibility for the records.
“We can use the Municipal Court application software to note file location. Doing so will help ensure we continue to provide service to our public customers who may happen to contact us regarding court business in the interim. … Further, Judge Stick will ensure all documents are returned in a timely fashion accordingly,” Askey e-mailed her.
After she extracted the criminal history, Curry produced the documents that same day, her attorney said.
Stick accused her of indirect contempt afterward and she received her summons on Feb. 11, and her original hearing took place Feb. 12 in Bee Cave Municipal Court with Stick presiding.
Curry and her attorney at the time, David Tuckfield, asked for a continuance because she said she was informed of the hearing the day before and had little time to prepare witnesses.
When Stick asked the defendant and her attorney who they would have called to testify, Tuckfield replied that they would have subpoenaed Stick, Askey and Bee Cave Administrative Assistant Fonda Bright.
Curry also sought Stick’s recusal because she was an officer in the court in which he presides.
Stick, who has declined media requests for interviews, recused himself and granted her a motion of continuance.
“I have never seen an order of the court defied as openly as that,” he said during the hearing.
Stick referred the case to Judge Billy Ray Stubblefield, presiding judge for the Third Administrative Judicial Region, who assigned Senior Judge Paul Davis to hear the case.
Based on Stick’s allegations, Curry faced four counts of indirect contempt of court. Davis dismissed all four counts based on two motions by Curry’s attorney and two motions by the prosecution.
“The state’s attorney wrote in to say they didn’t have enough evidence to support the charges,” Judge said.
Since Stick cited Curry with indirect contempt and referred the case to the Third Administrative Judicial Region, Bee Cave City Council members have reviewed his appointment, employment, evaluation and duties and met in closed session April 27 to evaluate Stick’s performance, but took no action when they reconvened.
The city appointed him as presiding judge to its Municipal Court in August 2008. His contract is set to expire July 31.