Seadrift accused of removing officer through budget, city secretary announces resignation

During a public hearing and special meeting regarding the approval of the city’s 2025-26 financial budget held Sept. 18, Seadrift City Council was accused of attempting to remove a Seadrift police officer. In addition, the Seadrift city secretary turned in a letter of resignation.  

Texas Municipal Police Association (TMPA) Attorney Marsha Todd spoke during the public hearing regarding a line item in the budget, believing that the council intended to remove Seadrift Police officer James Easley from service by eliminating the patrolman position he currently holds from the budget altogether.

“Under the Texas Local Government Code, you are legally required to provide police protection to the citizens of Seadrift. This duty is not optional. The residents of this community deserve and expect protection, and removing a frontline patrolman position directly undermines your responsibilities,” Todd said. “Second, the council should consider the liabilities the city faces by stripping away the only active patrol officer, while keeping a more lieutenant position. When an officer is needed on the street and no one responds, the city will face the blame.”

According to the 2025-26 budget, which was approved later that night in a unanimous vote, the patrolman position would be entirely removed, and additional funding would be utilized to pay for an increased salary for the police lieutenant position. Currently, this position is not filled. Seadrift City Attorney Robert McKnight stated that if Easley was not selected for promotion by the end of September, he would be “laid off.”

“The position would no longer exist,” McKnight said. “It would not be any sort of termination for cause, but simply coded, I suppose, as a layoff since there is no longer any funding for the position.”

Todd pushed back on this, stating that the removal through line items would be equivalent to a termination and would be detrimental to the public as a whole. In addition, if Easley was removed from his position, Todd said the TMPA would take legal action for what Todd described as Seadrift “defunding the police.”

“Let’s be honest, it’s not about the budget. The lieutenant position remains vacant and unfunded,” Todd said. “This move is more about a political conflict, not good governance. Retaliation against officers is not leadership; it’s reckless. It’s unlawful and it puts the citizens of Seadrift at risk. I have asked the city attorney to have a dialogue open between now and when this budget goes into effect. I urge you, not just for this officer, but for the citizens of Seadrift, to not pass this budget as it stands.”

Some council members countered and said that the decision to remove the patrolman position was in recognition of the smaller department and was a consolidation effort. They also refuted Todd’s claim that the removal of the position and subsequent jeopardy of Easley’s employment were out of political motives or personal bias.

“I have no personal vendetta against officer Easley,” council member Kenneth Reese said.

“And neither do I,” council member Tracey Johnson said. “I think that accusing us of having bias is unfair.”

Johnson confirmed that Easley was indeed being considered for the promotion to lieutenant and that his application had already been submitted. Easley also stated that he would accept the position if chosen. Currently, the Seadrift Police Department’s only active officers are Easley and Seadrift Police Chief Cheyenne Beaver.

With the unanimous budget approval, the patrolman position was eliminated, reducing the number of positions within the department to only the lieutenant and chief. Barring promotion of Easley prior to Sept. 30, he will no longer work for the department after that date.

Secretary

During the special meeting, Seadrift City Secretary Wendell Netzer stated that she had turned in a letter of resignation to the council. This occurred as council voted unanimously to approve a contract with Express Employment Professionals Agency, a temporary staffing agency.

According to Netzer, she resigned due to actions related to the public. In particular, she noted the overwhelming number of public information requests submitted and a subsequent lawsuit as reasons for her departure.

“I gave my resignation last week. It had nothing to do with the council, but the citizens. With some of them, I felt uneasy.I have been trying to catch up with a secretary who has been gone for almost three months. We’re up to 108 public information requests,” Netzer said. “It is overwhelming.”

Netzer added that she felt that some citizens were hostile to her.

“It is almost an unnerving hatred. I am almost scared to go home. I know everyone keeps saying they won’t retaliate, but I am getting caught up in drama that I don’t want to be in,” Netzer said. “I’ve already retired. I worked for the Boeing Company for thirty years, and I’ve been sued, and I’ve only been in this state for one year and in this city for 30 days.”

Council member Paul Gonzales stated that the council would work with Netzer in an attempt to retain her as secretary. 

Netzer has not yet departed the city’s employment at the time and said she would not leave until a suitable replacement was in the position. As part of that, she said that the contract with the Express Employment Professionals Agency would allow the city to hire a replacement secretary through its pool of employees.

“I am only going by what I see every day, and I thought I would come here and make a difference, because I absolutely love this city. I love it here. But I don’t want to leave this position and leave a five-month gap,” Netzer said. “I am pretty good with everyone, but the hatred? It’s scary. And I worked for the Boeing Company, and it’s never been this bad. It’s like Melrose Place.”

Netzer’s resignation followed shortly after the submission of resignation by Seadrift Public Works Director Geno Abshier earlier that morning.

“It’s very sad, because you were cool people,” Netzer said. “I was just about to put an offer on a house.”

Budget

Council also unanimously approved the 2025-26 budget and tax rate following a public hearing. 

The tax rate of $.0760 per $100 assessed valuation was a 21.2% increase over last year, said Johnson, and was the maximum amount that could be raised. The rate consists of maintenance and operations at $.5070 and the debt service at $.1990.

According to the budget presented, the total projected revenue for the city will be $2,713,316 and will have a total of $2,604,339.64 in expenditures. Some of the following department expenditures are listed below:

·       City hall office expenses: $206,986

·       Public safety: $239,786

·       Streets and drainage: $74,000

·       Public works department: $348,397

·       Water treatment plant: $244,400

·       Wastewater treatment plant: $100,500

·       Solid waste department: $206,827

·       Parks and recreation: $72,362

In response to the budget, former Seadrift council member Johnny Mikolash spoke out against the rise in tax rates and lack of reductions.

“Have you made one reduction from the budget? Aside from the police officer? Is that the only thing you can do?” Mikolash asked. “The city is in such a bind. You need to do the best with what you’ve got now, not raise everybody’s taxes. People are on fixed incomes and you’re going up $.10 on a $100?”

“It’s been that way for years and costs are going up for everybody. I live paycheck to paycheck, but unfortunately, we need to get things moving in the right direction,” Johnson said. “We’re trying our best.”

However, Jarvis stated that the rise in tax rates was necessary, in order to accommodate large emergency expenditures that came up within the last year, such as repairs to the city’s water treatment plant.

“We all know our water department experienced catastrophic problems and needed repairs. We had to pay $183,000 that was not budgeted. Geno gave us his 2026 budget, along with what needed to be paid five years out and things that needed to be done,” Jarvis said.

She also stated that the current council had inherited significant burdens from the previous councils, and that proper budgeting had not been carried out in the past for certain projects.

“I don’t know when this drainage project that everyone hates was started, but it was at least in 2023, if not before, was when it was designed and thrusted upon us. When they did that grant, they knew they had a 1% match on that grant. $48,999 needed to be paid out of local money before the end of the project,” Jarvis said. “Guess how much was saved in the budget for that over these last two years? Zero. So what has to go into this budget? $48,999 for this match that should have been budgeted out when we got that grant in the first place.”

Jarvis continued, stating that the increase in taxes was necessary to address past debt issues.

“We’re trying to make sure we include as much of what is needed as transparently as possible,” Jarvis said. “These debt payments should not have been tucked away. It should have been right out there. We’re hoping some of this debt is tied to the final payments, so we’re not taking on any more debt, so we can eventually take taxes down.”

Seadrift City Council meetings are held at 6:30 p.m. at Seadrift City Hall on the second Tuesday of every month. For more information or to see upcoming agendas, visit seadrifttx.org.