WINDCREST, Texas – In his first public comments since he was terminated by the city council last month, ex-Windcrest Police Chief Jimmie Cole said he had a responsibility to file more than a dozen ethics complaints.
“I expected them to have a deterrent effect on the people that were engaging in this behavior,” Cole said.
The complaints, many of which were heard and dismissed by the city’s ethics commission in recent months, accused some councilmembers and other Windcrest residents of unethical conduct.
The central issue: the city’s handling of stray animals.
Cole told KSAT altercations between members of TxWeAct, an area animal rescue group, and employees of the police department — as well as negative social media posts from people belonging to the group — forced him to step in and file the complaints.
“I’m not out there, the one collecting the dog. I’m not the one that’s taking the dog to the pound or taking the dog to the vet. That’s an employee,” Cole said. “And whenever they’re (TxWeAct) sitting there making these statements, it’s a negative towards the employee, which I’m trying to protect.”
Cole gathered social media posts from members of the group and included them in his formal complaints.
The posts accuse city animal control, which fell under Cole’s supervision as police chief, of mistreating animals and not providing them the proper level of care.
The ethics complaints and subsequent hearings before the Windcrest Ethics Commission caused some members of the commission last month to question whether the process was being weaponized.
“I truly wish the validity of these were just looked at a little bit more,” Windcrest Ethics Commission member Victoria Moe said near the end of a Dec. 6 ethics complaint hearing.
Windcrest resident Sherillyn Flick, an outspoken critic of Cole, said the ex-chief filed a total of six ethics complaints against her.
“As soon as he was made the chief of police, he started acting like a tyrant,” Flick told KSAT days after Cole’s termination.
Flick and other Windcrest residents have accused Cole of using the ethics complaint process to try and muzzle the free speech of people criticizing Cole and his now-former police department.
“We didn’t have any of these issues under the old chief,” said Flick, who hired an attorney last year.
In November, the attorney sent Windcrest City Council a cease-and-desist letter, claiming the ethics complaint process was being used to attempt to intimidate private residents who were expressing their opinions of city officials.
Cole, in his interview with KSAT, confirmed disabling comments on city social media accounts, but said it was at the direction of city manager Rafael Castillo.
“I take that his order was lawful and if it’s not, then that’s something that they’ll need to work out,” said Cole.
After KSAT requested a comment from Castillo, a city attorney responded via email, “The city is prohibited from performing viewpoint specific restrictions. The City must either allow all comments, or must prohibit all comments. As long as all comments are treated alike, there is no problem with the legal requirements. A city is permitted to disable all comments and utilize social media sites to simply push out information.”
Windcrest city council on Monday agreed to accept the retirement of Castillo, effective Jan. 10.
Castillo had worked for the city since 2011, according to an online bio.
‘Agents of the city’
Questioned by KSAT about his decision to file ethics complaints against Windcrest residents, Cole said he views them as “agents of the city,” thus making their actions bound by Windcrest’s code of ethics.
In a letter written last winter, an attorney for Windcrest attempted to provide clarity on whether members of TxWeAct are city officials.
TxWeAct was originally formed under a city resolution as the Windcrest Animal Control Task Force and was included, for a time, in city organizational charts, the letter stated.
In 2014, the task force became a nonprofit and changed its name but never formally split from the city, the February letter stated.
“The City never split ties with TxWeAct and continued to use the group as a volunteer group to aide the City. The group is listed on the City Website under ‘Civic Clubs & Organizations’, have (sic) an article in the monthly newsletter, have (sic) a fundraiser box at the city post office, and advertise as a group for the City,” the letter stated.
“The City appointed the original members, but does not control the current membership. The City has no direct oversite (sic) of the group. This can pose unknown and varying liability and exposures (sic) issues for the City. Further, there are some legal problems with creating an autonomous group which does not answer to the City,” according to the letter.
Windcrest spent over $42K last year reviewing ethics complaints involving Cole
Public discord over the ethics complaints has come with a heavy price tag for the City of Windcrest.
From late February through the end of October, the city spent $42,472.97 for two law firms to review complaints involving Cole, an analysis by KSAT Investigates revealed.
This total included complaints filed by Cole, in addition to at least one filed against Cole, that accused him of harassing candidates for city council outside of a city polling site.
“I think it’s important that the taxpayers of the City of Windcrest understand that their city leaders are spending enormous amounts of money to have not one set but two sets of lawyer eyes review complaints,” said Mark Anthony Sanchez, Cole’s employment attorney.
2023 incident at Windcrest City Hall
People on both sides of the dispute between Cole and TxWeAct point to an incident at Windcrest City Hall in late December 2023 as the boiling point of the strife.
Surveillance camera footage obtained by KSAT Investigates showed Beverly Cunningham, a member of TxWeAct, suffering a medical emergency while waiting to retrieve paperwork from a simple assault complaint filed against her earlier that month.
Cunningham was accused of shaking a civilian police employee at a city event and telling her TxWeAct was going to get Cole fired, records showed.
Cunningham took a seat, while showing signs of medical distress, and was treated by paramedics as the entryway filled with people, including other members of TxWeAct.
Eventually, Cunningham was taken from city hall on a stretcher.
Flick, who is seen in the surveillance video recording the commotion on her cell phone, told KSAT the ordeal was the result of clear retaliation from Cole.
Flick alleged that Cole pressured the employee to file an unwanted touching complaint against an innocent person.
Cole, who denied pressuring the employee to file the assault complaint, told KSAT a different version of events and questioned whether Cunningham embellished the incident at city hall.
“For me, if I was in a medical emergency, I don’t think I would be getting ahold of other people to come down to the lobby,” said Cole, referring to portions of the video that appear to show Cunningham sending text messages shortly before receiving medical attention.
“The video footage provides evidence that these members of TxWeAct formed a combination and were working, according to Cunningham, to have me terminated,” Cole told city leadership in an August written report, which summarized the past altercations between TxWeAct and members of his department.
Cunningham did not respond to phone calls and a text message from KSAT Investigates seeking comment for this story.
Cole pushes back on complaints from officers
Cole said he was hired as an administrative sergeant with the Windcrest Police Department in May 2019 before he was promoted to captain.
Cole was named interim chief after the former chief, Darrell Volz, left the post in late 2022.
Cole confirmed that he was hired as permanent chief after serving in the interim role for a few months.
However, an employee engagement survey conducted last summer added further strain to his tenure.
A summary of the survey stated there was a strong dissatisfaction with compensation and employee benefits and a “strong dissatisfaction with some leaders, especially the Police Chief.”
“The Police Department’s culture is highly toxic,” page 6 of the survey results stated.
Police employees who spoke with KSAT late last year on the condition of anonymity said Cole demonstrated poor leadership.
The employees also complained of not being provided the proper equipment to do their jobs safely.
Cole, during his interview with KSAT, pushed back on the criticism, stating he had an expectation that equipment issues would be forwarded up the chain of command.
“I would have never allowed an officer to buy his own remote for a radar detector. We can replace those,” said Cole, referring to one officer’s comments to KSAT about having to buy a remote to control an in-vehicle radar gun.
Former Windcrest PD employees also sounded off on leadership, according to resignation letters and exit interview summaries obtained by KSAT Investigates.
A communications supervisor who resigned last fall stated that the environment is toxic and needs to change, according to records.
An officer who resigned last summer described being micromanaged by command staff.
“The morale in the department is horrible. I dread coming to work some days because of it. Better communication from command staff to patrol is needed,” the exit interview summary stated.
Cole told KSAT he believes criticism from his officers and Windcrest residents became intermingled.
“I don’t know if I can necessarily separate the two. I think that they’re influenced by each other,” said Cole.
“The leadership style is just not working,” said Willie Ng, a 30-year veteran of law enforcement who now teaches graduate-level criminal justice at The University of the Incarnate Word.
Ng’s doctoral dissertation focused on reimagining police leadership.
He said officers with the Windcrest Police Department had briefed him on internal issues in recent months.
Issues at Pleasanton PD surface
Cole, a retired San Antonio police officer, served as a lieutenant for the Pleasanton Police Department before he was hired in Windcrest.
Pleasanton PD moved to terminate Cole in 2018, after an investigation determined he conducted unauthorized investigations of fellow officers, undermining the then-chief’s command, personnel records showed.
“These actions have caused a rift in our department in which I have lost all trust in Lt. Cole and his actions have seriously damaged the reputation of the Pleasanton Police Department,” a June 2018 memo from then-chief Ronald Sanchez stated.
Cole contested the termination and after agreeing not to pursue legal action against the city. The city withdrew the claim, records and Sanchez confirmed.
As part of a settlement agreement and release signed in early 2019, the city agreed to “correct” Cole’s license separation to an honorable discharge, records showed.
An attorney for Windcrest confirmed a background check of Cole completed before his hiring revealed Cole was properly licensed.
“It is important to note that none of those checks reveal command style or individual personality traits,” wrote attorney Ryan Henry.
Cole is appealing his termination from Windcrest PD. On Dec. 19, he formally invoked his right to contest the council’s decision.
Sanchez told KSAT that city leadership failed to provide Cole with a list of reasons for his termination and did not follow Sanchez’s request to deliberate about Cole’s employment status in an open session.
Cole’s written notice of termination mentions only “issues involving your position.”
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.
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