Pasadena council member in pay dispute
Harris County worker accused of attending meetings on clock
A Harris County employee who serves on the Pasadena City Council attended council meetings while on the clock for the county, according to a review by Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan’s office.
Council member Cody Ray Wheeler said the discrepancies, which consist of four instances from August 2017 to October 2018, were nothing more than timesheet errors. A statement released Thursday by the Pasadena mayor, Jeff Wagner, called it a criminal investigation.
“This is a fabricated story to distract from a tax increase, corporate welfare and campaign contributions,” Wheeler said.
Wheeler serves as a community engagement coordinator in Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis’ office, a position that pays $65,000 a year.
“I’m not perfect; I made a mistake; we corrected it. I received no added benefit or money,” Wheeler said. “My pay was the same; there was no added monetary value. (Wagner) took a clerical error and turned into a criminal situation. It’s completely false. I don’t think it’s fair to use that language.”
Administrative review
Robert Soard, a first assistant attorney with Ryan’s office, confirmed his office does not conduct criminal investigations. He said the office undertook an administrative review.
Soard said his office was tipped off by an anonymous email sent the evening of Sept. 13 with screen shots of Wheeler’s time sheets and pictures of him at Pasadena Council meetings that were date- and time-stamped.
He said attempts to reach that Gmail account, which bears the name Chandler Nash, were unsuccessful. But Soard and officials at the county verified some of the claims by accessing the official county time system.
“There were instances of overlap that needed to be adjusted,” Soard said. “We understand he is filing the corrections, which is the proper thing to do in this situation, and there need to be adjustments in his salary based on those corrections.”
Soard said he did not yet know the number of minutes or hours that were logged on Wheeler’s time sheet while he was acting as a Pasadena councilman. He said the office looked at dates and times beyond the ones alleged in the email and found no other instances.
Wheeler said one occasion was a 19-minute discrepancy Aug. 31. He said that day and some others were special meetings that he attended that were called by the city of Pasadena in response to Hurricane Harvey.
Pasadena Council members receive $300 monthly for their service regardless of the number of meetings they attend, Wheeler said.
In a statement, Wagner said his office is fully cooperating with the county in the investigation: “Mayor Jeff Wagner has announced that, in the interest of transparency, his administration is fully cooperating with an ongoing criminal Harris County investigation involving City of Pasadena, District E Councilman and Harris County employee, Cody Ray Wheeler.”
‘Same old thing’
Wagner, a retired Houston police officer, was elected last year, succeeding longtime Mayor Johnny Isbell in the first city election since a federal judge ruled that Pasadena officials had enacted an election system that discriminated against Latino voters. Wheeler, one of three Latinos on the council, had previously clashed with Isbell, who is white and who once addressed him as “boy” at a public meeting. Wheeler has expressed disappointment that the Latino community hasn’t fared much better under Wagner.
“I went in optimistic, but it feels after a year that it’s the same old thing with a new, smiling face in front of it,” Wheeler said in July.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg’s office, which handles criminal claims, said in a statement Thursday that the office has not received “an official complaint from any member of the public on this matter.”
Soard said that beyond ensuring the time sheets are corrected, the county attorney will likely take no further action.
Ellis’ office said it is taking the matter seriously and requested a third-party review on the issue.
“We are reserving further comment until the review has been completed and we will follow recommendations based on those findings,” the statement said.