CASTLE HILLS, Texas – The city manager of Castle Hills is out after the council voted 4-1 Monday night to fire Diane Pfeil after two years on the job.
The vote was made at a special City Council meeting.
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However, even after the council adjourned, the residents and the former city manager herself said they still don't know why she was fired.
"I think it's the most outrageous thing I've even seen," said Lesley Wenger, a former Castle Hills council member. "Any employee, like the city manager, has a right to a hearing. She does not know and we do not know what the charges are, what the complaints are, because they didn't tell us. They never gave her a chance to defend herself."
The council members went into closed session at the beginning of the special meeting and when they came back, they talked about a “packet” of complaints they’d received. After the discussion, they voted to fire Pfeil.
While the contents of the packet weren’t made public, Castle Hills Mayor Tim Howell said that's not why Pfeil was fired.
"The council spoke this evening, based on the past two years of how they perceive Ms. Pfeil's performance," Howell said. "And, all around, that's what they did."
"No complaints have been raised to her prior to last week when she was put on administrative leave," Pfeil's attorney, Alex Katzman said. "Even then, nothing was addressed to her in writing as to why they claim they have no confidence."
"I think council did the right thing based on their elected ability to decide what needed to happen in this particular case," Howell said.
Katzman said he believes Pfeil was terminated because she told the City Council that members are not following the law.
"It had to with preferential treatment for someone who had a ticket in court," said Katzman. "And there was a complaint that misrepresentations were made to the chief of police during an investigation into a captain's conduct."
Howell said once the residents of Castle Hills learn about the allegations in the packet they can decide for themselves if they agree with what happened.
Katzman said Monday night that it is too early to say if they will file a lawsuit.