Date set for Purcell recall vote

HOUSTON — A date has been set for a special election to determine if Mayor Roger Purcell will be recalled, and two employees wrapped up in the controversy are asking for redress.

The voters will go to the polls June 22 to decide the future of Purcell. A recall petition verified last month alleges Purcell committed misconduct in office by using emergency lights on a city vehicle while not responding to an emergency.

The charges come from a video taken by the camera of a police vehicle Purcell was driving to Fairbanks. The video was removed by then-Houston Police Sgt. Charlie Seidl, given to a member of the city council and posted on YouTube.

Around the same time the video first surfaced, four cats and four dogs at the Houston Animal Shelter were euthanized by gunshot. Seidl was the one who pulled the trigger, but claims he did so on orders from Purcell. Purcell denies this claim.

In an interview at the time, Deputy Mayor Lance Wilson said there had been discussions about what to do with the animals, some of which had been at the shelter for months. In these discussions, Community Service Officer Dennis Lords gave a figure of how much it would cost to have a veterinarian euthanize each animal. After the animals were shot, Wilson said he found out the price Lords quoted was too high.

Lords was then fired from his city job.

The city council held a special performance evaluation for Seidl immediately after the shooting at the shelter. After much debate, the council voted 4-3 to keep him on the payroll. A month later at his regular annual performance evaluation on March 11, Seidl was fired after a 4-2 council vote. The reasons cited were insubordination, refusing to do official reports and general tardiness.

At the council meeting Thursday, both Seidl and an attorney representing Lords indicated they will be seeking redress for how the firings were handled.

Seidl said he is contesting his termination because the mayor was allowed to retaliate without allowing Seidl an opportunity to respond. He didn’t say what exactly he is seeking form the city, but he is in discussions with his attorney.

The attorney representing Lords, Dennis Lazarus, said he is giving the council an opportunity to resolve issues with his client before he pursues legal action. The grievances filed by Lords were improperly thrown out and there are questions regarding Lords’ personnel file.

“(The council) was relying on things that were not documented,” Lazarus said. “They didn’t follow their own code in dealing with him.”

Similar to Seidl, Lazarus did not say what exactly he is seeking. But if either ex-employee wants his job back, they may soon be disappointed.

The city is facing an $80,000 budgetary shortfall in fiscal year 2010 that ends June 30, said City Clerk Steven Cunningham. The council is holding a work session Monday to address this gap.

One measure the council is considering is closing the Houston Police Department.

Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.