The council meeting convening at 9 a.m. in city council chambers could very well be O’Dwyer’s last as mayor.
O’Dwyer, the subject of an investigation launched by City Attorney James Thompson earlier this year, was found by other council members to have violated the city charter on five separate counts during a public hearing two weeks ago.
The council voted individually on each of the nine counts listed on a statement of charges filed by Thompson with City Secretary Jane Lees last month.
The council, which sat through a public hearing that lasted more than 10 hours, cast their votes based on a report paid for by the city and authorized by Thompson and City Manager Andrea Gardner.
Thompson told council members during a Feb. 19 meeting that he’d hired Charles Zech, an attorney with San Antonio-based law firm Denton, Navarro, Bernal and Rocha, to conduct an investigation based on 130 documents.
Based on the outcome of the vote taken by the council, O’Dwyer could have resigned or may be voted out of office.
O’Dwyer, who has referred to the charges against him as “totally bogus,” has shown no inclination toward resigning.
If five council members vote to have the office vacated, O’Dwyer, a retired U.S. Army officer, will no longer be the city’s mayor.
Meanwhile, city leaders may be setting their sights on O’Dwyer’s lone supporter on the council, Councilman Larry Sheppard.
The council, which reconvenes in a regular session at 7 p.m. today, will meet in executive session and discuss the duties for the position of city councilman place 2, the office held by Sheppard.
“I am the only one supporting the mayor,” Sheppard said.
Although Sheppard said no one with the city or on the council has spoke with him about the agenda item, he did have his suspicions why it was there.
“I don’t know what it is, but I have a good idea,” he said. “They are after me so they can get rid of the mayor. They are after me now.”
Mayor pro tem Robert Reeves declined to go into any detail on why Sheppard’s position would be discussed in executive session, or who placed the item on the agenda.
“I am not sure what the issue is,” Reeves said.
Sheppard said if the council decides he needs to be removed, he will not subject himself to a public hearing similar to what O’Dwyer endured.
“We won’t be going into that much detail,” Sheppard said.
bkirk@temple-telegram.com
