The Rise and Fall of Jeffery Reynolds

Jeffery Reynolds, who just a few weeks ago was the assistant city manager of the Killeen government, was on tap to be Killeen’s interim city manager and, possibly, a top candidate for the permanent role. Instead, he was arrested and charged with indecent assault involving another city employee in late May. In this episode, Inside Killeen discusses the case and what it means for the city of Killeen.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

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SPEAKER_02 0:23

Hello. Welcome to the Inside Kaleen podcast from KDH News. My name is Jacob Brooks. Today's guest host of Inside Kaleen, and with me today is Kevin Limity. Kevin, you're normally the host, but today you're wearing your reporter hat.

SPEAKER_03 0:39

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 0:40

You cover city government, of course.

SPEAKER_03 0:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

And today we're gonna talk about the case of Jeffrey Reynolds, who just a few weeks ago was the assistant city manager of Kaleen, a very high rank in the city, number two, basically. And he was poised, or at least scheduled to be, the interim city manager of the city of Kleen as the city continues its search for a permanent replacement of Kent Cagle, who was the city manager for years, but he retired at the end of May. However, things took a turn earlier in May when the city announced, surprisingly, that Reynolds was also retiring. And he ended up retiring before Kegel rather quickly. And then eventually we learned that Reynolds was facing a pretty serious criminal charge and was arrested. And Kevin, you want to kind of just talk us through it? You know, how how did it all play out, you know, from from your from your perspective?

SPEAKER_03 1:53

Well, we started to get tips and communications about Reynolds having been arrested. We didn't really know the details too much. And you know, there was also like some like doubt initially that maybe it at least on my part, that it was whether it was true or not. Because you know, oftentimes we hear salacious accusations, and just to be completely clear, like all these things that we're describing are alleged and have not been proven in court.

SPEAKER_02 2:28

So he's been accused, but he was arrested and formally charged.

SPEAKER_03 2:34

Yeah, there is absolutely no doubt that he was arrested. Yeah. But the thing is, like, there we often hear from various people about town's salacious accusations, and a and a good majority of the time they end up being fruitless or untrue. So, you know, in a way, I kind of felt like this there was a possibility that this situation could be in a similar vein of that, because I had taught to some people, prominent members of the community, who told me that they didn't believe that Reynolds could possibly be involved in something like what was being described.

SPEAKER_02 3:13

In a way, his reputation preceded him that because Reynolds, as you know, you you saw him all the time over at City Hall, City Council meetings. He was always kind of very well respected at City Hall among probably citizens and his fellow government you know officials alike.

SPEAKER_03 3:33

Yeah, more than that, I would say he was held in extremely high regard. You know, and it's worth noting that he had previously retired. Yeah. So he so surely before three years ago. Right. Surely before the accusations even came out, and he had retired the second time. He actually retired a first time when he was still executive director of public works.

SPEAKER_02 3:58

Not a hundred percent clear on the details as to why he kind of unretired himself, but I think I think the first time two years ago, remember he uh his uh it it was a it was a per personal matter. He had somebody in his family that I think required more caretaking or something like that. So he was re retiring for personal reasons so he could do do that. Which made sense. But then something like the situation changed and he came back to the city, so he wasn't gone that long.

SPEAKER_03 4:31

Yeah, although the the resignation letter or whatever, the retirement letter, I don't know what they like to call it, but the second time he retired, it said something kind of similar.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

Yeah. So in a way, it looked like okay, he's done this before, maybe You know, the situation came back and he he has to leave again. So it it when he retired in May rather quickly. We didn't have red flags didn't necessarily go up until we got you know the news tip.

SPEAKER_03 5:06

Yeah, and it we soon discovered that like some of like the stuff in the tips was very accurate. Like for example, that he was indeed arrested. The KPD confirmed that. Yeah. And and then but I think things really started to kind of blow up when we got a hold of the affidavit, which you know alleged, among other things, that he basically unconsensually grabbed a city employee by the sweater and or touched her something. Or tried to pull something like that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:47

I mean you the headline was, and this was the Sunday, June 14th edition of the Clean Daily Herald. We ran it on the front page. Kaleen, assistant city manager, alleged to have committed indecent assault against employee at retirement party. An indecent assault is could be grabbing someone else in an inappropriate way. It's not as bad as you know uh sexual assault, but it could be very, but it is, you know, a crime. It can be, we look this up, it can be a mis it's typically a misdemeanor, but it can be upgraded to a felony. But the version that Reynolds has been charged with is indeed the misdemeanor. And you got the affidavit. Can you talk about how you got the affidavit?

SPEAKER_03 6:44

Basically, I knew that it existed to some extent, so I just asked the Bell County clerks a couple of times if I could get a copy of it. And initially I was told that I could get a copy of it between three and five business days. However, they gave it to me in a couple hours. I don't know what what how what what accounted for the speed, but it was it was really just doing basic reporter stuff, just calling them, ask bothering them, asking for for it, and eventually I got it.

SPEAKER_02 7:22

And you reported in in the story that according to the affidavit, Reynolds was attending a city-sponsored retirement party April 30th when he approached another employee and quote, made a sexually orientated comment regarding the low-cut nature of her quarter zip sweater, then initiated unwanted physical contact by grabbing and pulling at the zipper area in a manner she believed was intended to expose or view her breasts. Then it goes on to say that the affidavit further alleges that Reynolds made comments like, let me see, while attempting to manipulate the zipper area with an increased level of assertiveness. The allegation says Reynolds attempted to pull the sweater away from the alleged victim's body and restrict her movements. The employee, and this is another city employee, the employee verbally told Reynolds to stop the affidavit said and moved away from his embrace. It states witnesses observed Reynolds enter the employee's office around the time of the incident, and one witness heard Reynolds make an inappropriate sexual remark. And it also says, Reynolds, according to the affidavit, that he entered the alleged victim's office for a routine conversation and questioned why she was dressed down, but denied any physical contact or harassing comments. So according to this court document, the after the arrest affidavit, he did admit that he was there and but it didn't quite happen the way she says it happened. He he says he questioned why she was dressed down. So and so we've got this very serious allegation. It was and apparently this happened May April 30th. There was this retirement party. And can you take us through that? Apparently she made a a complaint that day, and then it kind of went up the chain.

SPEAKER_03 9:40

Yeah, so my understanding was that the complaint was made on April 30th. And around the same time, shortly afterwards, Reynolds announced his retirement. Within days, I think. Yeah, and I think he's he retired in the next couple of weeks. Don't know the exact day off the top of the head. Maybe you have it.

SPEAKER_02 10:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:09

Yeah, so not far off. And you know, at the time when Reynolds made that retirement, like net retirement announcement, like we said, he had done it before, so it didn't really seem like it was that big of a deal. The only reason it seemed at the time that it could be a little bit of a big deal was because we were in the situation where the city manager was retiring Kit Ken Kegel, and without Reynolds to to fill in, Laurie Wilson would have to do a lot of it once once Kegel ran out of working hours. He's supposed to be able to work up to a thousand hours after after that period of I I forget, like it was like Laurie Wilson took over, and then it was it would have been Kegel.

SPEAKER_02 10:57

Laurie Wilson, the other assistant city manager, still with the city. And so because it was kind of a weird, a weird way to do it. Kegel announced earlier this year, I think back in February, that he was going to retire at the end of March, May 29th. And then in the weeks or months after that, the city decided, okay, once he retires, then Reynolds would be interim on some dates. Lori Wilson, the other system, would be interim on some dates. And then Cagle himself would even come back in a way out of retirement and also be interim on a contract basis. Right. And but only up to a thousand dollars, which or a thousand hours. Yeah. Which I think has something to do with, you know, once you're retired and probably social security benefits or something like that. You maybe you can't work more than a thousand hours. Yeah, maybe. And so and that's kind of where we're at now. Today's date is June 25th, and Kagel, just in the past couple weeks, right, has come back on the as the interim city manager. So he's Kegel's the current interim city manager, or does that start later?

SPEAKER_03 12:17

He is the interim, yes.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

Okay. And he can work up to a thousand hours, but it the the their plan kind of had a wrench thrown into it when Reynolds abruptly retired and then was arrested. It seemed to change, you know, yeah, the way things they thought would would happen. I think it's important to note too, Jeffrey Reynolds, like you were saying earlier, Kevin, was very well respected. And why do you think he was so well respected and and just you know a vocal leader in the city?

SPEAKER_03 12:53

I just feel like he had natural charismatism about him. And I think people just he was just one of those people that people liked, you know what I mean? Yeah. Just one of those type of types of people, you know. He had a very uh commanding presence and he was well spoken, and you know, he I think people he kind of came across as a person that would talk to you straight. You know what I mean? And you know, all of that could be perceptions, but I mean sometimes perceptions is all people know or care about.

SPEAKER_02 13:27

So and just you know, covering the city government, do you recall any encounters you had with them just out at City Hall or elsewhere in the city?

SPEAKER_03 13:37

Yeah, most notably when I was in a car with him. He was actually driving me in a car because basically we were on our way to Yale Ranch because there was a a couple of years ago, there was a situation during the Fed Line rezoning fiasco, and that's like a whole another story. But to try to sum it up, they were trying to rezone uh like a hundred acres on Fed Line Road, but they got unexpected opposition from like the residents, and it became something of a controversy.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

There's no water pressure issues because that's what we that's what we've every test we've done has shown there's no water pressure issues from the city side. But if there are issues, and I'm not negating any residents claim that there's a water pressure issue in the home, I'm saying we don't know about that.

SPEAKER_03 14:26

Mostly because people are complaining about the infrastructure, and then one of those particular complaints had to do with water pressure. People were concerned that the water pressure was bad on Yao Ranch, and and I don't think the paper made that claim, but at but it's possible that like that on the advertising side, like something might have been mentioned about the water pressure. So, because of that, uh Ken Cagle, in an effort to kind of try kind of try to disprove what what had been said and some of those rumors, he invited me to come to Yao Ranch and watch them check the water pressure. So, and Reynolds was one was the guy who drove me to Yao Ranch. And we had from City Hall. From City Hall, and you know, we kind of just had like an off-the-cuff discussion about a lot of different things, like a lot a lot, you know, sometimes the the city's relationship with the with KDH News has always been a little bit testy. Yeah, sometimes it feels like just sort of like an us versus them mentality towards it. Not really on I I would like to say that that's mostly like on their side, yeah. Because like because I'm just trying to do a job, but you know, and I unfortunately sometimes that involves asking questions that make people uncomfortable. But but the point is we had a kind of a discussion about that, kind of we're going back and forth about that. And you know, he he struck me as somebody who, you know, you know, he struck me as a decent guy at the time, you know, and he struck me as somebody who maybe didn't completely understand what my role was. Because, you know, and this is common throughout all of the people in a lot of the people in the city, they seem to think that we should be making them look good 100% of the time, which clearly is not our job.

SPEAKER_02 16:24

So he was questioning you a little bit on just how you approach stories or why you report the things the way you do, or yeah, and and I tried to explain a little bit, but like, you know, I mean I I mean, clearly I didn't do a very good job.

SPEAKER_03 16:39

I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 16:41

So but so you've talked to him one-on-one before, and he was also promoted just last year, I think last fall. Yeah, he was the interim director or the executive director of public works, so he was in charge of all the public works, which for for the listeners who don't know, tell what what is when he what what is when he was executive director of public works, what was he in charge of?

SPEAKER_03 17:13

Oh, I would say, and you could correct me if I'm wrong, but like water and sewer and and that sort of stuff. I think the DPW also falls into that area. Well, DBW is public works, but but I mean, but like stuff like I don't know, like like anything that involves like a like utility or of some sort of city-owned utility. Yeah, I mean, I think uh we were talking a little a little bit about this offline, but he was like a big part of like the uh the the what was it the uh oh yeah, the citywide boil water notice.

SPEAKER_02 17:52

Yeah, so like yeah, that was like five years ago. And yeah, there was a problem, there was an issue with like too much chlorine in the city water. Yeah. And uh so the city had to kind of like flush the pipes more or less, and but it took a while. Yeah, but yeah, and there was a city 10-day citywide. That means like every resident, every business in the entire city, yeah, you know, a hundred over a hundred thousand people, had to boil their water. Yeah. If they want like their tap water, if they want to drink it or you know, use it for any kind of in in ingestion, you know, even wash, you know, fruit with it or whatever you're supposed to boil it for us.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

As soon as we can get this water, boil water notice lifted after testing is done, we would do so. But we will only do that when we know that the water is safe to provide to the public. Continue to be patient. We know we're asking a lot from you, but City of Kleene, we've been through these type of issues before. We're gonna fight together, we're gonna ride this thing out, and we're gonna get you there. Trust the process, trust the professionals who're doing it. The same guys who are out there flushing right now, the same guys who have have worked so hard to clear up this boil water notice are the same guys who have provided a superior water system to you for the last two plus years. And we're gonna continue to do that. Trust the process. Thank you for what you're doing. Team Kaleen.

SPEAKER_02 19:17

Yeah. So it was a big deal. The H E the H E B and Walmarts, they were selling out of, you know, bottled water. The city was doing daily updates and even had uh multiple press releases. And he was the public works director at the time, so he was like the face of those press conferences.

SPEAKER_03 19:39

Yeah, and oftentimes he would come during during his time as executive director of public works, he would always be going to the Clean City Council and presenting certain items like that had to be paid for by the city. Usually sometimes it had to do with like uh the what are those living stations and stuff like that. I I recall him him doing that a lot. So uh so I would often see him, and and when he came back as assistant city manager, I would also he he just was a constant presence.

SPEAKER_02 20:10

Yeah, because last year, a year ago, the city had a the city manager, Ken Cagle, and then they had one assistant city manager, Laurie Wilson. Yeah, but they decided in the last budget cycle, I guess it was, to go to two assistant city managers, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:28

Which, you know, honestly, like it's not really like that unheard of for like there to be multiple multiple assistant city managers, especially in cities our size. But, you know, based on the fact that like we had been with with with just one for a long time, I think there was a little bit of like how are we gonna pay that for this kind of kind of stuff. But you know, honestly, anything that the city does now, and I'm going off a little bit, but like, but ain't in the city that does now is gonna be like questioned.

SPEAKER_02 21:02

Hello everyone. Jacob Brooks here, managing editor of the Kleen Daily Herald. You're listening to Inside Kaleen, our way of bringing you deeper into the stories that shape the Kleene Fort Hood area. We love producing this podcast and keeping it free for everyone to enjoy, but the truth is the local reporting that fuels these episodes requires real resources. Whether it's our daily print edition, our breaking news coverage at kdhnews.com, or this very podcast, community journalism depends on listeners and readers like you. By purchasing a digital subscription to kdhnews.com, you aren't just getting unlimited access to our reporting, you are directly investing in the reporters, video journalists, and editors who keep our community informed and hold our leaders accountable. Help us keep the the stories coming. Head over to kdhnews.comslash subscribe today. To find the plan that works for you. You can sign up for less than a dollar per week. Thank you for listening to the Inside Kaleen podcast, and thank you for supporting local news. So the city decided they want to have they wanted to have two assistant city managers last year. And then Reynolds got that job. He was promoted from public works to assistant city manager. And do you remember did was there like a hiring process for that? Like to open up the job to anybody who wanted to apply and yes, I believe they did, if I recall correctly.

SPEAKER_03 22:37

But you know, Reynolds had had 10 years of municipal government experience, and all that was from the city of Killean. Right. So I feel like maybe, and just based on his reputation, I feel like people have thought he was a no-brainer choice. Maybe he was in the army for a while.

SPEAKER_02 22:54

I think he retired as a was it a first sergeant? I don't want to guess. I think it is, which is a high rank, a high enlisted rank. And then he worked in Houston. I think he did some municipal work in Houston after his army career. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:10

Originally deployed to Fort Hood. And I think that's kind of and I think he started working on like infrastructure-related like stuff while he was stationed there. But that was my understanding anyway.

SPEAKER_02 23:24

So, like a lot of veterans do, they retire out of Fort Hood, choose to live, you know, in the in the area still. And so he was kind of a rising star in the city of Kleen for a while and got all the way to the number two spot, and then was poised to be, in a way, the number one spot as interim city manager. And we don't know if his intention was to apply for the permanent job of city manager, which that process is going on now. Right. They're trying to find the permanent position. But more than likely, he probably would have been certainly a candidate if he chose to be for the permanent job. Any ideas on that?

SPEAKER_03 24:14

I mean, I there's no way I can know, but I feel like, and this is just a feeling, but my from my experience, it seems to me that the City of Kleene does kind of like the hire internally. So I wouldn't have been surprised if Reynolds did get that nod eventually. Yeah. But but then again, maybe not. You know what I mean? It's really hard to predict. Yeah, I think he would have been seriously considered. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:51

And but now he's fighting a a legal, a legal battle, and he's been charged criminally.

SPEAKER_03 25:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:00

I talked to Emily the other day who covers the court courts for us, and she looked into it, and he has a hearing set for next Wednesday, July 1, in a Bell County courtroom. There's a judge who handles misdemeanors over there. It's in Belton. So he'll have a hearing that day. We'll see what happens. It might just be like, I don't know if they'll set a trial, but we'll be following that. What was in what's been kind of the fallout? Has the city, Kevin, has it mostly been quiet about this? Do you think they tried to keep it hush-hush? Because this was not a city news release. It said, you know, Reynolds has been arrested. There was never a city news release like that.

SPEAKER_03 25:46

No, my my uh my feelings and thoughts are that the city wanted to keep it quiet because I mean obviously it doesn't look good when even for someone to be accused of something like that, that especially someone so prominent in the city. And I'm also like a little bit like confused about the about where all this allegedly took place because the affidavit had mentioned retirement party, but but I'm hearing that it could have been uh just a luncheon at like at City Hall or something like that. So I'm a little bit unclear about the particulars of that. And and I'm not sure how like important that is, but you know, it it obviously makes a big deal if big difference if it was at a retirement party versus just some regular event, you know.

SPEAKER_02 26:43

I mean, we can safely say though, it was set at a city office, whether city hall or another building, a city office, and then April 30th, which was during the week, it and it was between two city employees, Reynolds being the supervisor, I guess you could say, and then this other city employee. We're not gonna name who it is, it was a a woman. And so and the the woman filed the complaint basically the same day, April 30th. So it went through kind of the city's formal complaint process if you know one employee is filing a complaint against another employee. And uh for all intents and purposes, it looks like the city took it very seriously and basically looked at it, and I guess they just turned it over to police and figured this was a police matter because it was KPD, Clean Police Department, that investigated it. Right. And then and that's after KPD confirmed the investigation and the arrest, that's that was the initial story. Right. That you know we had already reported that he had retired, but there was no context there, more or less. Right. So do you think there's any conflict of interest there with Kaleen Police being the investigative agency, you know, investigating another city employee?

SPEAKER_03 28:23

I don't know. I mean, I mean, I could understand why people would think that, but the thing is, like, I've worked in a lot of like small towns and stuff like that. And although Killeen is not really a small town, it's got 160,000 people, it still has a small town feel. I feel like everybody in that circle kind of knows each other. And the thing is, like, like eventually, if if you're gonna operate in that sort of area, everybody's gonna have conflicts of interest at some point. So you have to either find a way to to work around them or or deal with it in some way. I mean, to me, it didn't really seem like like KPD, like to me, it seemed like KPD handled handled it properly because it's now in the hands of the Bell County attorney. And now I'm not a hundred percent sure how this works. I don't want to misspeak here, but I feel like if it had remained with KPD as the investigators, then we might be having a different conversation here. But since it's being handled mostly by Bell County at this point, and it's a misdemeanor, just to be clear. Like, so yeah, so it's not a felony, or at least as far as we know right now, it's not a felony. Right. Um, so you know.

SPEAKER_02 29:41

So it sounds like Clean Police just did the kind of the boots on the ground police work. They probably interviewed Reynolds, got his side, interviewed the other employee, got her side, talked to other people, because they mentioned witnesses that heard something, talked to other people that may have seen or heard something, and then just got that report, that investigation report, and then handed it over to the Bell County Attorney's Office. Yeah. And then they the pro the attorney's office decided, okay, this is enough for this charge, decent assault. So then I think they must have put out they must have issued a warrant and then Reynolds turned himself in to put it.

SPEAKER_03 30:30

Yeah, we were told that he he uh he he may have turned himself in. Yeah. The KPD did not like distinguish between that, but but whether he turned himself in or or did not, he is still considered arrested. So KPD did confirm, yes.

SPEAKER_02 30:46

On this date, and I think it was May 25th, something like that, or 28th, he that's when he was arrested, booked. We got we got his booking photo, which is also on the the front page of the June 14th edition. Now the and the booking photo, did that come from the Bell County Court, or did we get that from KPD?

SPEAKER_03 31:12

No, we got it from KPD. We did. Okay. So he was he was probably booked there initially, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:19

Booked in the city jail, and then we're not sure how long he spent in the jail, but he was booked, got his mugshot. The charges were, and then he was uh did he bond that? Was there a bond?

SPEAKER_03 31:31

Yes, there was. I believe it was 5,000, but do not quote me on that. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 31:36

And so uh and we did in one case release a uh we'll put out a timeline, but April 30th, a report was filed uh sexual misconduct, which led to the indecent assault charge. And then on May, the week of May 1st, maybe May 1st, that's when he he submitted his resignation to the city. Right. We heard about it a couple days later. The city actually sent a press release, right? That's how we learned he was retiring. Yes, he did. And then it had the May 15th, or or I think you got the resignation letter that said his last day would be May 15th. Of course, none of that mentioned anything of the police investigation that was going on or that the complaint, you know, that was had been filed. None of that was mentioned. And then on uh the week of May 25th, the arrest warrant was issued, you know, following the criminal complaint. An arrest warrant was issued charging Reynolds with indecent assault. And eventually you got the the arrest affidavits and but all that said, the city like city leaders, city mayor, they're all you know, the other council members, they're all kind of not talking about it. Right. Nope.

SPEAKER_03 33:15

No, it's a it's like it's a it's I get the sense that it's an extremely like I I want to almost say taboo subject right now. Yeah, I heard it mentioned actually once at the recent council meeting, some guy who I had never seen before at one of the council meetings because typically you see a lot of the same people, but this guy just came out of nowhere and just started saying that he had something to mention about that situation, and and Mayor Solomon cut him off real quick. And if you know anything about Mayor Solomon, he is not like often very like hard-edged when it comes to like dealing with like residents like that, but he he cut he he stopped it very quickly. It was off the agenda, and he had the right to. I'm not trying to say that he didn't, I'm just trying to paint a picture of like how the city's and of course the city like told me very flatly, which is very this is actually extremely rare on the city's part. Usually the city will like give me some kind of explanation as to why they can't tell me something, but this time they just flatly said they had no comment, which to me says a says a lot.

SPEAKER_02 34:23

Yeah, you think they're all they're embarrassed about the whole thing?

SPEAKER_03 34:28

Yes. I think they they are I mean whether whether or not it's their fault or not, it's hard to say. I mean, I mean, like, and you know, obviously these allegations are gonna have to be proved in court, yeah. But but they are really, really out incredibly like disturbing allegations. I mean, you know, and and you you have to feel for like for like the person who had to endure that assuming that that the allegation turns out to be proven in a court of law. And you know, I have to mention something. I haven't really like looked too much into like how people are talking about this on social media and stuff. To to me, looking at how people talk about my articles on social media is kind of like a distraction. It makes me like get too much into myself and stuff like that, and it makes it makes me not like do my job in a way that I want to do it. But there was another outlet, um, I believe it was a radio station who picked up on our story, and I just decided to take a look at what people were saying on that, and some of the things that people were saying about it really bothered me because if if the allegations are true, that's horrible. But people were trying to make assumptions about the person, the victim's race, and like like and like stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 35:57

And I just felt like that was like cat cast doubt on the on the claim or or the allegation, like maybe it didn't happen, like yeah, like like trying to make it seem like it was like an hysterical person or something like that.

SPEAKER_03 36:11

And I just feel like that that is not the way people should be like having a discourse about a potenti a powerful person in the city potentially doing something so heinous to another another human being, yeah. You know, uh presumably one who who is much weaker than them.

SPEAKER_02 36:31

And yeah, because it's not just one you know, co-worker to another, it's a very high-ranking supervisor to you know a city employee. Yeah. So it's like, you know, you know, was did he, you know, did she feel obligated to, you know, initially talk to him because, oh, here's the boss, he's coming in, you know. What does he have to say? You know, or you know, and you know, did did he use his you know authority to, you know, you know, put her in, you know, a precarious, you know, situation. And is this the first time that it happened? We have not we have not seen the report that she filed the official complaint on April 30th. We have not seen that. We know it was filed, but we have not seen that.

SPEAKER_03 37:27

Right. Um it's actually something that I've filed an open request about, open records request about. And I've already been uh contacted by the city's attorneys that they are contesting it with the attorney general. So because it's an ongoing investigation. Uh I don't remember the exact reasoning, but usually if it's in if it's in if it has to do with an HR thing, it might be considered confidential. Yeah. So I would that would be my guess as to why they're doing that. Um and then also, of course, I wanted to find out whether whether Reynolds, when he retired, was receiving pay as he was on leave.

SPEAKER_02 38:14

Yeah, because as soon as the after the complaint was filed, he was, according to what we understand, put on administrative leave, paid administrative leave as this investigation unfolds. Yeah. For two weeks. So basically from May 1 until May 15th, two weeks, he was paid at that time. And then May 15th comes in, he retires, so he's gone. But he got paid, we we believe. And do you remember what his pay was, his uh annual salary?

SPEAKER_03 38:46

Oh, I believe it was close to 200K. Yeah. I believe. Over 150, but less than 200. Yeah. I believe it was like in the 190 something, but I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_02 38:59

But so whatever two weeks' pay he, you know, apparently he got. And which, you know, that's you know, some people have questioned, well, you know, maybe this maybe he should pay the city back, you know. Or they should have charged it as, you know, unpaid, you know, administrative leave.

SPEAKER_03 39:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:21

But for all, you know, for for what it's worth, they they kind of they didn't give him a grand finale. We don't know of a retirement party that was held, you know, this time around, two years ago they did. But he kind of quietly went away, a little press release that said, okay, he's retiring. Thanks for your service. Meanwhile, the in the background, this investigation was looming, and his arrest was appeared imminent, you know, and he was arrested not really, just within a couple weeks after his his final day. Yeah. And now, what do you think this means in the overall future of Kaleen? Because let's say this incident never happened, and he would have gone on to, I guess they would have had that plan where he was part of the interim city manager system. Yeah. And even more so, like how he could have been the permanent city manager.

SPEAKER_03 40:19

I mean it's like history could have been written very differently. Yeah. Well, the thing I'm most concerned about is that this is something of like normal behavior or part of the culture, which I'm not saying it is, but it could, but the fact that it could be could be very, very disturbing if true. Unfortunately, people in that sort of situation rarely speak out. Yeah. So it's possible that like, you know, stuff like this could be happening all the time, and would we would just never know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:52

If there's some kind of toxic leadership program.

SPEAKER_03 40:55

Yeah, I mean, that was like what like the Me Too movement, like from a few years ago and stuff was was kind of all about. But but yeah, you know, I mean, I mean, I can I can see it going either way. Maybe, and it's kind of hard to really say whether the city did a good job or not, because like I think it's a little bit unfair to say that the city like had to had to have known. I mean, unless there is demonstrable evidence that they did indeed know, which, you know, we don't have that right now. But like at the same time, you know, I don't know. I just feel like it's something that probably should be looked into. And it would be nice if the city was more transparent about it. But honestly, based on past experiences, I don't I am not surprised that they aren't. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:48

Well, I I do know in other cases, you know, the city does send, usually it's from the police department, if there's a major arrest, you know, we'll get a press release. Major arrest in this shooting case, or you know, a few years ago there was a uh the case of Klaus Adam. He voted multiple times in a city election, and the city arrested him and sent out a press release, you know, arrested, you know, you know, accused of voting multiple times in the same election. But, you know, when it comes to this arrest, and I think we can all agree this is a pretty big arrest, based on who it is, not necessarily because it's a felony or or or or whatnot, but based on who it is and what it means for Kleene's, you know, leadership and and future. It seems to me like they should have uh announced something, you know, because the only way we heard about it was the person, and I don't want to reveal who it is, but the person who let us know about this. We got a call call one day. He said Reynolds was had been arrested or was facing charges, and then he sent us an email, and that really opened the door to where you started asking questions to police and and others. And finally, because you know, imagine if we didn't get that news tip, the guy never called, the guy never emailed. Yeah, this story would have never been reported, right? Yeah. I mean uh I mean maybe we would have heard about it eventually because it is moving through the court system. I don't see how they could keep it that quiet. But there's thousands of misdemeanor cases moving through the court system every day. Yeah. You know, it could it could have gotten easily lost. So send in those new tip news tips. We appreciate them. All right, Kevin. Is there anything else you want to say about this case or what what you think might happen eventually?

SPEAKER_03 43:56

Well, the only thing I'll say on a personal note is that this type of like story makes me very like I feel like I feel like I sort of like feel like it deserves attention when powerful people are alleged to have been doing something like that. That where there's such a huge power dynamic that basically like because those people that are the victims of this sort of thing don't usually have power to do anything about it. So I if I can do anything to help bring it to light, I'm gonna do it.

SPEAKER_02 44:39

Thank you, Kevin. And I want to thank everyone for listening today. Inside Kaleen Posk podcast is brought to you by KDH News. Today's episode was produced by Hamita Botchway. You can read Kevin's stories on the Jeffrey Reynolds case at kdhnews.com. Thank you, everybody.