Politics & Government

Pasadena Mayor Yanks PI Contract Deal Of Former HPD Colleague

A contract for private investigative services proposed by Mayor Jeff Wagner was pulled after council members questioned the deals motives.

PASADENA, TX — A now-dead contract proposal from Mayor Jeff Wagner calling for a former Houston police officer to conduct private investigations, left several on the Pasadena City Council members a little apprehensive.

The proposal was on the city’s Jan. 16 council agenda, and was pulled before the start of the regular session, after council members Sammy Casados and Cody Ray Wheeler expressed their concern over some of the language within the proposal.

The proposal, which named former Houston Police Officer David McCoy, was a contract that called for McCoy — at Wagner’s direction — to review and investigation of facts and circumstances involving allegations of city, non-classified personnel, and agents misconduct related to duties and transactions with the city and non-criminal violation of law or policies, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Find out what's happening in Pasadenafor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Council members said they’d not received any background on the proposal until it appeared on the Jan. 16 agenda.

Wagner, who was on the city council before being elected mayor in 2017, is a retired HPD detective.

Find out what's happening in Pasadenafor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Wagner succeed long-time embattled Mayor Johnny Isbell, who pushed a voting scheme onto the 2013 ballot, ultimately leading to a civil rights lawsuit filed by the Mexican American Legal Defense Education Fund.

Image: Shutterstock

Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

More from Pasadena