Copyright 2006 THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS
By HERB BOOTH
The Dallas Morning News
Wilmer terminated City Administrator Thom Lauer on Friday because it couldn’t afford to keep him.
Then, after losing his job of 3 1/2 years, Mr. Lauer’s Kaufman County home caught fire. No injuries were reported in the fire, which claimed most of Mr. Lauer’s roof.
The city’s structure may have taken a harder hit. Mayor Don Hudson said the city administrator position is being discontinued.
“He wasn’t fired,” Mr. Hudson said. “I have the utmost respect for Thom. I’d have no trouble giving him an excellent recommendation. What you have to remember is the city administrator position was a temporary one when Thom was hired.”
Mr. Hudson said it’s been a while since Wilmer hasn’t had some sort of financial problem. But he did not elaborate on what led to the termination of the city’s highest-paid employee.
“Right now, we’re having some problems. I mean we’re going to make payroll. Eventually we’re going to be great because of the intermodal facility,” the mayor said, referring to Union Pacific’s 350-acre, $100 million rail yard that straddles Wilmer and Hutchins.
“We’re in negotiations on tax abatements right now with two Fortune 1000 companies. There’s a lot of business interest in this area.”
The financial dilemmas in Wilmer — a city of about 3,600 residents in southeastern Dallas County — include outside auditors chiding the council about pernicious spending, misspent state funds and unpaid unemployment taxes.
Mr. Hudson said Mr. Lauer earned $52,000 per year, plus the use of a vehicle. The mayor said Mr. Lauer was given two weeks’ pay in lieu of notification.
Mr. Hudson said he didn’t want to give details about Mr. Lauer being “let go” until he had his opportunity to appeal the decision to the full Wilmer City Council.
Mr. Hudson said he is handling day-to-day operations in Wilmer, which is in accordance with state law in a general-law city. Mr. Hudson is not paid for those duties.
Kaufman County Fire Marshal Larry Ewing said the roof of Mr. Lauer’s home — a doublewide trailer in unincorporated College Mound — was burned off. Mr. Ewing said there was nothing suspicious about the fire, but he was waiting to hear what the insurance company had to say.
Marshal Ewing said the College Mound Volunteer Fire Department responded first. He had no preliminary damage estimates.
“The contents survived pretty well. They were loading stuff up in their lawn as we left,” Marshal Ewing said.
Mr. Lauer, who turned in his city-issued cellphone, could not be reached for comment. Mr. Lauer had served Wilmer as police chief and as a police officer.
He was fired as police chief by then-Mayor Linda Root, who said Mr. Lauer had not earned the proper law enforcement certification to hold the job. The council then hired him as city administrator.
While Mr. Lauer was in the administrator’s post, staff caused Ms. Root’s food to spoil by demanding removal of an electric meter from her home. The staff also locked out the mayor from her office by changing the locks at City Hall.