Gregory Moliere served as a police officer in the Buffalo Police Department in Texas. Despite department policy to the contrary, Moliere engaged in a high-speed chase while a civilian was riding along in his patrol vehicle. The chase resulted in an accident that damaged the patrol vehicle. Moliere reported the accident to the City’s Chief of Police, who issued Moliere a written reprimand. Moliere did not appeal the reprimand; he accepted and signed it.
The Buffalo City Council voted to terminate Moliere. Moliere sued, alleging both that the City Council lacked the authority to fire him and that his firing did not comply with due process. At the trial court, all claims against the City were dismissed. But on appeal, the Court reversed, finding that there was an issue of fact regarding City Council’s authority to fire him.
The Court noted that, although “the City Council passed an ordinance providing that ‘City Council shall approve the appointment/hiring of all city police officers,’ it had not passed an ordinance expressly addressing the ‘termination’ of those officers. The Court then concluded that the City’s employee manual and the Department’s policy and procedure manual were ambiguous regarding the City Council’s authority to terminate police officers.” The Court remanded for further proceedings, declining to address Moliere’s due process argument, and the City petitioned for review.
The Supreme Court of Texas reversed the lower court’s decision on the City’s authority to fire Moliere but remanded to the trial court for further proceedings on Moliere’s due process claim, which had not been addressed.
“Moliere argues that the City Council lacks authority to terminate a police officer because, under his theory, the police chief is the only person authorized to hire or fire a police officer unless and until the City Council adopts an ordinance giving itself the authority to do so. And Moliere contends no statute or ordinance authorizes the City Council to terminate his employment. We disagree.” Considering the state’s local government code, the Court found that “the Legislature delegated to the City Council authority to oversee the particulars of officer hiring and conditions of employment,” not just to “establish and regulate a municipal police force.” “Like Moliere, the court of appeals concluded that the City Council lacked authority to fire police officers unless it had passed an ordinance that specifically authorized ‘termination.’ This was a misreading of the local government code which on its face does not apply to all terminations. Instead, a municipality that adopts an ordinance authorized by the local government code may fire officers without cause or for any reason at all – or at least, any reason not prohibited by law. That is what it means to ‘serve at the pleasure of the governing body.’ Even assuming that a municipality may not fire officers without cause absent an ordinance under the local government code, it hardly follows that a termination for cause is similarly restricted.”
As to the due process argument, the Court did not make a finding on the merits, concluding only that the lower courts should have considered the issue.
City of Buffalo v. Moliere, 2024 WL 4644352 (Tx. 2024).