ODESSA, Texas — Odessa City Councilmember Steven Thompson and Odessa Development Corporation board member Kris Crow are going toe-to-toe.
It all circles around conflicts of interest. Just recently, the city council voted to remove Jeff Russell from his position on the ODC due to a conflict of interest. Now, Crow is calling on Thompson to resign over a conflict of interest as well.
Crow said that Thompson has shown more than just a hint of impropriety, something that council or its appointed committee members need to avoid.
Thompson said that he's done nothing wrong and that he has the documents to prove it.
"I’m not stepping down, I can tell you that," Thompson said. "I didn’t do anything wrong. I’ve been above board from the get-go."
However, Crow disagrees completely. The City of Odessa has entered into a contract with Standard Insurance Company through STA Benefits Consultants.
Thompson previously managed STA Benefits until 2015 when he retired. Thompson's son is now at the reigns.
Crow believes that Thompson has voted on issues involving STA Benefits.
"December of 2020, when councilman Thompson first came on to city council, the contract came up for a vote," Crow said. "It was in the consent agenda to approve a $155,000 contract to be awarded to STA Benefits, and when it came up, Mr. Thompson said 'you know this is part the consent agenda.' He said 'I’m going to vote to approve all of the items. I just wanna let you know that the item J, that is my son’s company.'"
Crow said that this is a clear conflict of interest and is not okay. Thompson said that Crow has no ground to stand on.
"I have abstained on every vote when that came up," Thompson said. "On December 8, 2020, I abstained, and it was part of the consent agenda, so actually what I had to do was I voted aye on all of the items on the consent agenda except number J, which is my son's affiliation with Standard."
Documents appear to back Thompson up. City council minutes from December 8, 2020 and December 14, 2021, two meetings where the contract with Standard Insurance Company through STA Benefits was on the agenda, show that Thompson abstained in both instances.
While Thompson did have a vested interest with the company in the past, that was years ago. Documents show that he is no longer the Principal.
"In 2015, I retired and sold that contract, my managing contract, to my son, which is built into the deal, and he took over it at that point," Thompson said. "I don’t have the authority to take my name off of those documents."