SAN ANTONIO – Fired Bexar County Military and Veterans Services Director Keith Wilson said county commissioners used a flawed outside investigation to wrongfully terminate him last month.
The March 10 firing of Wilson, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who led the county agency since 2022, has not been without controversy.
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Supporters of Wilson, who gathered at the March 10 commissioners court meeting, were dismayed that a motion was called to vote on Wilson’s termination before they were allowed to speak on his behalf.
“I didn’t get to state my case before you called this to order, Mr. Sakai,” veteran advocate Stephen Price said during the citizens to be heard portion of the meeting. “Military City U.S.A., I’ll be damned.”
Commissioners later voted 4-0 to terminate Wilson and appointed Calvin Henry as interim director of the agency tasked with providing guidance and advocacy for active-duty service members and veterans in the county.
“I just want to say, personally, I wish we weren’t here. I really appreciate the work that Keith has done to support veterans in our community,” Precinct 3 Commissioner Grant Moody said while he participated in the meeting via Zoom.
Moody recited a Navy saying about protecting the ship, your brothers and then yourself.
”Ultimately, I think that leads me to the decision that I felt must be made to protect the ship, the organization, with this vote. Thank you,” said Moody, who declined further comment for this story through a spokesperson.
The dismissal vote came months after Wilson was placed on a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP), which Wilson contested.
Wilson watched his firing play out in real time on the county’s livestream while sitting in a ski lodge in Winter Park, Colorado.
“My plan was to drop my daughter off at ski lessons and then to spend my time disconnected,” Wilson told KSAT Investigates. “But I just couldn’t emotionally disconnect, and so I did. I sat down in the morning at the lodge with my iPhone on and my ear pods listening.”
‘We kept people in their homes’
Wilson’s tenure in charge appeared to go from steady ground to shaky footing last fall.
The department’s deputy director, Nancy Taguacta, retired at the end of October after she was given a letter of proposed termination.
An investigation by the county’s ombudsman substantiated multiple misconduct allegations against Taguacta, including her targeting Military and Veterans Services Department (MVSD) employees with service-connected disabilities. She was also accused of hostility, isolation and intimidation in the workplace.
The investigation determined that, last May, Taguacta began referring to an MVSD employee as a “ticking time bomb” and openly discussed his medical diagnosis.
Wilson did not emerge unscathed from the probe of Taguacta’s actions.
A PIP issued to Wilson the same month Taguacta stepped down indicated he was frequently absent from the office during business hours and had failed to identify and address that his second-in-command was targeting and mistreating employees.
The PIP noted that Wilson was unavailable to employees seeking to address concerns in the workplace.
Wilson pushed back on the PIP, saying it contained “factual mischaracterizations.” He instead suggested to county leaders that he develop a department action plan.
Wilson pointed out that he almost immediately elevated concerns about Taguacta to the county’s ombudsman, a staff member who investigates workplace conflicts and makes recommendations on how to move forward.
In early December, Wilson submitted the action plan along with a written grievance, records obtained by KSAT Investigates show.
One week later, Wilson was placed on paid administrative leave.
The county brought in an outside law firm to further investigate workplace allegations against Wilson.
This month, county officials released a five-page summary of the investigation, which determined six of the eight allegations against Wilson were substantiated.
Among the substantiated findings: Wilson sent confidential county employee records to a third party without authorization or a valid legal basis and was insubordinate while challenging the validity of the October PIP.
Wilson told KSAT he included his personal attorney when emailing his grievance, which included attachments of the ombudsman’s findings.
Wilson contends the Bexar County District Attorney’s civil division chief transmitted the same attachments as part of the email thread.
The investigative summary states Wilson’s demeanor “was overly aggressive and confrontational.”
Wilson was also flagged for having inappropriate physical contact with a fellow employee while appearing visibly intoxicated during a county event.
In an interview with KSAT Investigates, Wilson said the incident happened early in his tenure and that he was in a dating relationship with the woman at the time.
Wilson, who described the encounter as him and the woman having their arms around each other in an embrace, said he and County Manager David Smith had already discussed the incident. Wilson said he was surprised the moment was included in an employment review conducted more than three years later.
An analysis of Wilson’s county-issued cellphone revealed he had used it for personal purposes and that the device contained metadata associated with a sexually explicit website.
Wilson denied ever using the phone to look up sexually explicit content.
“If I did something, I’d be the first one to say, ‘Yep, I messed that up,’ and I’d kind of fade off into the sunset,” said Wilson.
The investigation also determined Wilson violated his administrative leave by meeting with a community partner and discussing county business.
Wilson told KSAT he attended a meeting for a group he worked with prior to being hired as MVSD director. During the appearance, Wilson said he clearly communicated that he was there as a community member and could not speak on behalf of Bexar County.
A separate substantiated allegation claimed that Wilson had a lack of on-site presence and departmental oversight.
Wilson pointed out that one of his primary listed job duties was to go out into the community and expand MVSD’s reach.
“I don’t spend a lot of time in my office. I have grown our department from two locations to 10 locations spread across the county,” Wilson said. “It would be like telling a battalion commander or a brigade commander in the Army, whose forces are geographically dispersed across a battlefield, that he’s got to sit in his command post the entire time.”
Wilson’s sister, Stacy Stracener, echoed that sentiment while addressing commissioners on March 10.
“The nature of his job and the literal job description requires him to be out in the community, meeting with community leaders, veteran organizations and partner agencies across the county,” said Stracener, while questioning the validity of the county’s probe. “Who determined that oversight was not provided without speaking to Keith or his team?”
“I can’t speak more highly of it,” an emotional Wilson told KSAT when asked about his sister’s remarks at Bexar County Commissioners Court.
Two other allegations — that Wilson was unresponsive to communications and that he used his position to interfere with county operations — were found to be unsubstantiated.
“We kept people in their homes, and we kept the lights on and the water running,” said Wilson, who pointed out the department increased its number of peer support groups and community partnerships while he was in charge of it.
“I saw first hand every day the impact we had in our community,” Wilson said. “I fear that all this turbulence and all this shakeup is going to cause some of those things to get lost.”
Documents in support of Wilson include a letter authored by leadership of the South Texas Veterans Health Care System.
“Since Mr. Wilson’s appointment, the South Texas Veterans Health Care System has experienced a marked strengthening of partnership with Bexar County. Under his leadership, our teams have engaged in regular and productive collaboration — something that had not been routine in prior years. Mr. Wilson has worked closely with community committees, revitalizing discussions around Veteran needs, service gaps, and opportunities to improve care throughout our region. For these reasons and many more, we offer our full and unreserved endorsement of Keith Wilson. His integrity, leadership, and commitment make him an invaluable partner to the South Texas Veterans Health Care System and to the broader Veteran community.”
South Texas Veterans Health Care System Chief of Staff Dr. Heather Yun and Executive Director Dr. Julianne Flynn
Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai and County Manager David Smith declined a request from KSAT Investigates to be interviewed about Wilson’s dismissal.
Wilson is contesting his termination and has filed two charges against the county with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.