BALCONES HEIGHTS, Texas – The Balcones Heights mayor is categorically denying “every single complaint, every single allegation” against him from an investigation into his conduct, despite saying he has not seen the 35-page report of its findings.
“I’m telling the people that are listening to me that they are complete lies and have been fabricated to try to character assassinate me,” Mayor Johnny Rodriguez Jr. told KSAT.
“It’s the same M.O. that they have followed for years to try to prevent me from being in office,” he said.
An administrative investigation by an outside, Austin-based law firm, Lloyd Gosselink Rochelle & Townsend, P.C., determined multiple allegations against Rodriguez, who was re-elected last month after running unopposed, were “substantiated.”
A report the firm delivered to the Balcones Heights City Council on Monday night states it is “more likely than not” Rodriguez had engaged in unprofessional conduct and comments; created or contributed to a hostile, intimidating and retaliatory work environment for city staff; engaged in retaliatory behavior; and interfered with city matters beyond his scope of duties.
The investigation followed multiple employee complaints or reports of the mayor’s behavior since September 2024. Written complaints and witness interviews turned up numerous claims against the mayor, spanning 19 pages of the report.
The claims included the mayor using the “n-word” multiple times when describing how he would talk with people in his work as a private investigator, suggesting the city call U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on homeless people who appeared to be undocumented, making homophobic comments, and apparently referring to employees as “rats” in a voicemail.
The report also states, “the evidence reflects repeated instances in which employees associated adverse treatment, threats regarding job security, heightened scrutiny, disciplinary efforts, or termination discussions with protected complaints, public criticism, association activity, or perceived opposition to the Mayor.”
The report includes multiple claims and anecdotes of confrontations with employees, including one with former Police Chief John Jahanara, in which recordings of the incident captured the mayor telling the chief that the then-city administrator would not be at the city much longer and the chief’s days were numbered as well.
The City Council voted 3-2 Monday to accept the report’s findings, which they received during a closed-door session without Rodriguez present. They voted by the same margin to waive the city’s attorney-client privilege and allow a version of the report with most of the names redacted to be publicly released.
The report and an executive summary have been posted on the city website since at least Tuesday morning.
“I think many of us were troubled by what we heard from employees over time, but this investigation wasn’t based on rumors or politics. It was a rigorous, independent process conducted by an outside law firm with written statements, witness interviews and recorded evidence,” Councilman Jimmy Hernandez told KSAT.
Rodriguez had his defenders, too. Councilwoman Molly Weaver said during Monday’s meeting it was a “very good report,” but she couldn’t believe any of it had stuck.
“We got a lot of good information, OK, but I have to tell everybody these were all assumptions. It was all hearsay. It was all interpretation. There was no facts in this report,” Weaver said.
The council resolution accepting the report also notes that the council’s rules and procedures “do not contain express authority for discipline related to Mayor Rodriguez.” So it’s unclear what, if any, consequences he might face as a result.
“I don’t want to get ahead of myself on any processes that may be under the way, but you may see something in our next regular meeting,” Hernandez said, while also saying there was nothing official in the works.
‘Organized opposition’
In an interview with KSAT at his office at the Wonderland of the Americas Mall on Wednesday, Rodriguez told KSAT he had not seen the report, had no idea what it contained, who was contacted, or who the complainants had been.
But he called the investigation “biased” and said the allegations were “built-up narratives to prevent me from holding people accountable.”
Asked about some of the specifics in the report, Rodriguez said “(I) categorically deny each and every one of those. It would be ludicrous of me to ever speak like that.”
“They have taken things out of context is what they’ve done,” he told KSAT. “They’ve taken just a little bit of reference to something that I may have said in public forum, in a council meeting, and then they twisted it to their narrative — to fit theirs — because it’s an organized opposition.”
Rodriguez previously served as mayor in the early 2000s and said he was a councilman in the ’90s. He was elected as mayor by one vote in 2024 and ran unopposed for a second term in the May election.
The report states Rodriguez declined to provide an interview during the investigation process, which his attorney, Brandon Grable, said was because they would not provide a document on who had retained them to do the interview or what its scope was.
Lawsuit
In March, council members had restricted Rodriguez’s access to city facilities and his ability to communicate with staff during the course of the investigation, prompting the mayor to sue the city, his fellow council members, and several employees.
Rodriguez told KSAT he plans to continue pushing his case, which has had several defendants dropped from it, in federal court.
A new ordinance, which the council approved 3-2 Monday, appeared to override the previous restrictions with rules on communication for all elected officials, as well as the mayor specifically.
Grable said the rules, which include a requirement to communicate administrative matters through the city administrator and bars them from unaccompanied access of secured city facilities, make the “temporary” restrictions against the mayor permanent.
The new ordinance also includes a section on the handling of complaints and independent investigations. It also allows the council to punish violations by elected officials with $500 administrative fines for each instance, training by the offending official, and order even more restricted access to city staff and facilities.