Those heated discussions over Milpitas City Manager Tom Williams’ job performance just got a lot more heated.
Williams is now threatening to sue the city. Details about the potential lawsuit are incomplete because Williams has successfully prevented Milpitas from releasing most of the documents associated with the case. But San Jose Inside was able to obtain a copy of at least one document -- a cease and desist letter sent to the mayor and the City Council on April 13 -- which tells part of the story.
In the letter, Mayor Rich Tran was warned to stop his public critiques of Williams. Failure to do so would result in the filing of a lawsuit, according to the letter. Williams said he would try to recoup $500,000 in damages for the loss of his reputation, another $500,0000 for emotional distress, plus attorney’s fees.
The letter also provides some background on what has been going on behind the scenes. The document says that Tran, who is one of the youngest mayors in California, has been out to get Williams from Day One because of his age.
“Hey, what’s up? Now, ya’ know I told the voters I had to investigate you. So noth’en personal, but I gotta do what I gotta do,” Tran allegedly told Williams during a Jan. 20 conversation. “Hey, by the way,” he added, “when are you going to retire? I need to mix it up with some younger people around here, people that look more like me.”
Two months later, Tran allegedly told Williams that his job was to get rid of him because “you old guys need to move out of the way.” He later went public with his intention to investigate the top administrator in a Facebook post.
Milpitas has been drowning in litigation for the past two years. In 2015, the city settled an age discrimination claim filed by a former office clerk for $600,000. Last March, it paid off a former personnel chief who was claiming retaliation (that cost $100,000). That same year, the city settled a discrimination claim by the federal government for $140,000. And in March of this year, the city’s former city attorney dropped his own retaliation claims in exchange for $975,000.
Read more about latest possible legal fight here.