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District 8 City Council member Chris Nettles speaks during a City Council meeting held on Aug. 13, 2024. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report)
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The Fort Worth City Council voted unanimously Aug. 13 to approve $9.6 million in settlement payouts to ex-police chief Joel Fitzgerald and two other former employees. 

Under the terms of the settlement, Fitzgerald will receive $5.2 million. Former information technology employee William Birchett will receive $2.4 million, while fellow IT employee Ronald Burke will receive $2 million. The settlement was included in the council’s consent agenda, which is traditionally reserved for routine items expected to be passed without comment.

District 8 council member Chris Nettles was the sole council member to comment on the settlement before the vote. He thanked the city attorneys for working to reach a settlement.

“I’m grateful that we were able to get to a settlement as we can move forward with the city of Fort Worth and make sure that we support all of our employees,” he said. “And so I just want to thank the City Council for a move in this direction.”

Mayor Mattie Parker provided a written statement after the settlement was approved, where she commended the leadership of police chief Neil Noakes following the death of Sgt. Billy Randolph, who was killed in the line of duty Monday. She said his work and that of his command staff proved that the city has incredible police leadership. She did not reference Fitzgerald by name in the statement, but addressed the litigation. 

“It is both exhausting and unnecessary to continue discussing an individual who has not been employed by the city for over five years,” she wrote. “Protracted litigation in Dallas hasn’t been productive and it is time to leave this where it belongs – in the past.”

Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker speaks during a City Council meeting held on Aug. 13, 2024. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report)

The settlement comes after a jury ruled in Burke’s favor in April and awarded more than $1 million in lost wages and benefits. The city is in the process of appealing that ruling. Burke argued that the city effectively fired him after he and Birchett reported legal issues involving the cybersecurity of a federal criminal database, prompting Fitzgerald to report concerns about how the security lapse could impact policing in Fort Worth. 

Fitzgerald, too, argued his firing in May 2019 was because of whistleblowing related to cybersecurity. He said he was fired the same day he was set to meet with FBI investigators about his cybersecurity concerns. 

The city has maintained Fitzgerald’s claims are without merit, and then-assistant city manager Jay Chapa wrote in his termination letter that the former police chief had a “track record of making decisions that are focused on your best interest instead of the best interest of the city, the organization or department as a whole.” 

In July 2019, the Texas Workforce Commission ruled there was no evidence Fitzgerald had committed misconduct before his firing.

Fitzgerald is now chief of police for the Regional Transportation District in the Denver, Colorado, area. CBS Colorado reported in late July that Fitzgerald has been placed on leave while under investigation for unspecified policy violations.

After Burke’s trial concluded in April, the city entered mediation with him, Birchett and Fitzgerald July 3. The settlement was agreed upon under the condition that all claims against the city be released, and all parties bear their own legal costs. Fort Worth has spent more than $1.2 million defending itself from the lawsuits filed by the three former employees.