A former Murchison official who has called for a federal investigation of that city's operations told The Chandler & Brownsboro Statesman she resigned in August only after Mayor Mike Hill called her incompetent and refused to acknowledge her due-process rights.

"I asked for my due process on Aug. 4, and he put it off," Sharon Chase said. "I don't see how you can go from being a good employee to these people being so aggravated with me a month later. I did what the mayor asked me every time, and I resigned per his request."

Chase was asked to resign on July 30, but the former city secretary remained on the job. Official minutes from a work session that night show council members, Hill, and Chase debating each other's roles and job descriptions as set by Texas law.

Those minutes were drafted by Chase, never approved, and later amended by the city's new secretary, Pam Tedford. The revised minutes take that portion of the agenda in which officials argue about their responsibilities and condense it to a single paragraph. In the first draft, the same section, listed as "item 1," was over a page long.

State law allows meeting minutes to first be drafted before being submitted to the council for approval. Changes can be made to minutes, but after they are approved and signed by the mayor, they cannot be revised again unless a majority of the council votes for the action.

Drafted minutes must be preserved even after they're amended.

Chase resigned immediately following an Aug. 11 council meeting, and her resignation was accepted the next day during an emergency session. Bedford was hired at the same time on a temporary basis for $15 an hour, the same rate for which her predecessor worked.

As required by law, the city advertised the position and, on Sept. 3, reviewed 36 resumes. Minutes from that meeting show council members could reach a consensus only on Bedford.

Other than council members, the mayor, and the city secretary, Murchison has no employees. Only the secretary, an appointee under state law, and contracted workers receive pay.

Four days before Chase resigned, former council member Porter Kelly, who was elected as a write-in candidate in May, stepped down just before accusing city officials of breaking state laws and mistreating Murchison residents. Hill's sister, Deanna Benson, was appointed to fill the remainder of Kelly's two-year term.

Among Kelly's grievances were accusations that Hill made purchases without council approval, once auctioned off city equipment without authorization, and had been conducting other city business in secret.

Chase has made the same allegations and believes she was pressured to resign after offering insight on how to execute city business according to guidelines provided by the Texas Municipal League and set by state law.

She's also called for the FBI or Texas Rangers to launch an investigation into what she says is missing public money from Murchison City Hall.

"I was humiliated all the time," she said. "You don't want anybody to call you a liar. I wasn't lying. I really do miss my job."