Sunday, May 19, 2024
Darryl Schriver reveals alleged reasons for termination, accuses Board of Directors of cover-up
PARKER COUNTY - On Aug. 24, 2023, Darryl Schriver, the former CEO of Tri-County Electric Cooperative, filed a petition for oral depositions of all nine TCEC board members. The former chief executive claims that he was wrongfully terminated and defamed by the Board after his firing was announced in the Fort-Worth Star Telegram.
On June 28, 2023, Schriver received a call at his home from TCEC Board Chair Max Waddell who told him he was being placed on administrative leave, to return any TCEC property in his possession and to not step foot on TCEC grounds. Schriver was not told why the Board had made this decision during the phone call. Twelve days after being told of his suspension, TCEC's lawyers informed Schriver's lawyer that the basis for his administrative leave was that a "whistleblower" claim had been brought against him. At 4:50 p.m. on that same day, Schriver’s attorney received a follow-up e-mail from TCEC counsel alleging, “misuse of credit card and other financial issues.”
Schriver denies any allegations that he misused a company credit card or engaged in any inappropriate conduct with company finances in his petition. Schriver believes that his termination is in response to his “own whistleblowing activities, both in the past and by way of this letter. Any discipline will be because I have reported unlawful conduct and have refused to engage in such conduct.”
Schriver claims that TCEC employees had defamed him by announcing that his termination had been due to “financial wrongdoing” on social media. “The Co-Op's handling of this matter has already damaged my reputation considerably,” Schriver said in the petition. “Those damages continue to mount daily. At the same time, the matters I have brought to the Board's attention over the course of the past several years have yet to be investigated or have not been handled in accordance with policy.”
Schriver alleges that the Board’s investigator questioned him on several company credit card charges which he claims to have proven legitimate. The investigator also questioned Schriver on an American Airlines charge which Schriver claims to have reimbursed the Board with via check.
The petition also claims that Schriver was accused of forging the Board’s signature for a $50,000 bonus. “However, (the investigator) acknowledged in the interview that the bonus was an amount to which the TCEC Board had voted unanimously Petitioner was already entitled,” the document states. “Further, everyone in the room also appeared to understand the ridiculousness of any claim that Petitioner would attempt to present a counterfeit signature to the Board Chair for his approval, particularly when the signature looked nothing like the Chair's and even misspelled his name.”
According to the petition, Schriver’s final notice gave no explanation for his firing, other than to note that the Board had voted to terminate him "as a result of a loss of confidence in your ability to continue to serve in that capacity.” The vote was not unanimous according to TCEC’s legal counsel, the petition notes.
Schriver levied his own accusations against the board in the filing. Schriver claims that management under directors Walden and Harris moved tax free money and equipment from TCEC to be transferred to a taxable for-profit set of organizations, including One Source Communications, for which the cooperative did not have full ownership. Schriver also claims board members did not properly dispose of cooperative assets, misused company resources, did not disclose prior contracts, and conducted unfair or illegitimate election practices among many other issues.
A hearing following up on the petition for oral depositions is set for 9a.m. on Sept. 15.
