Credit: Montgomery County.
The employment status of Norristown Public Works Director Thomas Odenigbo was questioned during a Norristown Municipal Council work session.
While Odenigbo’s nearly decade-long tenure leading the department responsible for maintaining public infrastructure, parks, sidewalks, streets, and other areas in the Montgomery County seat came into focus during the Nov. 18 work session, it was initially raised earlier this month at a town hall hosted by Councilwoman Natalie Colson.
Norristown resident Heather Lewis, who previously served as a member of the Norristown Municipal Council, observed Odenigbo not in attendance along with other municipal department heads. In a recorded video of the Nov. 12 town hall, Lewis directly asked if Colson “cast a vote to terminate his position?”
“I did,” Colson responded. Lewis then pressed her for further details, stressing “when did that happen? Because that’s supposed to be a public vote.”
“It was at our executive session,” Colson replied.
This isn’t the first instance involving local leadership. A months-long saga involving the tenuous relationship between former Police Chief Jacqueline Bailey-Davis and the municipality resulted in her resignation a year ago.
Bailey-Davis was sworn in as the department’s first Black woman police chief in January 2024. Cracks in the relationship began to show in September 2024 and came to a head during a heated meeting in November 2024. Bailey-Davis was offered a severance package and placed on administrative leave prior to her resignation. Officials haven’t shed light on a reason as to why Bailey-Davis eventually resigned, citing confidentiality surrounding the personnel matter. Elected officials authorized the action in December 2024.
“We all saw the public fiasco that happened with the former police chief. That was a very public thing. It didn’t happen behind closed doors. The vote was made on the floor,” Lewis said in a video earlier this month. “The charter states that the vote needs to be made public, and if you all voted behind the scenes, that’s a violation of [the] Sunshine Act.”
After Lewis finished her comments, the town hall progressed to the next speaker. However, the matter was brought up once again during public comment at the Nov. 18 Norristown Municipal Council work session.
Norristown resident Yvonne Platts, who said she was “standing in for my friend and comrade Heather Lewis,” accused council members and municipal officials of engaging in an “illegal vote” taken during a recent “executive session.”
Referencing remarks penned by Lewis, Platts added that Lewis received an email from Solicitor Sean Kilkenny, insisting “no public or private vote has been taken,” which countered the exchange between Colson and Lewis.
“This is a stark contrast to what Councilwoman Colson stated in her direct video recorded response to the question. It seems to me that there are some untruths being told in an attempt to cover up this illegal action,” Platts said.
Colson did not address the matter during the Nov. 18 work session. Norristown Municipal Council President Rebecca Smith prompted Kilkenny to publicly read the email, which he said stemmed from a Nov. 5 executive session where council members met “to discuss a personnel matter.”
Kilkenny said he was not present for the meeting, which Solicitor Patrick Hitchens sat in on.
“I was told that [a] specific municipal employee’s performance was discussed, and the administrator received authorization after polling counsel,” Kilkenny said. “So in an executive session, individual opinions, it’s permitted by the law, can be asked by the administrator to take an action to … give that employee a chance to resign and rule termination.”
“It was also relayed by council that for the employee to be terminated, it would need to occur at a public meeting pursuant to Norristown charter,” Kilkenny continued. “No public or private vote has been taken in relation to this employee, and he or she remains employed by the municipality.”
Kilkenny declined to comment further when asked by MediaNews Group. The circumstances leading up to the matter were unclear.
Odenigbo began working at the municipality in June 2016, per a municipal spokesperson. While Odenigbo was still employed as of Friday, he was not listed on the department’s website.
