It appears Milpitas City Manager Tom Williams has a history of trying to pay his personal legal bills with public funds.

Milpitas once again finds itself at odds with its city manager, whose litigious posturing has triggered a probe into suspected corruption.

Milpitas Mayor Rich Tran announced on Facebook that he intends to call for an independent performance review of the city manager.

Milpitas’ former city attorney has filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the city for what he calls a wrongful, retaliatory termination.

Milpitas’ former city attorney, whose entire office was outsourced to a private law firm this past summer, plans to sue the city for retaliation.

Tom Williams, city manager for Milpitas, sent out a navel-gazing press release Monday praising his work following a personnel investigation.

An age discrimination lawsuit filed last month in federal court claims Milpitas City Manager Tom Williams hired a younger, less qualified secretary over several more experienced candidates.

Milpitas fast-tracked the firing of City Attorney Mike Ogaz, laying the groundwork to completely outsource legal counsel.

In a 3-2 vote last week, Milpitas City Council ousted longtime City Attorney Mike Ogaz and his entire staff in a move to outsource his replacement.

Milpitas City Hall, for the life of it, can’t seem to hang on to its top-tier employees. Human Resources Director Carmen Valdez became the latest in a long line of department heads to abruptly leave.

A dozen current and former city of Milpitas employees say that City Manager Tom Williams has created a hostile work environment that's led to unprecedented turnover of department heads. The long-simmering tension could now lead to the removal of the city attorney.

Gadfly
noun ˈgad-ˌflī
1: any of various flies (as a horsefly, botfly, or warble fly) that bite or annoy livestock
2: a person who stimulates or annoys especially by persistent criticism

This story involves definition No. 2, but we’re not here to make fun of a strident citizen in the snarky manner you might expect. No, this Story of the Week focuses on a gadfly getting the best of an elected official. The whole deal is pretty absurd, so, of course, it happened in Milpitas.