A supplemental order from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas Austin Division was filed March 21, detailing the case that led to a jury's decision that the city of Hutto must pay a $12.5 million award to former City Manager Odis Jones based on allegations of racial discrimination and breach of contract.

A jury initially granted the award, which breaks down to $4.5 million for breach of contract and $8 million in damages, on March 2.

At that time the city of Hutto issued a release without further comment stating it would aggressively contest the award and focus on the appeals process.

The March 21 judgment filing states that any pending motions in the case are terminated and the case is hereby closed.

Like the March 2 documents from the district court, the March 21 court documents do not provide a timeline for the city to pay the $12.5 million award to Jones.

On March 5, Jones’ lawyer, Holt Major Lackey, said deadlines to pay out awards in cases like this are often complicated, and it is not yet known when Hutto will have to pay the $12.5 million.

However, a March 22 statement from the city of Hutto maintains that the latest court order is a matter of protocol that officials anticipated.

"Now that the order is made, the city of Hutto has 26 days to formally ask the judge to set aside the jury verdict based on a lack of evidence and other serious concerns," the statement reads.

"Once the city has filed this motion as planned, Jones' attorney can respond, and then the city can respond once more," the statement reads. "Not until that point would the case be ready for the judge to decide, which could take months since the court docket is already very full."

Jones served as city manager from 2016 until he resigned in 2019. Following his resignation, Jones expected to receive the $412,000 severance package in addition to a $105,000 consulting agreement for his role in an $800 million development deal to bring sports entertainment company Perfect Game to the city.

The March 21 court documents state the city of Hutto denied Jones the $412,000 severance package based on “a scheme ... to attempt to extort and/or blackmail [Jones] out of receiving the severance payments under the separation agreement.”

However, in November 2019 the city and Jones were already in talks regarding Jones’ departure from the city, according to court documents.

A major reason for the departure talks involved the city of Hutto possibly losing the development deal with Perfect Game, which ended up backing out and in 2021 announced a move to Cedar Park instead.

Jones was a key figure in a series of lawsuits in summer 2019 between the city of Hutto and original Perfect Game master developer Wolverine Interests, LLC. After the city filed suit against Wolverine for breach of contract, the developer countersued, claiming “[Hutto City Manager] Odis Jones’ myopic actions jeopardize the entire project and could cost Hutto billions, as his misguided actions may cause Perfect Game to look elsewhere for a venue for its flagship project.”

Although the city paid Jones the severance money Jan. 3, 2020, the March 21 court documents state Hutto City Council passed a resolution 11 months later declaring the separation agreement between the city and Jones invalid and demanding that Jones return the payment.

According to the court documents, Jones stated the city’s actions were driven by racial animus toward him and said Hutto never carried out similar actions against a non-African American employee.

Jones filed suit Dec. 10, 2020 against the city of Hutto, Mayor Mike Snyder and former City Council Member Tanner Rose.

The claims against Snyder and Rose were dismissed in 2021. The lawsuit moved forward to trial for Jones’ claims of breach of contract and racial discrimination against the sole defendant, the city of Hutto, according to court documents.

Court documents state the city claimed they improperly executed the separation agreement with Jones and therefore “enjoys contractual immunity under Texas law.”

The March 21 documents state Hutto’s defense was insufficient and “at the end of the day, the contracts were entered into properly.”

After the filing, Lackey said “we have no comment at this time.”