The Harris County Emergency Services District No. 9 board of commissioners voted 3-2 at the April 24 meeting to terminate its longtime legal counsel, Coveler & Peeler, effective immediately. ESD 9 receives sales tax and local property tax revenue to fund the Cy-Fair Fire Department’s operations.

In the same split vote, commissioners Kevin Stertzel, Rob Paiva and Jaime Martinez approved Mills Shirley as the firm that will take over legal responsibilities for the taxing district.

Commissioners Naressa MacKinnon and Bevin Gordon voted against both motions and expressed concerns with the process. Gordon said she didn’t know a change in legal counsel was “on the table” until the night of the meeting.

“If I were a prospective vendor or partner seeing this happen, I’d be very concerned about the ethics of the board who are seeking to retain your services in this manner,” Gordon said. “Our community deserves better than that. I am so opposed to what is happening here tonight, more than anything I’ve ever seen from this board. It’s unethical, and it makes me just embarrassed to even be a part of it.”

What happened


Stertzel—who announced his resignation from the board earlier in the April 24 meeting due to unrelated factors—proposed the change in legal counsel, citing his displeasure with Coveler & Peeler, the firm that has represented the ESD for decades.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Stertzel told Community Impact. “I felt for a long time that [general counsel Ira Coveler] was serving his own self-interest—and other times, the interests of the fire chief and not the board. There’s been some very heated conversations over the [past] two and a half years.”

At the April 24 meeting, Stertzel said Coveler advised the board that new commissioners are typically sworn in at the January meeting following a November election, but he later found out they could be sworn in sooner. In addition, Martinez said Coveler sent him a contract with incorrect dates, although Coveler said he was only following the board’s instructions.
Commissioners Jaime Martinez, left, and Kevin Stertzel, right, participate in the Harris County ESD 9 board meeting April 24. (Courtesy Austin Miller/Apollo Productions)
Commissioners Jaime Martinez, left, and Kevin Stertzel, right, participate in the Harris County ESD 9 board meeting April 24. (Courtesy Austin Miller/Apollo Productions)
Representatives with Mills Shirley at the April 24 meeting said they had previously had conversations with commissioners Paiva and Martinez and were asked about a week prior to the meeting to be present that night.

Mills Shirley is a full-service law firm that doesn’t have experience representing ESDs. However, Andy Soto, a litigation partner with the firm, said the firm has experience representing municipal entities such as health districts, parks boards and the city of La Marque.


The newly approved firm offers lower rates than Coveler & Peeler at $300 an hour for partners and $200 an hour for associates. Coveler said his rates are $395 an hour, and associates are available for $360 an hour.

In case you missed it

This isn’t the first time commissioners have attempted to replace Coveler & Peeler.

During a special-called meeting in November 2022, Paiva proposed dismissing the firm, which Stertzel also supported at the time.


“It’s nothing personal, obviously. ... You want fresh counsel coming in here that doesn’t have any kind of previous biases or prejudices or things of that sort,” Paiva said Nov. 11, 2022.

This move led to the board interviewing three prospective firms, including Coveler & Peeler, which was ultimately retained in a 3-2 vote with support from MacKinnon, Gordon and David Langenberg, who was later replaced by Martinez in the November 2024 election.

At the Jan. 25, 2023, meeting, Coveler said his firm represented about 50 ESD clients, with ESD 9 being its largest client.

What they’re saying
  • “Shame on you all. This is not in the best interest of the district,” MacKinnon said.
  • “We are happy to be selected. We would not have put forth our firm for consideration if we didn’t think that this was something that we could provide value and provide a benefit to the board and community, and so we’re looking forward to the opportunity," Soto said.
  • “If you’re going to fire somebody over a mistake, you’re making a poor decision. ... This is not leadership. This is embarrassing. ... I’m not going to support this," said Justin Reed, assistant chief of EMS at the Cy-Fair Fire Department.
  • “I think we need a more robust and full-service legal counsel that can handle all aspects of law, not just ESD, but also real estate [and] labor law," Stertzel told Community Impact.
  • “[Coveler has] done a great job for ESD 9. He’s reputable in the state of Texas for the work that he does. ... He brings invaluable expertise to the table but also he has a lot of institutional knowledge that just left our organization," Gordon said.