7/31/2019 Deposition Excerpts

1/4

Following are excerpts from the recent deposition ofJoyce Moss-Clay:

Attorney Kelly Greenwood Prather asked Moss-Clay about

her consulting work for the construction company RHJ-JOCand her arrangement with HISD trustee Larry Marshall.

Q. Okay. Did you ever give any money to Mr. Marshall out ofwhat RHJ paid you?

A. Yes.

Q. And is there a percentage amount or a dollar amount youcan tell me?

A. A percentage.

Q. What percentage is that?

A. What started out as a fourth worked up to three-fourthssometimes.

Q. So Mr. Marshall would get 25 percent to 75 percent ofwhat RHJ or Ms. Jacksons firm paid you?

A. Yes.

(---)

Q. Why did you pay Mr. Marshall money from your RHJ fee?

A. I paid Mr. Marshall primarily of any of the work that wecollaborated on, so I wouldnt just single her out. But he wasimportant in my attempt to build -- not really build, but to

establish a vehicle for assisting persons who were in need, orwanted, or desired to participate in some of the markets thathad been limited to, lets say, male-dominated areas,marketplaces.

And so he and I felt that we had skill sets that would -- wecould share with others to help them do the business

7/31/2019 Deposition Excerpts

2/4

development, or to do strategic plans that could beincorporated into the way they operated.

(---)

Q. Why did you give up such a high percentage of yourearnings to Mr. Marshall?

A. I felt obligated to, primarily because much of mydevelopment over the years, professional developmentassociated with the personal experience I brought to the job,was the reason why I advanced through HISD.

And it was all as a result of his coaching and mentoring me

and joining me in projects, you know, for a number of years.So I was -- I had no problem with giving that to him. None.

(---)

Attorney Greenwood Prather asked Moss-Clay about herconsulting for the company Fort Bend Mechanical, whichdoes air-conditioning and construction work for HISD.

Q. And did Mr. Marshall share in the proceeds of yourconsulting fee that you received from Fort Bend Mechanical?

A. Yes, he did.

Q. Okay. And why did he share in the proceeds?

A. Because he, again, servicing as my mentor, facilitated mydesign of a program, even though I did it, but ourarrangement was to share as I saw fit with the income.

Q. And in regard to Mr. Marshall's sharing the income onyour consulting fees with RHJ and Fort Bend Mechanical, didhe also agree to vote to approve contracts for them?

7/31/2019 Deposition Excerpts

3/4

A. I don't know what he agreed to, but not with me or notwith, as far as I know, not with Pete (Medford, the owner ofFort Bend Mechanical). I can't make that call for you.

(---)

Attorney Greenwood Prather asked Moss-Clay about herconsulting for Linebarger Goggan, the law firm that HISD hashired to collect delinquent taxes.

Q. Okay. Do you have any way of looking up how manyhours you spent earning your money for Linebarger?

A. No, because I was considered 24/7. They could alwayscall me and say, "Can you go do this?"

Q. But sitting here today, can you give me a ballpark, "Ispent ten hours a year, 2,000 hours a year doing services forLinebarger"?

A. No.

Q. And tell me what Mr. Marshall contributed for his 75percent of the Linebarger payment?

A. Again, strategizing more than anything else. Suppose if Iwere to -- let me give you an assumption. Suppose I wantedto move to the southwest side of town to try to convince acommunity that we ought to do a we ought to do a forumout there. Well, he has a better knowledge maybe ofsouthwest persons to contact and how to go about sellingthe program without infuriating residents out there. So that'skind of the support that he can give me. And he's alwaysbeen my first -- first post of contact in terms of doing

projects, getting involved, going into communities, givinginsert -- giving input to clients and saying, "This is what Ithink you ought to do."

Q. Okay. So for Mr. Marshall's $1,125 a month payment,y'all would have a conversation and you would say, "Where's

7/31/2019 Deposition Excerpts

4/4

the best place in Southwest Houston to put on a forum forLinebarger to communicate with the residents?"

A. Or somebody call Linebarger and they want them to dosomething in their community, you know, do you think it's --"Do you think it will fly? Do you think you can getcommunity support? Is there anyone in the community thatwould be more receptive to what we want to do and what wewant to say, the information we want to give out?" We don'twant to be going out there and being attacked, you know.It's just their function, they have to collect taxes.

Q. And so Mr. Marshall for his $1,125 a month would giveyou his two cents on that.

A. Absolutely.