Eagle Pass City Council extends City Manager search for interviews
By: Miguel Munoz, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2016
The City of Eagle Pass, Texas City Council approved to interview three candidates for City Manager at its Monday, December 5, 2016 Special Meeting, extending their search for a new City Manager in order to interview Arturo Rodriguez, Jesus Sanchez, and Rudy Bowles during next week and possibly extending their final decision into 2017.
Former Eagle Pass City Manager Hector Chavez, Sr., age 67, was arrested by federal agents on April 14, 2016 as a result of a federal grand jury indictment charging Chavez with four counts of bribery and obstruction for his alleged participation in a “pay-to-play” scheme involving a Maverick County landfill contract. Chavez is charged with one count of paying $20,000 to a Maverick County Commissioner, falsification of records in a federal investigation, obstruction of justice, and making a false statement to a federal agent in an investigation.
On April 15, 2016, Chavez turned in his letter of resignation as City Manager to Eagle Pass Mayor Ramsey English Cantu and the Eagle Pass City Council appointed former Eagle Pass City Manager and Eagle Pass Water Works and Sewer System General Manager Roberto Gonzalez as Interim City Manager on April 25, 2016.
Since Chavez’s resignation on April 15, 2016, the Eagle Pass City Council immediately commenced a search for a new City Manager to lead the City of Eagle Pass, a period of eight months ago.
The Eagle Pass City Council has held at least two rounds of interviews of prospective candidates for the City Manager position, but has yet to agree on a particular candidate to replace Interim City Manager Roberto Gonzalez and former City Manager Hector Chavez, Sr.
With the City Council’s approval to interview three candidates next week, the City Council’s decision to appoint a new City Manager will more than likely extend into 2017 with the holiday season upon the community.
Several City Council members had expressed an interest in hiring a new City Manager before the end of 2016, but it appears that this interest will not be fulfilled.
Chavez remains in detention as he was denied a Bond by a federal magistrate judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in Del Rio, Texas, awaiting trial of his case.
At a federal court hearing on December 6, 2016, Chavez was allowed by U.S. District Judge Alia Moses to represent himself pro se in his pending federal criminal case after his attorney withdrew from the case and his case has been rescheduled for January 10, 2017 for Docket Call and Rearraignment.
Meanwhile, the City of Eagle Pass taxpayers anxiously await the hiring of a new City Manager to lead the city in the current difficult and turbulent times facing the community, state, and nation.
The Eagle Pass City Council is composed of Mayor Ramsey English Cantu and Council members Rudy Villalpando, Gloria E. Hernandez, Luis E. Sifuentes, and Yolanda P. Ramon.
