Eagle Pass Housing Authority Board approves Two-year Contract at $80,000 per year for new Executive Director Maria D. Velasquez
By: Jose G. Landa
Copyright 2013 Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.
The Eagle Pass Housing Authority Board of Commissioners approved a two-year contract of employment for new Executive Director, City Secretary Maria D. Velasquez, at a special board meeting held on Monday, November 18, 2013, at 12 Noon at the Community Room of the El Centenario High Rise Building, located at 2095 East Main Street, in Eagle Pass, Texas.
At a November 7th meeting, a majority of the Eagle Pass Housing Authority Board of Commissioners comprised of Chairperson Ana Maria B. Gonzalez, Vice-Chairperson Jose Gonzalez, and Commissioners Pete Venegas and Delfina Garza Morales approved to hire City of Eagle Pass City Secretary, Maria D. Velasquez, as the new Executive Director of the local housing authority while Commissioner Ricardo E. Calderon abstained.
The Eagle Pass Housing Authority Board of Commissioners met on Monday, November 18th, to discuss with Legal Counsel regarding the Executive Director’s Employment Contract in Executive Session pursuant to Sections 551.071 and 551.074, Chapter 551 of the Government Code, and take possible action in Open Session regarding the Executive Director’s Employment Contract.
Upon the Board of Commissioners return into Open Session from its Executive Session, Board Vice-Chairperson Jose Gonzalez made a motion to approve the employment contract presented to the Board and signed by new Executive Director Maria D. Velasquez and Commissioner Pete Venegas seconded the motion. During discussion, Chairperson Ana Maria B. Gonzalez attempted to make an amendment to Vice-Chairperson Jose Gonzalez motion and second by Commissioner Pete Venegas, but Vice-Chairperson Jose Gonzalez then proceeded to amend his own motion to state that the Board of Commissioners approve the Executive Director employment contract signed by Maria D. Velasquez to perform the duties described in the job description posted and authorize the Chairperson to execute the contract and Commissioner Pete Venegas never accepted the amendment by Vice-Chairperson Jose Gonzalez.
Board of Commissioner Ricardo E. Calderon asked Vice-Chairperson Jose Gonzalez for how many years did the employment contract provide for, which Gonzalez replied “Two years,” and how much is the salary per year in the employment contract, which Gonzalez replied “$80,000.” Commissioner Calderon asked Vice-Chairperson Jose Gonzalez on what did he base his $80,000 per year salary figure, which Gonzalez replied that was the salary negotiated between Maria D. Velasquez and Attorney Paul Fletcher of Langley & Banack. Commissioner Calderon proceeded to show the Board of Commissioners the job description used to advertise the Executive Director position by the Eagle Pass Housing Authority in several newspapers and pointed out that the job description expressly states that “Salary: Based on Experience” and that the official Job Description of Executive Director requires a “Public Housing Management Certificate,” which Maria D. Velasquez does not possess. Commissioner Calderon then stated that at the previous meeting on November 7th in which the Board approved Maria D. Velasquez as the new Executive Director, Chairperson Ana Maria B. Gonzalez had stated that Maria D. Velasquez did not have any public housing experience, any Section 8 housing experience, and any public housing authority experience, which Chairperson Gonzalez denied. Commissioner Calderon pointed that Maria D. Velasquez was coming to the Eagle Pass Housing Authority without any public housing experience.
Commissioner Calderon presented to the Board of Commissioners an Employee Compensation Plan done by the Eagle Pass Housing Authority’s consultant, Nelson Rodriguez of The Nelrod Company of Fort Worth, Texas, dated October 31, 2013, in which it provides compensation for Executive Director starting at $76,800, another national study done by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in which it show compensation for Executive Director starting at $74,628, another study provided to the Board by Chairperson Gonzalez done by Salary Wizard which shows the median expected salary for a Housing Executive Director in the United States is $66,248, another study provided to the Board by Chairperson Gonzalez done by Simply Hired which shows the average salary for public housing Executive Directors is $59,000, another study provided to the Board by Chairperson Gonzalez done by eHow which shows that the national average salary for Executive Directors is $63,360, and finally another study provided to the Board by Chairperson Gonzalez done by HUD in 2013 showing that compensation for public housing Executive Directors in the Southwest United States was $55,001. Commissioner Calderon pointed out to his fellow Board of Commissioners that the average salary for a public housing Executive Director between the six compensation surveys presented to the Board was $65,839.50 and asked his Board members to take the six compensation surveys into consideration and to base their decision on scientific evidence.
Chairperson Gonzalez replied to Commissioner Calderon’s poignant empirical compensation surveys that “…Nelrod is just one consultant and their are hundreds of consultants, and primarily the federal government also stipulates that if you want to do a good service to the community you should look into the higher-ups of other people that have the same leadership roles that the Housing Authority has like the Superintendency, the Hospital Board Director, the Bridge Board, Immigration, and other cities such as Crystal City, Carrizo, Uvalde, and so forth…as to what they pay….We appreciate your input, but we the Board have the right to think what this position requires and how much money you are supposed to pay….” Chairperson Gonzalez called the motion for a vote and the motion to approve Maria D. Velasquez’s employment contract for two years at $80,000 per year was approved with Vice-Chairperson Jose Gonzalez, Commissioners Pete Venegas, Delfina Garza Morales, and Chairperson Ana Maria B. Gonzalez in favor while Commissioner Ricardo E. Calderon abstained due to the motion not being based on any of the compensation surveys reviewed by the Board.
The new employment contract of City Secretary Maria D. Velasquez calls for her to start her employment with the Eagle Pass Housing Authority on Monday, December 2nd, as she had not yet given the City of Eagle Pass her letter of resignation with two weeks notice. According to the City of Eagle Pass 2013 Budget, Velasquez was making approximately $48,000 as City Secretary and will now receive an approximately $32,000 pay raise to $80,000 as the new Executive Director of the Eagle Pass Housing Authority. It is expected that City Secretary Maria D. Velasquez will present the City of Eagle Pass her letter of resignation sometime this week.
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