Eagle Pass Housing Authority Board hires City Secretary Maria D. Velasquez as new Executive Director
By: Jose G. Landa
Copyright 2013 Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.
The Eagle Pass Housing Authority Board of Commissioners hired City of Eagle Pass City Secretary Maria D. Velasquez as the new Executive Director of the local housing authority with four votes in favor and one abstention at its special board meeting held on Thursday, November 7, 2013, at the El Centenario Building High-Rise Community Room in Eagle Pass, Texas.
The super majority Eagle Pass Housing Authority Board led by Chairperson Ana B. Gonzalez voted in favor of City Secretary Maria D. Velasquez while Commissioner Ricardo E. Calderon abstained. Board Vice-Chairman Jose Gonzalez made the motion to hire City Secretary Maria D. Velasquez while Commissioner Pete Venegas seconded the motion and Chairperson Ana B. Gonzalez and Commissioner Delfina Garza Morales voted in favor as well.
Commissioner Ricardo E. Calderon first made a motion to hire City of San Antonio Assistant City Planner Patrick B. Howard as the new Executive Director based on being the most qualified candidate and authorizing the law firm of Langley & Banack, general counsel to the Eagle Pass Housing Authority, to negotiate a contract with Patrick B. Howard within the parameters of the Eagle Pass Housing Authority’s Employee Compensation Plan designed by Nelson Rodriguez of the Nelrod Company of Fort Worth, Texas, the Eagle Pass Housing Authority’s consultant. Commissioner Calderon stated that Patrick B. Howard was an Assistant City Planner for the City of San Antonio, had experience in public housing and Section 8 housing with the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Housing Authority, and Youngstown, Ohio Public Housing Authority. Calderon pointed that Patrick B. Howard had over 20 years of experience in public housing, Section 8 housing, tax credits, public-private partnerships, and had a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture and a Master of Public Administration from Old Dominion University. Calderon’s motion died for a lack of a second as none of the other Commissioners supported it.
After Commissioner’s Calderon motion failed for a lack of a second, Board Vice-Chairman Jose Gonzalez motioned to hire City Secretary Maria D. Velasquez as Executive Director and Commissioner Pete Venegas seconded the motion. Chairperson Ana B. Gonzalez added an amendment to Jose Gonzalez’s motion to hire Maria D. Velasquez that Velasquez not receive fringe employee benefits for the first 90 days of her employment and to authorize legal counsel to negotiate a contract of employment with Maria D. Velasquez. Chairperson Ana B. Gonzalez stated “I also agree with the Mary Velasquez selection….She has great deal of experience in city government, city municipalities, and she graduated summa cum laude and has quite a bit of experience working with intergovernmental agencies as well as state agencies whenever she was doing her work. She worked with all legal counsels and even though she does not have experience in housing, most of your executive directors that do come into the business of housing don’t generally have experience in housing until they come in and start working with HUD.” General Counsel Heriberto Morales of Langley & Banack advised Chairperson Ana B. Gonzalez that her 90 days working without benefits meant Velasquez will work under a 90 days probationary period.
Commissioner Calderon replied that he has had the pleasure and honor of working with City Secretary Mary D. Velasquez while he was City Attorney, but that when Mayor Ramsey English Cantu appointed him to the Eagle Pass Housing Authority he took an oath of office to represent the best interests of the taxpayers of the City of Eagle Pass and the tenants and our community to move the Eagle Pass Housing Authority to the next level of progress, and that the Eagle Pass Housing Authority was fortunate to have someone of Mr. Patrick B. Howard’s superior qualifications including having housing authority experience, a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture, has worked for the Philadelphia Housing Authority in their planning department and has experience with public housing and Section 8 housing, construction, renovations, and remodeling, and has experience with tax credits and the federal government cutting funds from housing authorities. Calderon added that the Eagle Pass Housing Authority has not built any new public housing units since the Chema Oyervides Project in either 1999 or 2000 and that all of the remaining public housing projects are very old like 40 to 50 years old and are in constant repair. Calderon cited that the future is going to require public-private partnerships in public housing to develop new housing units to meet the growing demands of Eagle Pass’s housing needs, particularly in light of the Eagle Ford Shale development in the community and area.
Calderon stated that the Eagle Pass Housing Authority needed a person of Mr. Patrick B. Howard’s experience with the new era and regime of public housing development which requires tax credits, public-private partnerships, and private investors to work with the local housing authority to develop the much needed public housing units demanded by a growing city such as Eagle Pass. Calderon stated that the Eagle Pass Housing Authority is very fortunate that Mr. Howard applied for the executive director position and the Eagle Pass Housing Authority had an opportunity to snatch him from the City of San Antonio and bring him to Eagle Pass to help our community grow and prosper by developing the much needed public housing units with his experience. Calderon further stated that the Eagle Pass Housing Authority Board of Commissioners “are wasting a very important opportunity to bring people of talent to our community and the Board is remissed in not hiring the most qualified person for the executive director position.” “It is a shame that we are not bringing the best talent available to our community,” added Calderon. Calderon noted that Mary D. Velasquez lacks public housing and Section 8 housing experience.
Chairperson Ana B. Gonzalez stated to Commissioner Calderon that she had told him earlier that “the federal government no longer supports public housing and have completely moved to Section 8 housing.” Calderon responded that he was glad she had brought that out because that was “precisely the reason” that he believed that an executive director of Mr. Howard’s experience would assist the Eagle Pass Housing Authority the most to develop new public housing units under the new federal regime of less government funding which requires experience with tax credits, public-private partnerships, and private investment to satisfy the growing needs
of public housing in Eagle Pass particularly in light of the Eagle Ford Shale oil and gas boom in the region for the next 10 to 20 years.
General Counsel Heriberto Morales of Langley & Banack advised Chairperson Ana B. Gonzalez if she wished to give any directions to legal counsel in negotiating a contract of employment with Mary D. Velasquez, and Gonzalez replied that she wanted to give Velasquez a two year contract of employment subject to the Board of Commissioners’ approval. Calderon corrected Gonzalez and advised her that she needed to make an amendment to Vice-Chairperson Jose Gonzalez’s motion to hire Mary D. Velasquez and Commissioner Pete Venegas’ second of the motion. General Counsel Heriberto Morales concurred with Commissioner Calderon and asked Vice-Chairperson Gonzalez and Commissioner Venegas if they accepted Chairperson Ana B. Gonzalez’s amendment to offer Mary D. Velasquez a two year contract of employment as executive director and to authorize the law firm of Langley & Banack to negotiate a contract with Mary Velasquez for board approval. Both Commissioners Jose Gonzalez and Pete Venegas accepted the amendment.
Commissioner Calderon then offered an amendment that the Board of Commissioners hire a different law firm other than Langley & Banack to negotiate the contract with Mary Velasquez because Langley & Banack is the City of Eagle Pass City Attorney and Mary Velasquez is currently the City of Eagle Pass City Secretary and to avoid any potential conflict of interest issues and any legal claims by any third parties. Both Commissioners Jose Gonzalez and Pete Venegas declined Commissioner Calderon’s amendment stating that they were satisfied with the explanation General Counsel Heriberto Morales had provided them on this legal issue during executive session. Chairperson Ana B. Gonzalez also stated she was satisfied with Langley & Banack’s legal opinion on this potential conflict of interest issue provided by General Counsel Heriberto Morales during executive session.
Vice-Chairperson Jose Gonzalez made little if no comments during the discussion except to make the motion to hire Mary D. Velasquez as Executive Director. Commissioner Pete Venegas did not make any comments during discussion other than to second the motion and cast his vote. Commissioner Delfina Garza Morales, who is not fluent in English, did not make any comments during discussion other than to cast her vote.
Without further discussion, Vice-Chairperson Jose Gonzalez’s motion to hire Eagle Pass City Secretary Mary D. Velasquez as the new Executive Director of the Eagle Pass Housing Authority and seconded by Commissioner Pete Venegas together with two amendments was approved by Chairperson Ana B. Gonzalez, Vice-Chairperson Jose Gonzalez, Commissioner Pete Venegas, and Commissioner Delfina Garza Morales.
Commissioner Calderon stated that he respected the democratic form of government and therefore he looked forward to working with Eagle Pass City Secretary Mary D. Velasquez as the new Executive Director of the Eagle Pass Housing Authority and would offer her his full support and hoped that she immediately receive training in public housing, Section 8 housing, and obtain her Public Housing Manager Certification upon her arrival at the local public housing authority.
Another agenda item approved unanimously by the Board of Commissioners was the compensation of $12,000 to Eagle Pass Housing Authority Interim Executive Director Eliza Cano from August 26, 2013 to the end of November of 2013 for her services as Interim Executive Director.
