Eagle Pass City Council to evaluate City Manager Hector Chavez’s Employment Contract at Special Meeting
By: Jose G. Landa, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2016
UPDATE: The Eagle Pass City Council was unable to review City Manager Hector Chavez, Sr.’s employment contract on Tuesday, April 19, 2016 due to Mayor Ramsey English Cantu attendance of a family member’s funeral. The City Council has rescheduled this meeting for Wednesday, April 20, 2016, at 5 P.M.at City Hall.
The City of Eagle Pass, Texas City Council will evaluate the employment contract of City Manager Hector Chavez, Sr., who was arrested by the FBI on four charges by a federal grand jury indictment on April 14, 2016, at a special meeting to be held on Tuesday, April 19, 2016 at 5 P.M. at City Hall, 100 South Monroe, in Eagle Pass, Texas.
Chavez remains detained at the Val Verde Correctional Center-GEO awaiting a Bond hearing on Thursday, April 21, 2016 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Victor Roberto Garcia in Del Rio, Texas.
The Eagle Pass City Council unanimously approved the hiring of Chavez as the Interim City Manager on August 11, 2015 and later as the full-time City Manager on February 2, 2016. The City Council received over eight applications for the City Manger position, but instead extended the application deadline to allow Chavez to apply for the City Mangager position since he had not initially applied. The City Council hired Chavez as the permanent City Manager without interviewing the other candidates who applied for the position, causing controversy and objections by the other candidates and taxpayers. Mayor Ramsey English Cantu personally made the controversial motion to hire Chavez as City Manager at the February 2, 2016 meeting while Mayor Pro-Tem Rudy Villalpando seconded the motion. Councilmembers Luis E. Sifuentes, Gloria E. Hernandez, and Yolanda P. Ramon also approved Chavez’s hiring as City Manager on February 2, 2016.
Mayor Cantu stated in nominating Chavez as City Manager that “Making sure that we have someone that is capable and experienced and knows the community is what I personally feel is the best interest of the community at this point.”
On Friday, April 15, 2016, Eagle Pass Mayor Ramsey English Cantu held a press conference to announce that Ivan Morua would be temporarily in charge of the City of Eagle Pass until the City Council meets on Tuesday, April 21, 2016 to address the City Manager situation.
According to the agenda posted on April 15, 2016, the City Council will consult with legal counsel in Executive Session to discuss the evaluation of City Manager Hector Chavez as well as on the Agreement for Professional Services and Employment as City Manager between the City of Eagle Pass and Hector Chavez dated February 2, 2016 and take possible action in Open Session including disciplinary action such as reprimand, suspension and/or termination. The City Council is expected to terminate Chavez’s employment. The April 21, 2016 City Council Meeting Agenda is expressly void of any agenda item concerning the appointment of an Intermim City Manager, unless the City Council will seek to appoint someone as Interim City Manager as part of their motion on Chavez’s evaluation or plan to continue with Ivan Morua as Interim City Manager.
Chavez’s arrest expands the FBI’s investigation of corruption and bribery in Maverick County, Texas to the City of Eagle Pass, Texas as Chavez was the City’s Public Works Director while he was simultaneously moonlighting as a private contractor with the Maverick County Landfill. No one at City Council or City Hall raised any objections at that time concerning Chavez’s dual jobs as Public Works Director and Private Contractor.