Eagle Pass City Council Interviews Six Candidates for City Manager

By: Jose G. Landa, Eagle Pass Buisness Journal, Inc., Copyright 2016

The City of Eagle Pass, Texas City Council commenced interviews for the vacant position of City Manager on Tuesday, July 12, 2016 with three candidates interviewed and another three candidates will be interviewed on Thursday, July 14, 2016.  Eagle Pass City Council is composed of Mayor Ramsey English Cantu, Mayor Pro-Tem Rudy Villalpando, and Council Members Gloria E. Hernandez, Luis E. Sifuentes, and Yolanda P. Ramon.

The six candidates selected by the Eagle Pass City Council for interviews are Jesus Sanchez, Rudolph Bowles, Jr., Manuel De La Rosa, Jr., Monica Martinez, William Arthur DiLibero, and Juan Francisco Zuniga.

City Council appointed former City Manager and Eagle Pass Water Works System General Manager Roberto Gonzalez as Interim City Manager on Aptil 25, 2016 after former City Manager Hector Chavez, Sr. resigned on April 15, 2016 due to his arrest by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for bribery, forgery, obstruction of justice, and lying to a federal officer in an investigation based on a federal grand jury indictment.

Chavez faces up to 2o years in federal prison if convicted.  Chavez is scheduled to go to trial on July 19, 2016 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Del Rio Division, before U.S. District Judge Alia Moses in Del Rio, Texas.

The Eagle Pass City Council selected Hector Chavez, Sr. as City Manager on February 2, 2016 among 10 candidates without holding any formal interviews of the other candidates.  City Council unanimously selected Hector Chavez, Sr. as City Manager after Mayor Cantu made the motion and Mayor Pro-Tem Villalpando seconded the motion.  Chavez had not initially applied for the permanent City Manager position, but the application period was extended by City Council to allow Chavez to apply.

City Council wisely chose to conduct interviews this time for the position of City Manager and hopes to select and hire a new City Manager in the near future.