BROWNSVILLE — The City of Brownsville committee tasked with making recommendations for a new city attorney met for the first time this week to discuss its goals.
City Commissioner At-Large “A” Cesar de Leon is chairman of the City Attorney Search Advisory Committee and said its aim is not only to find someone to fill the position. The group will research how the legal department should be structured.
De Leon said while city charter gives the City Commission power to appoint a city manager and city attorney, it’s not clear if that extends to multiple city attorneys. Historically, the city manager has been the only administrator who hired legal department staff, he said.
“This is a group of volunteers looking really at the future of the community, because the city attorney plays a vital role,” he said, adding that the group is thankful for residents’ patience. “We want to select the best for our community.”
The City Commission voted to dismiss Mark Sossi from the post in August. At the time, Commissioner Jessica Tetreau-Kalifa said the commission’s desire to restructure the office and the city’s growth motivated the decision.
The city needs attorneys who have specialized areas of expertise as Brownsville grows, de Leon said. Timothy Sampeck is serving as the interim city attorney.
The committee will examine whether other types of legal department models are better suited to meet the city’s needs, de Leon said. It could select a system similar to that of Harlingen, which has an attorney who performs day-to-day duties but contracts with a law firm for additional work, he said, or McAllen, which does most of its legal work in-house. Other structures at which the committee will look include those used by Austin, San Antonio, McKinney and Denton, he said.
Recruitment firm Ralph Andersen and Associates, also contracted by Brownsville for the city manager search, will handle recruitment, he said. De Leon added that the search will be limited to Texas. He can’t yet give a timeframe on when the firm will begin accepting applications.
In addition to de Leon, the 10-member search committee is comprised of:
>> Felix Recio, retired federal magistrate judge
>> Ben R. Neece, Precinct 4 commissioner and retired municipal court judge
>> Jessica Tetreau-Kalifa, Precinct 2 commissioner and Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation member
>> Katy Youker, attorney at Texas Rural Legal Aid Brownsville
>> Jaime Diez, attorney at Jones and Crane PLLC
>> Aaron Rendon, assistant prosecutor at the Cameron County District Attorneys Office
>> Phil Bellamy, municipal court judge and attorney
>> Erin Gamez, attorney at Gamez and Gamez PC
>> Guy Huddleston, corporate ambassador at Edwards Abstract
