MERCEDES — After winnowing their list of candidates down to three, city leaders here named Alberto Perez as the new city manager Tuesday night.
The decision came via a 3-to-2 split vote of the Mercedes City Commission after they spent over an hour discussing the appointment and another matter behind closed doors in executive session.
“I’m just excited for the city of Mercedes,” Mayor Oscar Montoya said immediately after the meeting adjourned.
“We’re excited to get Mr. Perez. He’s got five years of experience in Rio Grande City. Prior to that, he (was at) the state comptroller’s office. He had a lot of experience there with saving money, budgets, stuff like that,” Montoya said.
The mayor added that, with the hiring decision made, he was excited for the city to move forward on a list of infrastructure projects, including four drainage projects the commission greenlit and agreed to fund during the meeting.
Commissioner Joe Martinez echoed the mayor’s remarks, touting Perez’s resume as the thing that won him over despite initially supporting another candidate for the position.
“I’ll be brutally honest with you — he was not my top choice going in as far as the finalists were concerned,” Martinez said after the meeting.
“But he blew me away with a lot of what he had to say. … The fact that he was able to go into Rio Grande City, get projects moving, get things going, that’s one thing that impressed me,” he said.
Rio Grande City terminated Perez in November — just months after voting to renew his contract.
According to Monitor archives, Perez claims his firing was retaliation for not terminating the city’s public utilities director, Steven E. Cruz III, who had made statements to another news outlet alleging illegal activity had taken place within the city.
“I firmly believe this item and the proposed actions are a direct consequence of two whistleblower complaints I filed,” Perez said to the Rio Grande City Commission late last year.
Nor was everyone in Mercedes as impressed with Perez.
Prior to Martinez’s successful motion to approve Perez’s hiring — which the mayor and Commissioner Jacob Howell voted for — Commissioner Leonel Benavidez sought to have the commission continue considering other candidates.
“I make a motion that we review the information more thoroughly and consider other top candidates that we had in the process,” Benavidez said, citing “some red flags that, obviously, the candidate admitted to.”
Commissioner Jose Gomez seconded Benavidez’s motion, but it ultimately failed.
“I believe we have discussed, ad nauseum, all the facts that were brought up. I don’t know what else we can do,” the mayor said with a note of exasperation.
But it was the mayor for whom Benavidez lobbed his sharpest criticism of the hiring process after the meeting.
“This was a dirty process that I experienced to hire the city manager. The mayor (was) spreading rumors months ago before the election was even over,” Benavidez said, speaking of the runoff races that saw Howell and Martinez attain their first political offices in December.
When asked how his criticisms of the mayor differed from criticisms volleyed back at him by other members of the commission, however, Benavidez said his commentary on the city manager candidates had been based on facts, not ad hominems.
“I didn’t contact the candidates when they were newly elected commissioners to try to sway them,” he said.
“And another thing, I was not out of control like they got out of control, saying vulgarities and wanting to fight — ‘cause I don’t curse and I never try to fight anybody. The mayor and Joe Martinez did,” he said, referring to a closed-door discussion that turned fractious during a previous city meeting.
With the hiring process now over, Martinez hopes the commission can put the friction behind them.
“We’re not always going to agree. And it’s unfortunate what happened, but, you know, we’ll take that as a learning experience,” Martinez said.
For his part, Perez — who sat quietly at the back of the commission chamber for the entirety of the meeting — already has plans to hit the ground running.
“I’ll be meeting with every department head shortly just to talk about what’s working and — not really what’s not working — but what can we improve. What are they lacking?” Perez said.
He hopes to implement standardized processes that will improve communication and streamline city operations.
“Communication is key. Coordination. Getting on the same page, and going forward as a team,” he said.
Perez began his tenure at Mercedes on Thursday.
Under the terms of the contract approved by the city commission, Perez will earn a $120,000 annual salary and receive a $500 per month car allowance, along with other fringe benefits.
The contract term is for one year, with a six-month probationary period.
Monitor staff writer Berenice Garcia contributed to this report.
