The city of Edinburg’s response to a request for applications and related documents in the search for a new police chief has raised questions with regard to the Texas Public Information Act.
Just after 8 p.m. Friday, the city issued a news release announcing that it had selected Jaime Ayala, an Arlington assistant police chief with Edinburg roots, to take the helm and lead the police department following the nasty and litigious departure of its former chief, Cesar Torres.
He was fired after a neutral arbiter ruled in April that he had discriminated against police union members, saying that Torres had created a “bitter fracture” within the department.
On Thursday afternoon, Edinburg City Manager Ron Garza had told the newspaper that he had not yet met any of the candidates and that an internal panel would be conducting comprehensive interviews with the finalists.
When asked about a timeline for that process, Garza said it was “too soon” to say when the city would make a choice.
That was not the case as the city announced a new chief around 24 hours later.
Asked about these circumstances Saturday, Garza said it became abundantly clear to the panel that Ayala was the best candidate because of his credentials, qualifications and ties to Edinburg after the city manager and an internal panel, which included the city’s human resources director and an assistant manager, interviewed all three candidates Friday.
“His qualifications are second to none and that’s between three highly qualified individuals,” Garza said Saturday.
The city contracted with a private company called Strategic Government Resources to conduct the search and Garza said the firm’s thorough and comprehensive work sped up the process of selecting Ayala, which the city manager said he had not anticipated.
“We realized he was a clear and great fit for the city and one thing that I … found out during that time, is contractually, SGR does a tremendous amount of due diligence,” Garza said.
Strategic Government Resources conducted all the initial work, which included extensive background checks, during the selection process.
The company provided the city of Edinburg with the finalists, which included Ayala, former San Juan police Chief Juan Gonzalez and New York State Police Captain Michael Drake.
The application period for the applicants was open from June 15 to July 15. Following the closure of accepting applications, The Monitor filed a Texas Public Information Act request that sought all cover letters and applications for everyone who applied to be police chief.
The last time the city picked a new chief, the process fell under scrutiny and turned controversial after Torres accepted the job of top cop before even applying.
Following Torres’ selection in December 2018, The Monitor obtained all of the applications for the position from the city through a Texas Public Information Act request.
This time, the city claimed it did not have to provide the newspaper with all of the applications and cover letters because they’re the property of Strategic Government Resources, which the city contracted at a cost of at least $18,500 to the taxpayers, and therefore does not have those documents in its possession.
The city, however, likely violated the Texas Public Information Act before it even sent a letter to the Texas Attorney General requesting an opinion on whether it had to release the documents.
Ten business days after the newspaper requested the information, the city represented to a reporter that it needed a time extension because of the unexpected voluminous amount of documents requested.
“In reference to your records request, I require additional time to respond. This is due to the unexpected large number of responsive records and based on the need to gather and determine whether any of the information requested is statutorily exempt from disclosure,” an administrative specialist with the city said.
This was false.
The city later said there had been a miscommunication and that the municipality actually wanted to keep the request open instead of closing it because the requested documents were not in its possession. The Monitor would have simply re-filed for the documents had the city closed the request.
This occurred between Aug. 16 and Aug. 20.
The following Monday, Aug. 23, the city provided the applications and cover letters for the three finalists and notified The Monitor that it would be requesting the attorney general’s opinion on the matter.
That opinion cites two sections of Texas Government Code.
The first section it cites is related to information about bidding on contracts, which is not subject to release under the Texas Public Information Act because it could reveal competitive business practices that could give advantages to competitors seeking government contracts.
However, this particular section has two exceptions where the requested information should be released, including information in a voucher or contract relating to the receipt or expenditure of public funds by a governmental body and the communications and other information sent between a governmental body and a vendor or contractor related to the performance of a final contract with a governmental body or work performed on behalf of a governmental body.
This section also allows a third party, in this case Strategic Government Resources, to assert exceptions to the attorney general after the governmental body declines to release the information requested.
The second section of code the city cites relates to allowing a private company or individual to assert exceptions to the Texas Public Information Act to the attorney general in requests involving proprietary information.
And this section of code lays out how this process needs to occur to fall in the parameters of the state’s open records law.
To request an opinion citing proprietary information, the city must notify the requester within 10 business days.
The city of Edinburg did not do this. Instead, the municipality claimed the requested information was voluminous and a time extension was needed.
The city notified the newspaper last Monday that it would seek an opinion and provided The Monitor with its request for an opinion citing these two sections of code the following Tuesday — or 25 business days after the Texas Public Information Act request was filed with the city.
In that letter, city attorney Omar Ochoa says that pursuant to the agreement between the city and Strategic Government Resources the requested information are the property of the private company.
The letter asks for a review by the attorney general and for an opportunity to be provided to the company to provide written reasons why the information should be withheld.
Through the Texas Public Information Act, The Monitor did obtain a copy of the contract between the city of Strategic Government resources.
The agreement had a not-to-exceed price of $24,900 and a firm professional service fee of $18,500.
The contract included $1,500 in expenses for the position profile brochure and marketing as well as semifinalist recorded online interviews with a maximum of 12 at $225 apiece.
The comprehensive background investigation reports for up to five finalists cost $400 each, which would be a cost of $1,200 to the city of Edinburg for the three finalists.
There was also a fee of $225 per five finalists for comprehensive reference checks.
There were also numerous supplemental services, but the cost to the taxpayers was firmly set at $18,500, according to the contract.
Ayala, the new chief, is expected to officially take the helm of the Edinburg Police Department sometime in October.
Read the agreement between the city of Edinburg and Strategic Government Resources below:
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