The matter of the vacant city manager position in Rio Grande City won’t be resolved until 2022, though the city attorney sought to dismiss the issue before the new year.
Rio Grande City Attorney Calixtro Villarreal filed a response after the city was taken to court over the lack of a city manager for more than a year.
In mid-November, a former mayoral candidate, Ross Barrera, and the county attorney, Victor Canales, filed a petition for declaratory judgment with the Starr County District County Court at Law. It functions as a request to formally argue before a court of law the question of whether Rio Grande City is violating its own city charter that requires the appointment of a city manager.
In a formal response filed Nov. 23, Villarreal contends there is no time limit, believes the request was made in bad faith, and that it ultimately undermines the democratic process.
“The Plaintiffs agree,” he wrote, referring to the city commission, “that the City Charter does not provide a required timeline to hire a permanent City Manager, nor does it outline a process for advertising or selecting an appropriate City Manager.”
In May, commissioners voted to hire a new city manager, and immediately after voted to appoint Castillo to fill the vacant deputy city manager position. Yet, they never advertised the position.
While the city charter does not stipulate a time frame for selecting a city manager, it states that an interim city manager selected in the absence, disability or suspension of the city manager cannot serve for a term that exceeds three months.
Villarreal pointed out a previous attempt by one of the petitioners, Barrera, to change the city charter and said the petition for declaratory judgment attempted to circumvent the judicial process established to challenge or change municipal charter provisions.
“Prior to filing of this lawsuit, Plaintiff Barrera announced to the city that he would lead a citizen-initiated charter election petition and the city provided Plaintiff Barrera its form that should be used to gather verified petition signatures,” Villarreal wrote.
Yet, Barrera and Canales still brought the matter before a court, hoping to clear up the issue and prompt the hiring process.
If the court interjects itself by issuing injunctive or declaratory relief, Villarreal believes, it could hurt public interests in its “dilution of the democratic process in which all registered voters within the City of Rio Grande City would have a vote in determining if more or less restrictive terms should be adopted in guiding the City Commission in its selection and appointment of a City Manager,” the city attorney wrote.
Villarreal also argued the petitioners are not qualified to bring the matter before the court.
“For a plaintiff to have standing, there must be a concrete injury to the plaintiff and real controversy between the parties that will be resolved by the court,” the city’s response read, referring to Barrera. “Canales neither has prosecutorial authority over violations alleged in its petition nor does the Starr County have an interest as alleged in the same.”
On Dec. 2, the city attorney requested an emergency videoconference hearing to discuss the possibility of dismissing the case. As of Friday, no date has been set, and a representative of the court said it may not be able to schedule a hearing until March, due to a backlog.
