EDCOUCH — Plans to terminate the assistant city manager, fire chief and code enforcement officer were temporarily halted here after the Edcouch City Council failed to establish a quorum Thursday, and after the city was served with a temporary restraining order.
The TRO was filed by Assistant City Manager Ernesto Rosales Jr. after he learned of plans to terminate him and the fire chief, who is also the code enforcement officer, during Thursday’s meeting.
In court documents, Rosales claims his proposed termination is retaliation for uncovering “some questionable actions and discrepancies by one of the elected officials.”
The complaint, however, makes no mention as to what those discrepancies may allegedly be, though it does name Place 2 Alderman Joel Segura.
“After discussing and meeting with the city manager, Mr. Rosales, Jr., and the city manager agreed to consult with City Commissioner Joel Segura and advise him of the findings,” the TRO petition reads.
It was after meeting with Segura that Rosales said he was notified that his employment status had been placed on the March 17 agenda.
“The city is committing an unlawful employment practice by scheduling Plaintiff’s termination in retaliation of Plaintiff’s findings after an internal audit into Council Member Joel Segura,” the petition further reads.
Meanwhile, a large group of Edcouch residents crowded into the small legislative chamber and spilled into the foyer to protest the fire chief’s termination, specifically, as City Manager Victor Hugo de la Cruz addressed the crowd just after 6 p.m. Thursday evening.
Behind him, the dais where the city council normally sits stood empty, save for the seat occupied by City Attorney Orlando “O.J.” Jimenez.
Just two members of the council had shown up for the meeting — Mayor Pro-tem Rene A. Flores and Place 3 Alderman John Chapa.
Mayor Virginio “Virgil” Gonzalez Jr. had called de la Cruz before the meeting began to explain he would be a few minutes late.
But as 6 p.m. came and went without the appearance of Aldermen Segura, Robert Gutierrez or Lorenzo “Lencho” Cabrera, Flores chose to cancel the meeting for lack of quorum.
Both he and Chapa ultimately left city hall.
But the cancellation upset some in the crowd who had gathered to share their thoughts, de la Cruz explained afterward.
“There (were) some residents that weren’t too happy about that and talked about this being a game,” de la Cruz said.
“I asked them to wait a little bit and I addressed them as city manager,” he said.
“I apologize that this happened. We don’t know and we can’t answer for anybody that’s not here. It wouldn’t be in our character to do that,” de la Cruz said to the residents.
He also suggested scheduling a town hall where residents can share their questions and concerns directly with elected officials.
“I’ll open the doors and the microphones for you all and we’ll hear you out. At that point, you all can express your feelings. If anybody, I’ll be there and listen to you,” de la Cruz said.
The mayor arrived at city hall just as de la Cruz was thanking residents for showing up and pledging to schedule the town hall in the coming days.
But it was the three aldermen who were behind the proposed terminations who failed to show up to the meeting at all.
Segura, Gutierrez and Cabrera had placed the three items on Thursday’s agenda.
In Edcouch, items may be placed on a meeting agenda by the mayor, the city manager, or if three aldermen work together to request an item.
“Obviously, three commissioners approached me and the city manager and they posted those three items. Other than that, I can’t tell you,” Gonzalez, the mayor, said.
Though both the mayor and city manager declined to speculate about the reasoning behind the aldermen’s plans to terminate the two employees, Rosales’ TRO application does make mention of what brought him to work for Edcouch in the first place.
The city hired him last September “to help with issues arising from a developer, Kassal (sic) Construction,” the petition reads.
By December, de la Cruz had extended a full-time employment position to Rosales and tasked him with conducting “an internal audit and investigate all departments under their city’s authority.”
Kasal Construction has become somewhat of a thorn in the city’s side after Edcouch deeded the company city-owned land in late 2019 with promises that it would develop the land and thereby help the city increase its tax base.
Edcouch transferred the land to the Edcouch Economic Development Corporation, which in turn, sold it to Kasal Construction for “1% per lot,” de la Cruz said.
The plan was to develop what is known as the St. Mary’s property into a combination commercial and residential plaza. Kasal later changed the plan to create a residential-only development with some 45-47 lots, the city manager said.
But the land has remained undeveloped, meaning the city — and its fiscal budget — have been unable to reap any rewards.
The matter was further complicated when it was recently revealed that Edcouch had inadvertently deeded Kasal Construction a small tract of land that contains the city’s water tower.
The discrepancy was discovered when the developer received a whopper of a tax bill, since the water tower — which takes up 0.28 acres of land — is considered an improvement that increases the property’s taxable value substantially.
De la Cruz said the handover of that piece of land was a mistake, a simple clerical error that came as a result of not looking over the deed paperwork closely enough.
“That’s where the error came in with the tower. The tower, it’s not even a lot,” de la Cruz said.
“St. Mary’s is broken up into, like, 6 acres, and the other 2-point-something (acres),” he said.
The physical description of the land occupied by the water tower somehow made it into the stack of deed paperwork meant for the St. Mary’s project.
On March 14, the two sides rectified the issue when Kasal Construction deeded the water tower property back to the city for $10, according to a copy of the deed transfer obtained by The Monitor.
But how — or if — the land debacle is related to Segura, Rosales, or the fire chief remains unclear.
De la Cruz declined to comment due to the pending litigation.
Rosales and the city are due in court for a temporary injunction hearing on March 30.
