The city of Mercedes has elevated interim police chief Jose Macias to the position officially, announcing his selection as the new police chief in a news release Wednesday.
“Mercedes City Manager Sergio Zavala, in his stewardship over city department heads & staff, has promoted Int. Police Chief Jose Macias as Police Chief for Mercedes, Texas,” the statement reads.
“Chief Macias has over 30 years of experience in law enforcement, has a TCOLE Master Peace Officer Certification, plus 8 other certifications in law enforcement; plus his course intake in law enforcement matters (over 200) was factored in, too,” it further reads.
Macias came to the Mercedes Police Department after retiring from a 30-year law enforcement career in Mission and Sharyland. He joined the force as assistant police chief in April.
Just one month prior, Macias had retired from the Mission Police Department with the rank of lieutenant, where he served as the head of that department’s Criminal Investigations Division.
Shortly after former Mercedes police Chief Dagoberto “Dago” Chavez announced his departure from the city, Zavala tapped Macias to serve as interim chief. Now, just one week after Chavez’s departure, Zavala has named Macias chief.
“He’s very approachable and I like his promptness,” Zavala said via phone Wednesday.
“I have learned that if I sent it to then-assistant police chief Macias, that I would get a response pretty promptly. And that’s after he researched it, looked at the file, called the person, and then he gets back to me,” he said.
For his part, Macias, who spoke with The Monitor last week about his appointment as interim chief, said he will strive to restore trust in the department now that he is chief.
“I’m excited,” Macias said. “I feel that we need to progress forward in the community and in the department. I’m excited to get started and start doing what I do best, you know, being open and transparent.”
But as a whirlwind of changes have occurred within the city’s administration and leadership over the last month, not everyone is as comfortable with the speed of that change.
Commissioner Leonel Benavidez, who has long been critical of Zavala, expressed concerns over his naming of Macias as police chief — less than two weeks after Zavala’s own last day, and just one day after the commission had confirmed the city manager’s replacement.
“If he wants to promote somebody, that’s his decision, but for me as a commissioner, there’s issues that neighboring communities, that city officials are publishing,” Benavidez said, referring to statements made by Weslaco city officials regarding a contract to house Mercedes prisoners at the Weslaco city jail.
“It’s his decision, but with the issues that have been confirmed, again, through city officials regarding that department, it’s questionable at the least,” Benavidez said.
Zavala responded to the commissioner’s criticism by saying, “Okay. And?”
“It’s my responsibility to do the best job I can up until the last day. Just because I have a week-and-a-half, or two weeks, or 30 days, I’m gonna continue to work until the last day,” Zavala added.
Some eight people applied to be the Mercedes chief of police, including Macias, whom Zavala interviewed on Tuesday, the chief said.
The in-person interview lasted approximately an hour-and-a-half. Zavala called him the following morning to tell him he’d gotten the job.
“I wasn’t really sure who else applied for it, or how they were going to appoint, or when they were going to do it, but yes, it came to my surprise that they selected me, and I’m grateful for that.”
It was apparently a surprise for city commissioners, as well. Benavidez said he and other members of the commission learned of the appointment via social media.
Despite the criticism, Macias hopes people like Benavidez will look to his years of service before making up their minds.
“I can only say that I have a proven background and record that hopefully they can see through that. And hopefully, later in the future, hopefully they can make their own assessment,” Macias said.
He lauded the men and women of the department he has gotten to know over the last eight months.
“I know that some of them have really good traits, and that’s going to help us in moving ahead. At the same time, one of the things that I want to do is I want to be able to, again, be open to everybody,” he said.
