New details have emerged in the debate over who will provide legal representation to the city of Mercedes as officials met to again discuss the city’s general counsel and pending litigation.
At stake are two distinct issues: who will serve as Mercedes’ city attorney come March, and who will continue to represent the city in court, where it has filed three separate lawsuits against former city attorney Juan Molina.
But those issues have been muddied by a confluence of variables — a political shift on the commission, the pending expiry of the current city attorney contract, and the continued unease of residents who have spent years fighting for increased transparency from officials.
In a meeting earlier this month, tensions rose between interim City Manager Kevin Pagan and City Attorneys Mark Sossi and Anthony Troiani. Those tensions arose over a proposed contingency fee agreement the two attorneys hope the commission will approve in exchange for their continued work on the pending lawsuits.
However, Pagan — himself a former McAllen city attorney — cautioned the commission that the proposal did not meet public notice and other requirements according to a newly amended state law.
After that discussion devolved into a back-and-forth between the three lawyers, the commission directed Pagan to pursue the agreement in accordance with the updated law.
The commission revisited the matter this Tuesday, in discussions over two matters — one to solicit requests for qualifications for general legal services, and another regarding the contingency fee agreement.
But oftentimes the two issues seemed to get conflated — both as city leaders discussed them Tuesday, and as members of the community did the same on social media.
The confusion continued as Commissioner Leonel Benavidez opened discussions by making a motion that combined the two issues.
“I make a motion to defer the issuance of RFP/RFQ for legal services until the contingency fee agreement is approved by the attorney general’s office, and once it’s finalized, bring this item back to the city commission,” Benavidez said.
Under the statute, which was amended in 2019, governing bodies must submit contingency fee proposals to the state attorney general for approval — a process that could take as long as 90 days.
Benavidez’s motion proposed delaying making any decisions on city attorney services until the AG approves an agreement that would allow Troiani and Sossi to continue the lawsuits on a contingency basis.
In the interim, the pair would continue to serve as city attorneys on a month-to-month basis once their contract expires in March.
City attorneys, in general, advise officials on municipal law, help draft meeting agendas and contracts, and serve as legal advisors during public meetings. They may or may not handle litigation.
In this case, their work on the trio of lawsuits has been in addition to the services they provide as city attorneys.
But, as Pagan attempted to disentangle the two issues and seek clarification on Benavidez’s motion, he was immediately cut off by Troiani, who said the interim city manager was at risk of impacting the lawsuits.
“No. I don’t want him to finish, because at this point, he is going to jeopardize litigation,” Troiani said as Mayor Oscar Montoya pleaded with the attorney to let Pagan speak.
“All I was going to say, mayor, is that Mr. Troiani notified me that his firm would not be requesting that their general counsel contract be extended,” Pagan said.
“Absent an extension of that of some kind, then that contract will expire,” he added a moment later.
Troiani and Sossi began serving as city attorneys sometime in March 2019, after the departure of the man Mercedes is now suing, Juan Molina. The precise date their service began remains unclear, however, because the city’s copy of the contract is not dated, Pagan said.
But with their contract set to expire, and with Troiani indicating neither he nor his law partner, Mark Sossi, were interested in renewing the contract, Pagan placed an item on the agenda to allow the commission to consider who will serve as city attorney in the future.
Separate and apart from that issue was the discussion about paying Troiani and Sossi via a contingency fee — versus an hours-based rate — as they pursue the three lawsuits against Molina.
And therein lay more confusion.
On social media, several residents have postulated that certain factions on the commission have been angling for the city to drop the lawsuits against Molina, and that the brouhaha over the contingency agreement is part of an effort to do so.
It’s something the mayor alluded to later in the meeting when expressing his frustration with the continued discord.
“To me, this has become political. And to get into a discussion over attorneys being with us or not … Like I said going into this, I had no intention of getting rid of anybody,” Montoya said.
“And that seems to be the situation here, whether it’s on Facebook or otherwise. And what that’s doing is it’s side-railing the business of the city of Mercedes,” he said.
Both the mayor and commissioners have repeatedly made clear their intention to see the lawsuits through to the end.
It was a point Commissioner Jacob Howell emphasized earlier in the meeting.
“Let’s be transparent about it: this commission wants to move forward with the lawsuits no matter what,” Howell said.
“For the best interests of Mercedes and the citizens, we will need to have some type of representation moving forward,” he added.
Ultimately, the commission voted to hold off on seeking new city attorneys — choosing instead to keep Troiani and Sossi on a month-to-month basis. That vote passed 4-to-1, with the mayor voting against.
The commission also decided — unanimously — to pursue the contingency fee agreement with the two attorneys for their continued work on the lawsuits.
Before moving on to other matters, however, the interim city manager reiterated a caution he shared with the commission earlier this month.
“Let me point this out to you: that your city attorney continues to give you legal advice about matters in which he has a direct interest,” Pagan said, referring to Troiani advising the commission in the very contract negotiation that involves him and his law partner.
“And so, I’m a little, tiny bit concerned about that,” Pagan said.
