HARLINGEN — The city commission’s new majority has taken its biggest step in its push to move City Hall “in a different direction.”
In one of the most heated meetings in years, commissioners voted 3-1 to fire City Attorney Ricardo Navarro’s law firm after about five years on the job.
During a three-hour meeting, Commissioner Frank Puente cast the dissenting vote Wednesday, after calling on commissioners to meet with Navarro to give him a chance to respond to their concerns.
The reason Navarro couldn’t attend the meeting was protected under the Health Insurance Privacy and Portability Act, City Manager Dan Serna said.
During heated debate, commissioners cited situations in which they believed Navarro wasn’t working for the city’s “interests,” withholding information in at least one case, while Puente argued the law firm had boosted the city’s legal expenses.
Standing behind Navarro
Meanwhile, Serna and Mayor Chris Boswell stood up against the push to fire Navarro.
“Commissioners, I don’t understand what we’re trying to accomplish by going with a different legal team,” Serna said. “We have an excellent team in the city of Harlingen — not just the internal staff but also our legal team that has allowed us to carry forth a number of projects.”
Serna said Navarro was handling “a number of lawsuits” filed against the city, including a lawsuit involving Sun Valley Aviation, near Valley International Airport.
“It does put staff in a very difficult position,” he said. “Do we need to go find another set of attorneys that has the same expertise and brings the same level of experience that our attorneys do? Staff has to work with those attorneys and move projects forward in a timely fashion. Outside the politics, I don’t see what we’re trying to accomplish because it will slow things down. It will impact my ability to carry forth projects.”
No chance to respond to concerns
Boswell argued commissioners didn’t give Navarro a chance to respond to their concerns.
“This is harsh to not give him an opportunity to be here to talk to you about his contract. It is not professional,” Boswell said. “It’s not the way we want to be known for here in Harlingen. This is a knee-jerk reaction based on something I don’t know — not giving the city attorney any sort of respect for what he’s done, for his position and the situation that he’s in.”
Comparison to commissioners who lost re-election bids
Boswell compared the new majority’s actions with those of previous commissioners whom residents didn’t re-elect.
“I feel like I’ve gone back in a time machine,” Boswell said.
“About 10 years ago, we had a city commission — the first thing they did when they came in, they fired the city attorney; next thing they did, they fired the city manager; next thing they did, they removed volunteer members of prominent boards — and coincidentally enough, they didn’t approve an agreement with Sun Valley Aviation. None of those (three) commissioners were re-elected. They were all defeated in the next election or the next time they ran — and some of them ran more than once. I don’t think the public wants us to be doing that. I think the citizens of Harlingen want us to be addressing the very real issues we have. They don’t want us to get angry and fire city attorneys, fire other people, fire prominent members of the community from boards.”
In response, Commissioner Rene Perez objected to the new majority’s comparison.
“You’re throwing in like they’re not getting re-elected,” Perez told Boswell. “Obviously, that would matter to me if I were a politician. Whether I get re-elected in 2024, hey — the point is that I’m here now and I’m going to make the changes that I feel need to be made that I believe are in the best interest of Harlingen.”
Meanwhile, Perez cited instances he believed showed Navarro wasn’t working in the city’s interests.
“From my start, as I’ve seen how things work, it doesn’t seem that the best interest of the city is — not with the staff — I’m talking about legal — is always placed at the forefront,” Perez, who was elected in May, said.
Perez also cited a situation he believed showed Navarro withheld information.
“I can mention some of the lawsuits we have right now,” he said. “There was an incident in the last executive session where pertinent information that was very, very important wasn’t given to us and the attorney received it — didn’t give it to us. To me, it seems they had already made up their mind in what direction they wanted to go and since the other information didn’t kind of go where they wanted to go, they didn’t present that information. Politics aside, what matters most, whatever the legal team does, it should always be in the best interest of the city of Harlingen. I’m not saying that they’re not good lawyers, because they are. It just seems like sometimes their best interest is not the same as Harlingen’s.”
Commissioner Frank Morales, who was elected in June, stood by Perez’s concerns.
“In reference to what Commissioner Perez mentioned — everything he said, I have observed — everything,” Morales said.
During a tense exchange, Perez accused Boswell of “pushing” for a proposal “against the interest of the city.”
“You were there at that meeting when you yourself were pushing an item that the attorney (Navarro) was pushing when it was going against the interest of the city — even after you heard from an expert lawyer who said we should not be doing this because it can penalize the city in certain areas.”
In response, Boswell said the expert offered “conflicting opinions.”
“I’m prepared to discuss it with you in executive session and explain to you why that expert gave conflicting opinions and I’m ready to show those to you,” Boswell told Perez. “But you’re not willing to hear information, commissioner.”
Background
In late 2016, Navarro, with the law firm of Denton, Navarro, Rocha, Bernal, Hyde & Zech, was hired at an hourly rate of $195 an hour, replacing Rick Bilbie, who was drawing an annual salary of $130,687.
For the upcoming fiscal year, officials budgeted $513,531 for legal expenses.
