Brownsville City Manager Noel Bernal has been named Administrator of the Year by the Texas City Management Association in recognition of his “significant contributions” to local government management over the past 18 months.
Bernal came to work for the city of Brownsville as city manager in December 2018, having previously served as deputy city manager for the city of Coppell in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area.
Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez said Bernal’s tenure has been a “major positive” for the city, pointing to Bernal’s key role in getting a strategic plan done and completely revamping the Unified Development Code, removing bureaucratic obstacles to starting a business, within a relatively short period of time.
Mendez credited Bernal’s “leadership and his ability to help guide us some of the (city) commission’s goals and vision,” citing his strengths in terms of planning and fiscal responsibility.
Bernal also led debt restructuring that has resulted in an additional $30 million infrastructure investment capacity, and has pushed to replace obsolete systems across departments with new technology for the sake of efficiency, cost savings and sustainability, according to the city.
“Without a good city manager who has experience and is able to help the commission make well-informed decisions, we wouldn’t be where we are right now,” Mendez said.
Bernal’s TCMA honor is another indication that “the city is moving in the right direction,” Mendez said.
“The growth is evident, the economic impact is evident, and I’m glad that other cities and other city managers are taking notice,” he said.
TCMA President and Pfulgerville City Manager Sereniah Breland in a statement described Bernal as an “incredibly wonderful leader for such a stellar community.”
“Noel encompasses what we all strive to be as city managers, someone who provides pathways for varying voices to be heard, with strong integrity, endless compassion and a servant heart,” she said. “I cannot imagine a better recipient for this year’s Texas City/County Management Association’s Administrator of the Year Award.”
Bernal said he’s grateful for the ongoing support, dedication and leadership of Mendez and city commissioners.
“The true reward and recognition are the growth and development of the organization that is walking hand in hand with me in our total-alignment leadership journey,” he said. “Since the beginning of my tenure with Brownsville, I have prioritized the development of our organizational culture as one of building leaders at all levels of the organization as the means of us reaching our goals and objectives.”
The term “total alignment” characterizes that culture, said Bernal, who will receive the award at TCMA’s annual conference in Cedar Creek on June 10.
TCMA describes itself as an organization of local government professionals dedicated to promoting the highest standards of governance, service, leadership, ethics and education, while embracing individual and regional diversity for the benefit of its membership and cities across Texas.
