Despite not being present for at least the first half of testimony Wednesday, former Edinburg CISD financial consultant Jesse Muniz is front and center in a due process hearing concerning the district’s personnel and payroll directors and the $57,000 in extra money the district paid them during the 2021-22 school year.
Testifying for about seven hours Wednesday, Zelda Martinez — payroll director during a disastrous payroll system migration in 2021 — said she worked hard to mitigate that crisis and did so under Muniz’s supervision and direction.
Both Martinez and Margarita Oyervides, the personnel director in 2021, were placed on leave in December and have since been replaced. They remain on leave.
Testimony from Superintendent Mario Salinas and Assistant Superintendent for Finance & Operations Rene Salinas on Tuesday indicated that that decision followed the discovery of unsigned timesheets and a lack of official approval for the money paid to Martinez and Oyervides — called during the proceedings alternately overtime or extra duty pay.
The approval of the women’s supervisor would have been necessary to be paid those funds, they said.
Superintendent Salinas said he — not Muniz — would have been Martinez and Oyervides’ supervisor.
Generally, there would have been an intermediary between them in the role currently occupied by Rene Salinas; in 2021, however, that post was vacant.
Superintendent Salinas said the women receiving those extra funds — around $41,000 for Martinez and $17,000 for Oyervides — without official approval was dishonest and essentially theft.
Speaking Wednesday, Martinez strongly denied that characterization, saying that her reputation had been unjustly harmed by the way she’s been treated and that the district actually benefited from her performance.
“I did not perform any dishonest act,” she said, calling the allegations against her “disheartening.”
Both sides of the dispute agree the women did a significant amount of work to mitigate the payroll fiasco. Martinez said she regularly worked 12 or 13 hour days to address it.
According to Martinez, Muniz was supervising and directing her during that time. She said she first heard that as a consultant he shouldn’t have been doing so during Tuesday’s testimony, she said.
“Mr. Muniz led every division meeting,” Martinez said. “And all of the topics and everything that was discussed in those meetings…He was the person in authority.”
Speaking Wednesday, Martinez strongly denied that characterization, saying that her reputation had been unjustly harmed by the way she’s been treated and that the district actually benefited from her performance.
Muniz authorized the extra duty pay during a meeting that took place on Sept. 8, 2021, she alleged, a day after the district’s school board discussed the ongoing payroll fiasco.
According to Martinez, Muniz told the women — salaried employees — to track all of their hours.
She said she did so, and that she later brought up the extra pay for the payroll migration work.
“He did not have any objection or concern over the extra pay,” she said.
Saying September of 2021 was a hectic time at the district’s central office, Martinez said she didn’t know Muniz wasn’t signing her timesheets.
Kevin O’Hanlon, the district’s attorney, asked Martinez several questions about that meeting and her assertion that she had been directed to accrue overtime pay. He seemed incredulous about Martinez racking up over $41,000 in extra pay on Muniz’s direction without him putting something in writing.
O’Hanlon noted no superior — be it Muniz, Superintendent Salinas or the board — officially signed off on extra pay for extra work.
Martinez acknowledged Muniz never provided any approval to her in writing, and said the superintendent and the board never approved the extra pay either. If the extra pay wasn’t right, Martinez said, internal controls at the district should have caught it and the district should have addressed it.
“If there was any question, it could have been raised. It was not,” she said.
Martinez finished testifying a little before 5 p.m. Wednesday. Oyervides began testifying not long after, and the hearing was ongoing as of press time and expected to run late.
It’s unclear whether Muniz will testify, although it seems increasingly unlikely.
Wednesday’s hearing was tense, O’Hanlon often sparring with Tony Conners, the women’s attorney.
At one point, just after the hearing broke for lunch, the two attorneys discussed with the Texas Education Agency appointed independent hearing examiner what to do about the testimony, which was obviously running longer than expected.
Conners grew heated, raising his voice. He accused O’Hanlon of delaying the proceedings and said his clients have been unjustly vilified.
“Will you stop, please?” O’Hanlon replied twice, obviously agitated as well.
Here’s the latest update:
Edinburg CISD extra pay hearing ends with ex-consultant’s testimony
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Edinburg superintendent alleges two administrators overpaid themselves $57K
