Four apply for Edinburg city attorney position

EDINBURG — A total of four people have applied to be the Edinburg city attorney — a job that will soon be a full-time staff position within the city, rather than a contractual hire.

The news comes about a week after The Monitor filed a Texas Public Information Act request for the list of candidates who applied for the job.

Documents released by the city on Monday show that — in addition to two attorneys whom the Edinburg City Council interviewed last week — two others applied to be Edinburg’s top legal advisor.

The city council interviewed two experienced attorneys — Patricia Rigney and Robert “Bobby” Wells — behind closed doors last Monday.

The other applicants include Jose W. Hernandez, a La Joya native who owns a private practice in McAllen, and Destiny Montemayor, a self-described former educator and coach.

Of the four candidates, only Rigney has any previous experience undertaking municipal law.

She served as the Pharr city attorney until last year, when that city chose to replace her with former Hidalgo County District Attorney Ricardo Rodriguez Jr.

Currently, Rigney runs her own law firm.

Both Rigney and Wells have experience as federal prosecutors within the McAllen Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.

Rigney spent more than five years as a federal prosecutor there, while Wells retired last year after a 25-year career prosecuting drug cartels, gangs, and various forms of fraud.

Wells is also a certified public accountant, according to a redacted copy of his resume.

Both Rigney and Wells list a “who’s who” in Hidalgo County politics as references in their employment applications.

Rigney’s references include Julian Alvarez, who was once appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott to serve as a commissioner in the Texas Workforce Commission, and who currently serves as president of the state-appointed board of managers overseeing the La Joya school district.

Alvarez is also a senior vice president for Lone Star National Bank.

Meanwhile, another of Rigney’s references, Alex Meade, serves as a senior vice president for Texas Regional Bank, and as a commissioner with the Texas Department of Transportation.

Previously, he served as the Pharr city manager.

The final person Rigney lists as a reference is state District Judge Fernando Mancias, who presides over the 93rd state District Court.

Wells, meanwhile, lists former Edinburg mayor and one-time Hidalgo County assistant district attorney Richard Garcia as the first reference in his application.

The career prosecutor also lists Hidalgo County Sheriff J.E. “Eddie” Guerra, who he described as a “childhood friend and classmate,” and his former supervisor within the USAO, Mary Lou Castillo, as references.

As for the remaining two candidates, Hernandez lists his primary legal experience in debt collections law, receiverships, wills and estates, and other civil practice areas.

Hernandez earned his law degree from the South Texas College of Law in Houston and has been practicing since 2002.

Montemayor, meanwhile, earned her law degree from the Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Her resume lists several legal-adjacent positions, including a stint as a legislative assistant in the Texas Legislature, and as an intern for the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Neither Texas nor Louisiana public records show that Montemayor has been admitted to their respective bar associations. A person cannot serve as an attorney within Texas without admittance to the State Bar of Texas.