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SAN BENITO — A former city official Thursday filed a request to stop San Benito leaders from placing propositions on a Nov. 5 special election ballot, arguing commissioners secretly proposed amendments to the City Charter.
In Cameron County’s 197th state District court, Julian Rios, the San Benito Economic Development Corporation’s former president, requested a judge grant a temporary retraining order prohibiting San Benito officials from placing five propositions on the ballot.
In his request, Rios argued “the impact of the changes to the city of San Benito’s City Charter is unknown” if voters approve the measure, arguing the revisions would cause “irreparable harm.”
Meanwhile, Rios questioned commissioners’ process in proposing the propositions.
“The sneaky way the commission did this is an insult to the taxpayers,” he said in an interview Thursday. “The plan is to hold them accountable to state statutes.”
City officials are contracting the Cameron County Elections Department to conduct the election at a cost of about $16,885, Elections Administrator Remi Garza said.
“That’s a lot of money to spend on personal issues,” Rios said, referring to the election’s propositions.
Meanwhile, City Commissioner Pete Galvan argued the attempt to block the election was interfering with the “democratic process.”
“The purpose of the election is so the greater public can vote and make their voices heard,” he said in a statement. “Stopping the election prevents the democratic process from playing out.”
In the city’s first special election in 12 years, commissioners are asking voters to revise at least two City Charter clauses surrounding hot issues.
For months, some residents, including former Commissioner Carol Lynn Sanchez, have raised questions surrounding City Manager Fred Sandoval’s residency in the city whose charter requires city managers to live inside the city limits.
Since he was hired last October, Sandoval has continued living in Pharr.
Under the election’s Proposition D, commissioners are asking voters to consider scraping the requirement, proposing “an amendment to the city of San Benito Charter to allow the city manager to reside outside the city limits,” according to the election ballot.
At the time he was hired, he told commissioners he planned to move to town, Sandoval said in an earlier interview.
Meanwhile, he’s pointed to factors he says are keeping him from moving, including his son’s status as a high school junior in Pharr, while he’s serving as his 85-year-old mother’s “primary caregiver.”
Commissioners are also asking voters to consider Proposition B — “An amendment to the city of San Benito Charter requiring all members of the city commission to reside within the city limits during their term of office,” the ballot reads.
In March, commissioners voted to declare Sanchez’s position vacant because she was living outside the city limits.
In a heated meeting, commissioners unanimously voted to declare Sanchez’s office vacant while citing her as “unqualified to hold office in the city of San Benito” based on a charter clause requiring commissioners live within the city limits.
With just weeks before the close of her term, Sanchez claimed her removal was “illegal,” arguing she was denied her due process.
But interim City Attorney Javier Villalobos said she effectively resigned her position when she filed to run for Texas House District 37, while forfeiting her office when she moved outside the city limits.
For decades, the charter has required commissioners live within the city limits, Villalobos said.
Now, Proposition B’s passage would reaffirm the requirement, officials said.
Under Proposition C, commissioners are proposing “an amendment to the city of San Benito Charter authorizing the city commission to make appointments to the city commission in the case of a vacancy where there is less than 365 days remaining in the vacant term,” the ballot reads.
Meanwhile, Proposition E proposes “an amendment to the city of San Benito Charter to provide for process and reasons for removal of municipal judges.”
