The Mercedes City Commission finalized their choice for interim city manager during a special meeting Tuesday, affirming Kevin Pagan as their pick.
Pagan, who currently serves as the McAllen city attorney, will begin working for Mercedes at the beginning of January, once his retirement from McAllen becomes effective.
Mercedes has appointed him to serve a three-month term ending April 3. He will be compensated $10,000 per month, plus mileage, according to the terms of the motion passed by the commission Tuesday.
The city will have the right to extend the contract by mutual agreement for a term of 30 days.
As they had stated during a meeting one week prior, the commissioners approved Pagan as their selection by a split 3-to-2 vote, with the newest members voting in favor of him, while Commissioners Jose Gomez and Leonel Benavidez voted against.
However, in a slight shift from the previous week, where he had criticized the lack of presentations and interviews with interim city manager candidates, Commissioner Benavidez said his nay vote was a matter of principle, rather than a comment on Pagan’s bonafides for the job.
“The interview process was great. We had a great dialogue (with Pagan), just for the record, on solutions. … I just felt it would have been fair to have that interview process for all the candidates,” Benavidez said after the vote.
“On principle, I oppose,” he said.
Pagan retires from the city of McAllen after 26 years of service there. He has served in multiple capacities, including as city attorney for the last 14 years and emergency management coordinator for the last 18 years.
He has also served as interim city manager and has recently been overseeing the city’s prosecutor and municipal court staff.
The McAllen city attorney’s office oversees a $2 million budget, Pagan said when reached for comment last week.
“As an in-house city attorney, I oversee operational aspects of the city. In other words, I’m a department head and have overseen a number of departments during my tenure as city attorney here in McAllen,” Pagan said.
Pagan said he was humbled to be considered for the interim city manager position in Mercedes.
