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SPECIAL MEETING CITY COMMISSION HARLINGEN, TEXAS JANUARY 12, 2004 A special meeting of the Harlingen Elective Commission was held on Monday, January 12, 2004 at 5:00 p.m. in Town Hall, City Hall, 118 E. Tyler Street. Those in attendance were: Mayor and City Commission Staff Present:
Mayor de la Garza called the meeting to order noting that a full quorum was present. Mayor de la Garza delivered the invocation. Commissioner Meade made a motion to go into Executive Session under Government Code Section 551.071: consultation with Attorney, Attorney-Client privileged conference with City Attorney to seek legal advice about legal issues involved in City Manager’s employment agreement and resignation, and under Government Code Section 551.074, Personnel Matters, to deliberate the employment and terms of employment of the City Manager. Commissioner Puente seconded the motion and it carried unanimously. EXECUTIVE SESSION UNDER GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION 551.071: CONSULTATION WITH ATTORNEY, ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGED CONFERENCE WITH CITY ATTORNEY TO SEEK LEGAL ADVICE ABOUT LEGAL ISSUES INVOLVED IN CITY MANAGER ’S EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT AND RESIGNATION, AND UNDER GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION 551.074, PERSONNEL MATTERS, TO DELIBERATE THE EMPLOYMENT AND TERMS OF EMPLOYMENT OF THE CITY MANAGERThe Executive Session convened at 5:01 p.m. and concluded at 5:43 p.m. with no action taken. CITY MANAGER’S RESIGNATION ACCEPTED Commissioner Meade made a motion to accept the City Manager’s resignation as presented. The effective date of his resignation to be March 19, 2004. Commissioner Rodriguez seconded the motion. Under discussion, Commissioner Rodriguez asked the City Manager questions regarding his employment with the City of McAllen and how that had come about. He stated he was not aware that the City Manager was even looking for employment elsewhere. He stated he wanted the record to reflect that he had fully supported the City Manager and efforts on his part had been made to see what the Commission could do to convince the City Manager to stay. He stated he would have continued to support the City Manager had he changed his mind to stay. The only question he had was the length of the proposed contract that would have been offered to Mr. Rodriguez. Roy Rodriguez explained what occurred with the unsolicited job offer from McAllen and commented one of the reasons he committed to the City of McAllen was his concern with job stability here in Harlingen. He also did not like his recent evaluation being discussed in the media and he also knew that some Commissioners had issues with the length of the contract that would have been offered to him as part of getting him to remain in Harlingen. He stated that during the meeting with Commissioners Puente and Rodriguez, they indicated concerns over the length of the contract and the City Manager said he would not stay with less than a four-year contract. Therefore, in his opinion, the special meeting was not necessary. The City Manager was unwilling to enter into a contract under a 3-2 vote. Commissioner Puente commented he, too, was fully supportive of the City Manager and that he and Commissioner Rodriguez had both gone to meet with the City Manager to ask him to stay. The only concerns they had was with the time line. Commissioner Puente felt that Mr. Rodriguez should not have a concern with job stability if he knew he was good at his job. Another issue raised was the lack of communication. Commissioner Puente stated everyone else on the Commission (except Commissioner Rodriguez) knew about the new job and did not know that the City Manager had already accepted it. Commissioner Puente commented that there was a perception out there that the reason the City Manager was leaving was because of him and Commissioner Rodriguez and he wanted to go on record that this is not true. He continued that both he and Commissioner Rodriguez met with the City Manager to try to convince him to stay and they would have backed him fully. His only concern was with the entire process and how this all came about. Mayor de la Garza stated that in the memo that went to the City Manager from Commissioners Rodriguez and Puente it was implied that the City Manager should resign sooner than the date stated in his resignation letter. When the special meeting was called it was to give the Commission the opportunity to address any concerns in Executive Session. The City Manager then asked that the meeting be cancelled and his request was respected. Mayor de la Garza stated that in his opinion Roy Rodriguez has been one of the best City Managers the City of Harlingen has had. 90% of the bond issue projects will involve engineering and with Roy’s engineering expertise, the projects could have been monitored without a project manager. He only hoped that the City could hire a City Manager with Roy’s expertise. Commissioner Puente agreed with Mayor de la Garza that Roy Rodriguez was the best City Manager the City has had. Commissioner Boswell stated that Roy had his full confidence and, as far as he was concerned, paying on a 4-year contract would have been very worthwhile. Commissioner Meade also stated Roy was the best City Manager the City has had. He would have easily voted for a 4-year contract. Commissioner Gonzalez stated he hated to see the City Manager leave. Roy Rodriguez has done a lot of good for the City, but he respected his decision to resign and wished him well. Mayor de la Garza stated that whatever contract would have been drawn up would have been structured to meet the laws of Texas. Voting was as follows on the motion to accept the City Manager’s
resignation: DISCUSSION AND ACTION TO ESTABLISH PROCEDURES AND A TIME LINE FOR HIRING A NEW CITY MANAGER – NO ACTION TAKEN Mayor de la Garza suggested passing on this item and placing it on the upcoming agenda for January 21. Mayor de la Garza commented that the Commission would need to consider whether to advertise for a new City Manager through the City’sHuman Resources Department or consider hiring a consulting firm to seek applicants. He stated that cost would be a factor to consider if going this second route. He stated that all in all, the entire process would still take anywhere from 6-9 months. The City Secretary was asked to place this item on the agenda for January 21. APPOINTMENT OF INTERIM CITY MANAGER – NO ACTION TAKEN As with the previous item, Mayor de la Garza suggested placing this item on the agenda for January 21 and asked that the City Secretary do so. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 6:10 p.m.
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