County Judge To Choose Gandara’s Replacement, Gandara’s Office Closed After Resignation

County Judge Veronica Escobar is tasked with appointing a replacement to run the precinct three county office, currently held by Willie Gandara Jr, who’s attorney said he plans to resign following his arrest on federal drug trafficking charges.

Gandara’s attorney Joe Spencer sent Escobar a letter Tuesday stating that Gandara is resigning from the County seat. Escobar said she is waiting for a letter signed by Gandara himself to make the resignation official and to make any public comment.

“It’s very clearly a difficult time for the commissioner so I understood it would be one of his options,” Commissioner Anna Perez said in an interview Tuesday.

Perez said that when the County receives a resignation letter from Gandara instead of his attorney, he’d still be “in hold over status until the appointee takes office.”

There is no set timeline for the appointment, said Perez.

When asked if there were any potential appointees already considered, Perez said no.

“Not at all. That’s not something the judge has shared with me and frankly, I don’t think she’s even gone that far,” Perez said.

Gandara had about ten months left in office.

The appointee would have the option of choosing new staff for the precinct office or keeping the two employees who until recently worked under Gandara.

One of them is Dora Oaxaca, Gandara’s main assistant, who is also running for Gandara’s seat in upcoming elections. In mid-December, ABC-7 reported how two of the three people who run the office, were also running campaigns. Gandara was also running to be a state representative, but is dropping out of the race, according to Spencer.

The precinct three office was closed when ABC-7 stopped by Tuesday afternoon. Perez said Oaxaca and the other employee, Shawnee Enriquez, became upset by the news of Gandara’s resignation and closed the office for the day.

“They are good people, they are dedicated employees and so I anticipate that’s also going to be a conversation and how we keep the office operating,” Perez said.

For now, Perez said the County is making sure precinct three gets the attention it needs.

“We need to reach out to constituents to bridge the absence of the commissioners,” Perez said. “We need to look through the projects the commissioners may have been working on to make sure they don’t fall through the cracks.”