City Rep. Niland admonishes city attorney, accuses her of ‘improper’ behavior on annexation deal

El Paso City Rep. Cortney Niland admonished the city attorney, saying she overstepped her bounds, before Mayor Oscar Leeser stepped in and asked the Niland to respect city employees.

At the City Council meeting on Tuesday, Niland said City Attorney Silvia Borunda Firth should have come to City Council for guidance much earlier in discussions with developer River Oaks. The dispute stems from the city’s interest in annexing land in Far East El Paso near the end of Pebble Hills.

City Rep. Michiel Noe, who put the item on the agenda, said it behooves the city to annex the land to collect property taxes and extend Pebble Hills. The land in question is an unincorporated “doughnut” surrounded by city land.

“Our city roads already are leading to this area,” Now said.

Firth said property owners had already agreed to transfer the land to the city needed for the extension of Pebble Hills, but there was still a remaining 12 acres owned by River Oaks Properties in question.

“We (city staff) were told the Pebble Hills extension was at urgent status so we worked on that and the annexation of the remaining acres can be addressed separately,” Firth told Council. She added River Oaks, the developer, wanted the city to waive “water fees” in exchange for annexation.

That upset Niland, who said Firth was “improper” in her handling of the situation and should have told City Council about the requested concessions from the developer earlier.

“We are the policy makers,” Niland said.

Leeser then asked Council to be respectful of Firth.

“I can understand why you want to support your department,” Niland told Leeser.

“No, it’s your department too, and once you learn and accept that — that it yours, mine and everyone else’s,” Leeser responded.

City Rep. Carl Robinson defended Firth.

“I remember you updating us on this during executive session some weeks back. Keep doing what you’re doing,” he said to her.

Noe said he estimated the city could collect about $160,000 a year in property taxes if the city annexed the land and River Oaks developed it. He agreed with Niland that Firth over-stepped her bounds and did not properly communicate to Council her discussions with River Oaks.

Council unanimously voted to direct City Manager Tommy Gonzalez to expedite the annexation of the land along Zaragoza Road and work on an agreement to also annex the 12 remaining acres owned by River Oaks.

River Oaks owns and plans to develop hundreds of millions of dollars worth of strip malls in El Paso. In 2011, the company rented out campaign space to Niland. Initially, the space was rented to her at no charge, but she began to pay rent when the El Paso Times questioned the legality of the arrangement.