Niland goes from Gonzalez’s most vocal supporter to his loudest critic

City Representative Cortney Niland who was the most vocal supporter of City Manager Tommy Gonzalez just more than four months ago when the Council raised his pay by $50,000, is now his most vocal critic.

“The change is because of the information that I had. You’re only as good as the information that you have in front of you. And at the time he (Gonzalez) was touting these savings,” said Niland in an interview Tuesday.

Niland was in the majority when she voted to raise Gonzalez’s salary by $50,000 to $300,000 in early August. She was the only City Representative at the time though to give a lengthy speech touting dozens of reasons Gonzalez deserved the steep pay hike. Niland mainly focused on Gonzalez’s fiscal management, pointing out he had closed a $9 million deficit and streamlined bureaucratic processes at city hall.

She and City Representatives Emma Acosta, Michiel Noe, Larry Romero and Peter Svarzbein justified the increase, showing Gonzalez’s $250,000 salary was significantly lower than city managers in comparable cities, like Laredo. City Rep. Claudia Ordaz initially voted for the raise but withdrew her support in a controversial city council meeting on August 18th.

That’s when Niland made the elaborate speech, publicly praising Gonzalez. “I did my due diligence. I know what he’s brought to the table this year. I know what kind of leader this community needs to take us to the next level. and I know it’s sitting right in front of us… Boy has he delivered,” Niland said of Gonzalez on August 18th.

Her tone is now much different. Niland has publicly rebuked Gonzalez the last few council meetings, saying his financial savings may not be a true representation of real savings but instead demonstrate Gonzalez has eliminated key leadership positions and hurt the city.

“I am always one who can admit when they’ve made a mistake and i’m never going to run from it but i’m not going to protect my ego just because I made a mistake and maybe didn’t have all the information that I have now,” said Niland.

“At the particular time, the information that was given it seemed like we were in a good situation. You fast forward months later: you have the financial adviser debacle, you have the MPO debacle, you have the street CIP debacle, you have the questions in regard to the cathedral speed humps, you have the questions raised about the street paved in front of Mr. Romero’s home,” Niland added.

When council voted for the raise in August, the controversies surrounding Gonzalez and City Rep. Larry Romero, including the street repaving, the search for a new financial adviser and the hasty installation of speed humps had not surfaced.

However council was very aware of the problems with MPO funding. Reports about the city losing tens of millions of dollars in road funding had surfaced in July, weeks before the raise. And Niland was also aware of Gonzalez’s organizational changes with eliminated deputy city managers. Yet she did not raise issues then. “There was a commitment to us that there was a new executive team that there would be streamlined processes, there was no indication that the organization itself would start to suffer and what we’ve seen the organization itself start to suffer, said Niland.

Asked if Niland’s change of heart is politically motivated, aimed to gain favor with El Pasoans who are disillusioned with city hall, Niland passionately said no. “This has nothing to do with politics and it has everything to do with information. I did not have any of the information in regard to all the things that have happened over the last months at the time where we gave a raise.”