City Council asks Romero to resign from posts and Gonzalez to find temporary replacement during investigation

In an unprecedented move, the El Paso City Council on Tuesday requested City Representative Larry Romero resign from several important posts and also asked City Manager Tommy Gonzalez to appoint someone to temporarily replace him for the next three weeks.

After discussing “personnel matters” regarding Gonzalez in executive session for the second day in a row, the City Council ordered him to appoint an “active City Manager” for next week while he is on holiday vacation.

City Reprsentatives said the temporary replacement would serve for the next three weeks, including two of the weeks the City is closed for the holidays.

But a City Spokeswoman said Gonzalez would still be in charge while City Hall is closed at the end of the year.

The Council also agreed to prohibit Gonzalez from traveling out of the city on speaking engagements during the investigation and from making any major employment decisions.

In a rather unexpected move, the Council also requested Romero resign as Chairman of the City’s Financial Oversight and Audit Committee and as alternate Mayor Pro-Tempore. His colleagues are also asking Romero step down from the Rio Grande Council of Governments. City Rep. Carl Robinson was the only council member who voted against the motion and Romero was not present during the vote.

When asked in an interview after the meeting, Acosta said Romero left the city council meeting right before the other city representatives were about to go into in executive session.

Mayor Oscar Leeser appointed Romero to the financial oversight committee and if Romero refuses to step down, Leeser could replace him by appointing someone else.

“Council felt very strong that they wanted to make sure that the public had the confidence in what we’re doing and that’s a very important committee and having someone in there that that community has a lot of trust in is very important,” Leeser said in an interview after the meeting.

Gonzalez and Leeser have been under the microscope after Gonzalez authorized a search for a new financial adviser at the suggestion of Romero at a public meeting but without a vote from Council.

The City Council also agree to have the Ethics Commission review if it was appropriate for Romero’s private business to prepare Gonzalez’s personal income taxes.

The announcement came after some city representatives accused Gonzalez of making the city inefficient and disorganized.

City Representative Cortney Niland grilled Gonzalez on Tuesday, saying he has left the city vulnerable with his new organizational structure. Specifically, Niland pointed to Gonzalez’s elimination of four deputy city manager positions and employees who have been assigned with too many duties.

“It’s all this turnover and lack of consistency that has left us vulnerable. It has left us to not be able to respond to our constituents and it has left us at risk especially to what’s happened with the financial adviser solicitation,” Niland told Gonzalez.

The discussion took a surprising turn given it stemmed from a presentation that shows Gonzalez is expected to save the city about $9.9 million this fiscal year. The City’s Budget Director, Robert Cortinas, started his presentation to council demonstrating the City’s revenues had for the first time in three years exceeded expenditures.

But Leeser quickly interrupted Cortinas asking him not to tout the savings compared to prior years but only present the latest budget update. Leeser said he’s concerned the projected $9.9 million in savings aren’t real savings but instead the result of Gonzalez severely underestimating the City’s revenues.

Niland said Gonzalez’s projected savings appear to be inflated and as a result of vacant positions that should have been filled. “You can go out to the taxpayer and say ‘oh I saved all this money’ but guess what? What I really did was cut jobs and affect people that we actually need,” Niland said to Gonzalez.

Gonzalez said he heard the council’s concerns about being too conservative in budget projections. He pointed out all four prior deputy city managers either retired or resigned. Gonzalez has not filled those positions and instead created managing directors, consisting mostly of current employees whose responsibilities have been augmented.

Acosta was not as critical of Gonzalez’s restructuring, saying she’s not sure the changes have negatively affected the City.