City of El Paso leaders announce candidates for new city manager
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- City of El Paso leaders have announced the four finalist candidates to take over as the new city manager.
In a news conference 10 AM Friday at City Hall in Downtown El Paso, El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser, along with Interim City Manger Cary Westin, City Reps. Joe Molinar, Brian Kennedy and Art Fierro, and city staff released the names of the finalists. In alphabetical order, they are:
Robert Cortinas, Chief Financial Officer and Deputy City Manager for Internal Services
Mario D’Agostino, Deputy City Manager for Public Safety
Nicole Ferrini, Community and Human Development Director
Dionne Mack, Deputy City Manager for Quality of Life
All four are internal candidates, currently working within the city as deputy city managers or directors. The national search has been ongoing since March of 2024 when the national recruitment firm, Baker Tilly, was hired on a $40,000 contract. The process resulted in more that 80 applicants that were then narrowed down to 14 before an individual ranking of city council members and the mayor yielded the final four selected.
The finalists will next be interviewed by public panels and city council on August 7 and 8, with the final selection expected to be made and the position filled by September 1.
City Rep. Josh Acevedo was not present for the news conference and announcement Friday morning. At 2:33 Friday afternoon, Acevedo's office released a statement critical of the selection and process, titled "City Manager search process falls short on transparent goals." The statement claims that city council wasn't notified about the finalist decision until "5:59 p.m." the night before.
“The effort to select the next City Manager is one of our largest goals as a major Texas city, yet we were largely kept in the dark on selecting finalists to interview,” Acevedo is quoted in the statement as saying. “I was only notified about the list of finalists through a draft press release I received hours before the press conference.”
