It looks like the new mayor is doing his job.
The July 2, 2013 city council agenda has two items posted in the addition to the agenda. Both appear to have been placed on the agenda by the mayor.
The first is titled:
Discussion and action regarding a Resolution to revoke authority granted to the City Manager by the motion of City Council dated November 6, 2012, with regard to the leasing or purchasing of office space and parking in the Central Business District required for the relocation of City operations as a result of the relocation of City Hall.
The previous city council passed a motion on November 6, 2012 granting the city manager broad authority to lease property downtown for up to 5 years (limited to $2,500,000 per year). The new resolution if passed would require the new city council to approve any new leases.
The second item is titled:
Discussion and action regarding a Resolution modifying the authority granted to the City Manager in connection with the awarding of Solicitation No. 2013-109R to Jordan Hunt, a Texas Joint Venture for the construction of the ballpark and requiring the exercise of all such authority be made in consultation with the Mayor of the City of El Paso.
In other words the city manager would have to keep the mayor informed about what is being done. The resolution would not take power away from the city manager. Instead it would allow the mayor to know what is happening so that he could re-direct the city manager through city council if he thought things were not going well.
Hallelujah!
It looks like the new mayor wants the mayor and council to take responsibility for what is happening instead of giving all authority to the city manager and then claiming that decisions on matters are not in their purview. A large part of the mess we are in is a direct result of having a weak council and mayor.
I don’t feel comfortable making a prediction about whether these two items will pass. What I do know is that any city council member that votes against these will be drawing a line in the sand.
To me this appears to be very smart on the part of the mayor. I hope that he continues to apply this kind of thoughtful management to the mess that we are in.
We are getting better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
We finally have a Mayor who is willing to work and take responsibility and even more importantly understands the concept of accountability, especially where big money and special interests are involved.
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Well weren’t y’all the naive fools– as were we. We’ve been had our fellowcrazies.
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No surprises here…
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