The El Paso city council agenda for May 20, 2014 is out.
Item 1 on the regular agenda proposes the signing of a contract with a new city manager. Some details are:
- New manager is Tomas Gonzalez
- Five year contract
- If terminated without “good cause” he gets one year of salary
- $238,959.82 per year
- Eligible for 5% increase if he “exceeds standards”
- $500 a month for automobile expenses. He pays for all of the car’s expenses.
- $2,500 per month for six months for temporary housing allowance
Seems pretty reasonable to me.
Interim manager
Item 2 on the regular agenda would make Sean McGlynn interim city manager from May 21, 2014 to June 23, 2014, the day Mr. Gonzalez assumes his duties.
The queen is dead
Long live the king.
Brutus
elpasospeak 
But didn’t she say, she wants to stay as a consultant? She’s done, tell her we don’t need anymore of her consulting. Perhaps she wants to stick around to scape a few more crumbs, solidify her standing with the money guys or ensure the new cm maintains her policies in place.
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May heaven help this city.
Where does the queen bee go on May 21?
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Why do we need an interim manager if we are paying Wilson through the end of her contract, which still has a few months left on it? Why wouldn’t she at least stay until the day Gonzalez shows up if not for a transition period of even one day or one week? Seems like more free money for her for not working. We should make her show up every day even if it is just to sit in a small, secluded office and take calls from “crazies” who have complaints or questions.
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Package sounds reasonable. The best thing Wilson can do is just stay out of it all and let him make his own mistakes.
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The City Council should have proposed the EPISD Cabrera’s contract.
Visualize Ms Wilson’s Resume:
“Emploded the El Paso City Hall and the Children’s Museum for a minor league Baseball team”.
Hope she’s around when we get the final tally.
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I actually met Tommy Gonzalez in Irving a few years ago. Nice guy, very articulate and one hell of a public speaker. Also a bit of a hard charger – city staff better have it’s ducks in a row with him, if you listen to former colleagues in Irving.
I hate to break it to you guys, but you’re getting a male version of the Queen. That may be OK with some of you – I do occasionally detect a hint of misogyny every now and then. Let’s hope that this man receives the same scrutiny as the woman who dragged us kicking and screaming into this millennium.
Carlos
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Carlos, I totally agree about the sexist comments. I was more than a little stunned by the one rant today. Equal scrutiny for all. Let’s hope you’re right about Gonzalez, but hard-charging doesn’t translate to ethical behavior and respect for all citizens, two of the things we need most. Let’s hope that he has learned by now not cater to special interests or look for special favors that create a perception of impropriety.
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RC, I found the offending rant here (https://elpasospeak.com/2014/05/16/new-broom/comment-page-1/#comment-17386). Had I seen it before posting the above, I think I would have been more critical.
Homeowner777 should be ashamed of himself.
Carlos
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Carlos, Yep, that is the same rant to which I referred. How would you like to have Homeowner777 as your neighbor? God forbird your kid accidentally kick a ball into his yard. He should change his moniker to 666. He’s giving other angry middle-aged white guys a bad name.
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I think he was my neighbor – but that would make him about 100 years old.
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are you sure about the “if terminated without good cause” ? that would mean if the people vote to change to strong mayor then we would owe him only 1 years salary after him only being here a year. no 60 k a year forever like wilson and archuleta ? no benefits ? nothing ? do you have a link to the contract ?
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God forbid we go back to a strong Mayor government. What’s lost in all of the rage over the City Manager is that City Council has all of the power to remove her. That they haven’t done it, or even mentioned it, should tell you that they enjoy having their own personal lightning rod to take the heat for city decisions. They love the political cover, let me tell you – and Joyce, I believe, has relished the challenge, at least until the last year or so. I guess even the Queen gets tired of fighting against the very people she’s trying to help.
So if you like stagnant growth and risk avoidance that comparable to crossing the street with an armored car, then let’s get us a strong mayor!
Carlos
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a strong mayor got albuquerque a better contract, stadium, and didnt have to tear down a perfectly good building while our illustrious harvard grad got us a shit contract along with spending probably 3 times overall than albuquerque . wilson is a POS.
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True enough – but at least we got a stadium, which our illustrious prior “strong mayors” did not have the strength to make happen. Bear in mind that this stadium/arena thing has been brewing for at least 30 years which, had it been built then instead of pussyfooting around the issue for so long, would have been much cheaper.
Perspective, will — perspective.
Carlos
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we could have had the same stadium built where Cohen is now and paid way less money. hell, i forgot the article, but they laughed at how stupid we were to tear down buildings to put in a new stadium because Paul demanded it be downtown. Cook was the only Mayor in office when we wanted to build a stadium. when wardy was mayor we had the aa diablos at cohen. your 30 years stuff is bullshit. wardy hired wilson. since then weve had cook and a city manager.
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Carlos – I agree with you on some things, but Will’s perspective and response are right on the money. The laughter he referred to is a fact. In an interview, the Pacific League commissioner actually snickered about the people of El Paso being willing to tear down city hall to put up a minor league ballpark.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/latestnews/ci_25621563/grantland-how-el-paso-demolished-city-hall-triple
To say “30 years” is to suggest that Cohen was not a great park, when at the time it was built, it was probably the best AA park in the country. It was even featured in a photo in National Geographic magazine.
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I was going to say that even with common core math 30 years ago would’ve made Cohen 4 years old…
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Will,
Click to access 1689605172014092553657.PDF
Brutus
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I doubt that a vote to return to strong mayor constitutes good cause or would be grounds for termination. The city would in all likelihood have to pay him for more than a year.
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Cohen opened in 1990, common core math notwithstanding.
The point was made that a strong mayor got Albuquerque a better, cheaper deal with the ballpark, implying that not having a strong mayor is the problem here (correct me if I’m wrong, will). The point I made (poorly, as it turns out) was that this city had strong mayors before and all they got us was stagnant growth and a culture of corruption that will probably take us another 10 years to overcome.
In the 70’s, with the construction of the Civic Center complex and the proposed hotel that became City Hall, El Paso had a future. The El Corredor project was part of our Downtown beautification effort, with the intent of making downtown a destination (boy, what a novel idea — that started in the 70’s!) Our strong mayors were like miniature Mexican presidents – they would leave office much better off than they were when they were elected, simply because the moneyed interests in this town made it happen.
It was the entire reasoning for a city manager form of government. Many here may not agree, but we’ve made strides in 10 years with a city manager than we did in 30 years prior with “strong” mayors.
But that’s the point I was trying to make.
Carlos
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Jim paul sold the team in 1999(15 years ago). Cohen was thriving till then. I believe ramirez was mayor during the sale. Caballero after that . joe wardy was mayor from 2003 to 2005. he hired joyce. cook has been mayor since. so Caballero was the last strong mayor. im not saying that a strong mayor is better, im saying a strong mayor got albuquerque a better contract than an overpaid harvard grad without tearing down buildings. a strong mayor who let the citizens vote lost us the team(maybe francis or ramirez). reality checker is right. Cohen was great with the aa Diablos in the 90’s. the public decided “not” to upgrade the stadium and they left, but at least the public had a say and its their tax money. with wilson we didnt have a say and the taxpayer will pay big time down the road. wilson will never have to shell out a nickle. carlos, your definition of a strong mayor could apply to wilson too. maybe even more. wilson will leave office way better off than when she was hired. big money(foster and hunt) still made the difference because they had wilson and big money made the difference because they had enough reps in their pockets too(campaign donations). so whats the difference carlos ? cook is the real joke in all this because he had the deciding vote, but maybe thought he could get his lawyers fees paid. cook is the pure definition of a weak mayor letting the CM have her way. i looked it up in Webster’s. under “weak mayor” i would have sworn the illustration showed cook’s picture. wouldnt it be funny if foster hires wilson ? i mean he bought Jordon. that would be the frosting on the cake.
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