For some reason our public institutions have been hiring their senior managers from out of town the last few years.
Look at what that has gotten us at the city and EPISD.
Maybe we should start hiring people who live here and are committed to our community.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
This has not been limited to just the last ‘few’ years, but has been going on ever since I can remember, for at least fifty years. All local school districts are guilty of this practice of short sightedness when it comes to replacing administrators. They never think to look locally, but instead conduct nationwide searches, and even pay head hunters to fill positions that should be filled locally. Many mid level positions are filled this way, also. One reason for this historically has been the presence of Ft. Bliss. Spouses of soldiers assigned to our local military base often have training, certification, and/or education that makes them qualified, and our local institutions look at them first, without thinking that they often are only going to be here for a relatively short period of time. And, it is not just the schools or the City that follow this practice.
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John, back when my husband was in the Army, I was told in my first job that I wasn’t getting a raise because the company I worked for felt that military spouses would move on so raises were a waste of money. I was salaried and working long hours like everyone else. As it turned out my husband got passed over for Major that year and RIF’d out of the Army during a period when they were cutting the military deeply. We were choosing to stay in that area. So, the basis for discriminating against me because of my husband’s career choice was totally wrong. Any two career family has the potential to change locations if a spouse is offered a better job, so singling out military families for this discrimination is a slap in the face…particularly given the hardships they already endure. As it turned out, I started outearning my husband within several years and he ended up moving around for my career. The reality is that here in El Paso we should be hiring the best and brightest we can find. Hiring local will just get more mover and shaker friends and family on the payroll.
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Friends and family of local movers and shakers do get hired, while other good El Paso people get overlooked. When city leaders pitch companies on El Paso’s great workforce and then they themselves constantly hire people from other places, there is a credibility issue.
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What holds El Paso back is the big fish in our small pond don’t want competition. They in turn put politicians in power who are totally incompetent and dependent on their largess. Those folks hire people they feel will follow the agenda. The problem isn’t where we get our executives from—it is that we are only hiring folks who put lining their pockets first. The Hunt-Foster-REIT-construction cabal would hate it if large employers who wanted to influence local politics actually moved here. That is why economic development stays focused on deals that will never have that outcome.
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Anonymous, I know exactly what you are talking about, and that is one more example of why El Paso remains a poor city. Local employers do tend to offer lower salaries than comparable positions might expect in other cities, and they have gotten away with this for many years, just as you describe. That does not stop them from hiring such people, unfortunately. What I was trying to suggest is that I have seen – all too often – situations, especially in our local school districts, where a new administrator is sought, and existing, long term employees are ignored in favor of outsiders. Yes, despotism is rampant, but not always at the top.
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I understand. My point was the locals aren’t passed over because they are local. They are passed over because they aren’t seen as likely to follow the agenda. The folks that get hired are in some way beholden to the power base. Case in point, Cabrera didn’t have credentials. Tommy G. had a questionable track record in his last city management position (and some strange things have gone on in his tenure here—remember his salary bump for doing a great job followed by a poor review and performance improvement plan—) guess he got off the party line.
And to your point about lower salaries—that actually should be an economic draw. Salaries in the private sector only rise when there is competition for talent. Markets with lower costs of living and concomitant lower salary levels usually have an advantage in attracting employers. Except in El Paso. Remember when we were trying to lure a manufacturer out of LA and City Council lectured them on what they paid entry level employees? They pay lower entry level wages because they train on the job and promote from within. We are losing out on employers with transformative jobs that increase wages as employees increase their skills because of mindsets like that along with the fact that a strong manufacturing sector would exert political influence in ways that wouldn’t please our current power base. Meanwhile our politicians are all giving themselves raises because other cities pay their politicians more. Other cities also get better results from their politicians but that fact is continually overlooked.
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El Paso should consider that the best method for growing or local economy is to concentrate our efforts on people who want to be be here. We chase out of towners who come in for a short while then leave immediately they receive a better offer elsewhere.
Think how much value we would have for local El Pasoans if we were to invest the $200 million destined for the unneeded arena on developing our local talent with free city-wide high speed internet at a fraction of the cost, for example.
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That’s what my platform is about.
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