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Monday, November 29, 1999

Difficult times facing Alice City Council
Council to vote on longer search for city manager
By Mary Lee Grant
Caller-Times

ALICE - In the midst of a recall election and with several department head vacancies, the search for a new city manager is becoming difficult, said Alice Mayor Fidel Rul.
   The City Council will hold a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. today to discuss the search for a city manager. The application deadline was Wednesday, and they will decide at the meeting whether to extend it, Rul said.
   "I hope that we can extend the window for two or three more weeks,'' he said. "We only have seven applications. Most of them are from the area, but none of them are from Alice.''
   He said that he doesn't particularly want someone from Alice, but does want to make sure city officials have a number of good, strong candidates from which to choose.
   City Manager Gonzalo Chapa was fired Aug. 30, and since then, voters have called for a recall election of the three council members who voted to fire him - Abraham Aguilar, Grace Saenz Lopez and Rito Silva. The recall election will be Thursday.
   If the three City Council members are recalled, it could lead to a shutdown of city business, Rul said, including the city manager search.
   "If only one member is recalled, we will still have a quorum and be able to conduct business,'' Rul said. "But if two or more or recalled, we could be prohibited from doing the simplest business.''
   Recall at inopportune time
   He said that if the recall is successful, council members still would be able to vote to hold an election to place new members on the council.
   "They (the three members up for recall) will all be there to canvass the votes and they can vote then to hold an election to replace themselves,'' he said.
   Rul said he is investigating a provision of state law that will allow city council members to vote on important decisions.
   "There is a holdover provision that would allow recalled City Council members to vote until an election is held,'' he said. "I am talking with lawyers about whether we can do that.''
   Rul said that the recall comes at a particularly bad time, because the positions of fire chief, personnel director and finance director, as well as city manager, are open. He said that the city's advertisements for the position in the Texas Municipal League publications weren't included in November's issue, and he hopes they will appear in the December publication.
   "I want to extend the time we have and also to hire a search firm,'' he said. "I think we need some help. It is going to be difficult to fill all these vacant positions.''
   Turmoil over vacant posts
   He said that he would like to hire a search firm to help fill all the positions, and that he estimates the cost would be between $5,000 and $10,000.
   City council member Rito Silva said that he doesn't approve of hiring a search firm.
   "I think we have hired enough consultants,'' Silva said. "I don't think we need to spend the money.''
   Silva said he isn't sure if he wants to extend the city manager search.
   "Only the mayor has seen who the applicants are,'' Silva said. "I want for the other council members to look at them before we extend the search.''
   Alice has been in turmoil over vacant positions and the loss of city managers for the past two years. Chapa was fired with no reasons given by the council.
   He replaced David Silva, who resigned after six months. Silva resigned twice and changed his mind twice before finally turning in his resignation.
   Silva replaced Roel Valadez, who was fired after 18 years as city manager while he was out sick with a gall bladder operation.



Staff writer Mary Lee Grant can be reached at 886-3752 or by e-mail at grantm@caller.com

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