El Paso city manager contract to be terminated

El Paso City Manager Tommy Gonzalez

KFOX14
by J. Valencia | A Parra | J. Cuevas
February 28th 2023, 5:15 AM CST

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14) — In a 5 to 4 vote, El Paso city council voted to fire the city manager months after they extended his contract.

City representatives Brian Kennedy, Alexsandra Annello, Joe Molinar and Art Fierro voted to terminate Tommy Gonzalez's contract in 120 days.

Mayor Oscar Leeser broke the tie.

A city representative, who co-sponsored the discussion regarding the El Paso city manager, filed a motion to give Tommy Gonzalez 120 days notice before terminating his employment

City representative Brian Kennedy's action comes after more than 30 people spoke about why or why not to support Gonzalez as the city manager, the majority in support of Gonzalez.

"This is not an evaluation or performance evaluation on the city manager and that's important to note," Leeser said before public comment was heard regarding Gonzalez.

A total of 35 people signed up to speak about Gonzalez's employment with the city of El Paso Tuesday morning.

Former El Paso Mayor, John Cook said, "I recently got the annual report, and I was impressed with the progress the city has made. First of all, you have a mayor and a council who set the vision and goals and those are objective goals that have to be measured. When evaluate the city manager, you evaluate whether he's achieved those goals or hasn't. The council also has control of the budget. The city manager doesn't approve the budget - you guys do. He'll tell you what he thinks, but the final budget, after its amended by the elected officials. I'm confused as to what is really going on here."

"I don't understand why the employment agreement between the city of El Paso and the city manager comes up again for discussion. That said I would like my unwavering support for the city manager and the work he is doing on behalf of our community. It should be noted that I don't always agree with him on policy but that's a topic for another day. At this point, it seems like workplace harassment to me. Tommy Gonzalez should be allowed to complete his city contract without political harassment," stated Fainot Pierre.

“We elected 9 people and they're allowing this guy to do whatever he wants. I don’t agree with that, that’s why that contract should be abolished," Jose Alexandro Lozano, former city representative, said.

Representative Cassandra Hernandez called a motion to discuss the issue in executive session, but the motion failed.

At 1:28 p.m. city council then went into executive session to get legal council for item 23 after a 5 to 3 vote.

"The council exercised a cause in the agreement. I'm insinuating that they want different leadership and again they are exercising the cause in the agreement," Gonzalez said after the vote.

Gonzalez On Moving Forward

"I think we just follow the strategic plan. We'll actually move up the strategic plan for April so council can make some changes if they want to do that. that way they can continue that process. We have very good processes in place that will support the council's direction. We could have done that with this council, but they want different leadership, they wanted to exercise clause," Gonzalez explained.

Gonzalez has been the city manager since 2014. He currently earns over $400,000 yearly.

This is not the first time the council has looked into Gonzalez's contact, but it will be the first time the new city representatives have the chance to weigh in.

In 2022, the city council voted to cap Gonzalez's salary and approved Gonzalez's contract extension for five years until 2029.

Gonzalez's salary cap is $450,000 with any increases above that amount going towards the City of El Paso's streets department for street improvements.

Council representatives Brian Kennedy and Joe Molinar co-sponsored the item on Tuesday's agenda that stated, "Discussion and action on the Employment Agreement between the City of El Paso and the City Manager."

Gonzalez is entitled to $1 million buyout.

City representative Cassandra Hernandez asked Leeser to share what the next steps are with the public.

"That'll come in the future. At this point Mr. Gonzalez is still the city manager for another 120 days," Leeser said.