Following an executive session Monday night, April 10, the Hondo City Council accepted the resignation of City Manager Scott Albert.

Albert said Tuesday that he will be moving to Gatesville, where he will become city manager as of May 10, the day after completing his work in Hondo.

Councilman Bobby Vela made the motion to accept Albert’s resignation. Councilman Wesley Huesser seconded it and the motion passed unanimously. Mayor John McAnelly said that Albert “has been one of the best managers we’ve had in the years that I have been mayor and on city council,” adding, “Quite honestly, council was not expecting (his resignation.) Council did not know about it until (Monday) night. I knew about it (Monday) morning. “

Albert, who worked in Hondo for a little more than two years of a three-year contract, said the move is for both professional and personal reasons. Gatesville is about twice the size of Hondo and has a regional water and wastewater division that provides services for the region rather than just the city, as Hondo does. Fort Hood is located nearby, which he said he will enjoy due to his work embedded with the military as a civilian earlier in his career through the U.S. Agency for International Development.

On the personal side, Albert said he likes that Gatesville is about midway between the cities where his two daughters live in different parts of the state. “It’s been a wonderful two years,” he said. “I’ve appreciated the opportunity to work with the city of Hondo. It’s got a bright future and has a good staff in place.”

“(Albert) has done very well,” said the mayor. “He has bought strong people into leadership positions and I’ve admired that he has involved the groups that will work under staff leaders into the hiring process at the appropriate times. This has made all our departments stronger. “His knowledge from past experiences has been very helpful,” the mayor added.

Working with the mayor and council to hire “new staff that has substantial background in their profession,” is one of the accomplishments Albert said he is most proud of, including a new police chief, financial director, city secretary, director of public works and director of development services. “And we created a director of parks and recreation that we had not had before,” he said.

He feels that improving the city’s financial status is also a big accomplishment. “When I first arrived, we had 45 days of financial reserves. Now we have at least 90 days of reserves,” Albert said.

New businesses are also a pride point. “The pending construction of the Boise Cascade warehouse will bring an estimated capital investment of $15,000,000. At full operations levels, the facility is expected to employ 100 people, leading to an increase in business activity in the area,” Albert said. “The Perryman Group estimates that the gain in business activity in the city of Hondo generated by Boise Cascade at full operation levels will include $20.2 million in annual gross product and 186 jobs, including the multiplier effects.

Also you can see pad sites being cleared along Highway 90 for Starbucks and Advance Auto Parts,” he said.

The city’s tax rate was lowered from 49¢ in 2020 to 43¢ in 2022, Albert said, and “we’ve improved benefits for employees by creating a new retirement program and by paying 50 percent of the cost for spouses and children of employees, where before employees had to pay for all of their dependents’ coverages,” Albert said.

The city’s signing of a new contract with CPS for electrical power includes $50,000 per year of additional services to the city at no charge. “These can include various repairs to the city’s electric system. The new contract implements a fixed energy charge versus the heat rates in the previous contract, creating additional pricing stability,” Albert said. Applying for and receiving a $350,000 community development block grant for wastewater treatment plant repairs and upgrades, and beginning a new street repair program are also positives that were accomplished during the last two years, Albert said.