Hondo Anvil Herald
By Rosanne D. Fohn Anvil Herald Reporter
April 20, 2023

With the resignation of Hondo City Manager Scott Albert at the April 10 meeting, City Council held a special called meeting Tuesday, April 18, and selected Robert Herrera as interim city manager. After a 22-minute executive session and no public discussion, all council members present voted to hire Herrera. Councilman Bobby Vela was absent.

Herrera served as Hondo city manager from 2003 until April 20, 2012, when he left to serve as city manager of Cibolo.

He served for nine years in Cibolo, announcing in January 2021 that he would not be continuing in the post.

In a telephone interview Wednesday, Herrera said he considers himself a proactive and progressive city manager.

“I had the opportunity to serve in a very fast-growing community. A lot of my accomplishments were because of very good team members on staff and on the city council,” he said.

One of those accomplishments was recruiting AW Texas to Cibolo. Owned by Japanese company Aisin Texas Corp., the company manufacturers transportation and navigation systems for Toyota, Hyundai and Honda, Herrera said.

“It was a very interesting process, and it was a statewide recruiting project, as well,” he said.

Another big project was a 60-acre retail center in Cibolo that includes a large movie theater complex, home decor store, several restaurants and a large supermarket.

Hondo Mayor John McAnelly said that a council member had suggested contacting Herrera directly for the interim position, to last about three months.

“He will be joining us in the first part of May. We want him to have some time to work with the outgoing city manager before he leaves.”

Herrera said he is looking forward to meeting with council soon to negotiate a contract.

“I really enjoyed my time in Cibolo and in Hondo. The residents in Hondo were very thoughtful. I hope this all works out,” he said.

The other action item on the Hondo City Council agenda was to hire an executive search firm to find a permanent city manager, but council declined to publicly discuss or vote on this item.

“[Agenda item] No. 7, we will not worry with tonight,” McAnelly said.