Back in February, Joseph Neeb was selected as the latest city manager of Laredo. He was tasked with bringing his wealth of experience to the table to not only bring some much needed stability to the position but to also take on the city's challenges.

A candidate of Neeb's caliber led to him being awarded with the highest salary of any city official at more than $276,000 per year.

It has been seven months since Neeb's hiring, and Tuesday’s selection of the new Laredo Police Department Chief of Police presented Laredoans with something to talk about at the office water cooler. 

Specifically, it was Neeb who provided his recommendation for who City Council should hire to be the next chief. And yet, the night finished with City Council refusing to support Neeb's choice and asking him instead to pick another option before approving that local candidate instead.

Council goes against Neeb

During Neeb’s first selection, Council took it to a vote to confirm Andy Harvey of Dallas as the next police chief. 

An audible collection of gasps could be heard when Mayor Dr. Victor Trevino called for any opposed to Harvey during the motion. Five hands were raised.

Council did see three of its members push back that night immediately to those who voted no. District III leader Melissa Cigarroa was openly disappointed seeing Council go against the city manager, District VIII's Alyssa Cigarroa questioned why they would push so significantly to avoid an outside candidate when LPD had seen numerous recent incidents including scandals, and District VI's Dr. Tyler King implied Council was overstepping its authority. 

“Let it be shown that it's not the city manager that's doing the appointing,” King said. “It's the Council that's doing the appointing and the confirming, and that's my problem with this process.”

Neeb was instead asked if he could bring a second name to the conversation. He said that while he stood behind all five as strong options for the city, Miguel Rodriguez would be his second choice.

All five who chose not to back Harvey approved the local candidate, while King and both Cigarroas chose to support the No. 2 choice while still visibly upset at how the process played out.

Upset with the process

Following that meeting, Alyssa Cigarroa spoke about Rodriguez being a good choice but remained worried about how the decision was made.

“I would like to begin by offering my sincere congratulations to our new Chief of Police,” Alyssa Cigarroa said. “I am genuinely looking forward to working with him to rebuild trust within the police department and among the public. ... However, I must express my profound heartache for our city tonight. My heartache is not rooted in who was or wasn't chosen for this role, but rather in the manner in which the selection unfolded.”

Alyssa Cigarroa said that much effort has been made to try and help increase the public's trust in the government with the hire of Neeb. And by going against his recommendation, it did not help his standing.

“We expended considerable effort to find a city manager who could guide Laredo past its dark days,” Alyssa Cigarroa said. “We fought for a city manager who would have the freedom to assemble their own team, and one who would not succumb to the pressures of the bullies or the manipulative micromanagers.” 

District III Councilmember Melissa Cigarroa expressed her concern as well with the way Neeb's recommendation was treated.

“I’m incredibly disappointed that our City Council spoke about the need to support our city manager, and then when he came to us with his decision, his choice, they chose to pull the rug out from underneath him,” Melissa Cigarroa said. 

King had said before the selection that the process was up to the city manager and no one else. 

“State law says that the chief executive of our city -- that’s Mr. Neeb, our city manager -- appoints fire and police chiefs specifically, just like he appoints all the other department heads,” King said at the meeting. 

Other department heads do not require City Council confirmation. 

“This is his appointment,” King said. “We’re not picking the police chief, at least we’re not supposed to be.”

King added that Neeb likely made a mistake having Council interview the candidates the week prior publicly. While it increased transparency, he felt it gave a message that Council was the ultimate decision-maker. 

Defending the decision

Some councilmembers leaned on their decision to buck the city manager's selection based on Neeb's own words.

As the officials pressed him on the candidates' strength, Neeb was unwilling to say that any of them were not quality options to select. He said they would all be good decisions for the city.

Some leaders seized on these words, citing that all the choices thus were equal.

“I think the message that we had tonight from our city manager saying, ‘My No. 2 choice was not my No. 2 choice, but rather another No. 1,’ because all candidates contributed differently to this selection,” District IV Councilmember Alberto Torres said. “I think the end result vote, for a unanimous vote, speaks loud and clear.” 

Torres added that he found it disappointing that some councilmembers wanted an outsider at all, as he believes in empowering locals. 

District V Councilmember Ruben Gutierrez felt the same way, only, a bit more sternly. 

“I don’t want to send a message to our kids -- my kids, your kids, Laredo’s children -- that you can get all the education, have all the knowledge, have all the experience, and you’re looked as crooked,” Gutierrez commented just before the selection. “Just because you’re a local Laredoan.” 

District VII Councilmember Vanessa Perez said that she felt Neeb was under pressure to pick an outside candidate and it "influenced heavily" his decision. 

“There was pressure from many to go with an outside candidate and for Mr. Neeb not to be Council’s ‘lapdog,’" Perez said in a statement. "I believe that pressure influenced heavily on our city manager’s first choice.  In the end, our homegrown talent was best, and Chief Miguel Rodriguez was confirmed unanimously to lead our Police Department. He has the experience and record to move this department forward.” 

Further discourse ensues

After the selection of Rodriguez was made, King felt strongly of the disappointment he believes he went through during the process. 

“We all agreed all five finalists were qualified, that was on the record,” King said. “But then to come back and say, ‘Oh no, we’re not gonna go with the candidate you choose.’” 

King said everyone’s known for weeks, and likely months, which candidate Council wanted for the position and that the public were going to think they got who they wanted anyway.

“For me, I find that extremely ironic and disingenuous more than anything,” King said. “Effectively what happened is the City Council actually abused its power and did both the appointing and the confirming.

“So don’t come at me with checks and balances. It’s clearly projection, because it’s so ironic. It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.”

District II Councilmember Daisy Campos Rodriguez spoke about the process and how a few members felt noncompliant after the item. She also was very critical of King following the vote.

“I know there were several opposed that did not approve with the decision,” Campos Rodriguez said. “I know one of them was Dr. Tyler King, which for some reason, it was a little funny how he started with going with the process and failing the process once he didn’t get his way.” 

Campos Rodriguez specifically was upset that King and Alyssa Cigarroa left the chambers after the agenda item. 

“They went to the back and didn’t come back out,” Rodriguez said. “And to me that’s just childish. You don’t do that.” 

King said that he thought the chief decision was the last item of the night.

“I, frankly, forgot we had more items,” King said. “I thought that was the last item of the night.”

Harvey investigation

Harvey was Neeb's initial choice due to his wealth of experience. He resigned from his role in Pharr last September after an investigation found him violating city policy.

Neeb's research determined the matter was not serious enough that he should be excluded from taking the chief role.

That was not enough to convince some, however, such as Torres. 

“I think it’s important that we have a chief that is local, knows the force, that knows what needs to be done, can hit the ground running and not necessarily learn on the job,” Torres said. “I think the recommendation of Harvey was, and is, a bit questionable of his background. The fact that he was under investigation with the City of Pharr where he served as police chief and was found at fault for workplace issues.” 

So what happened with Harvey? He spoke about the incident nearly a year ago with the Progress Times.

Harvey, who had at the time had also taken over as city manager in Pharr, reportedly got in an argument with Deputy City Manager Edward Wiley over budget issues when an incident over a cookie purchase was "the straw that broke the camel’s back."

Harvey said that during budgeting he found they were deep in the red. He said it was severely hampering EMS but "no one was listening to me." He said they were discussing layoffs which frustrated him greatly.

The day of the incident, he said that a purchase was made for cookies totaling $5,700. He said that while it was of noble intentions being made to help a struggling business owner, it was still "unethical to use taxpayer funds in that manner" and was done in a way that circumvented him from the decision.

That led to the blowup, which Wylie then filed a complaint over. Wylie accused Harvey of "screaming, swearing and knocking over a chair" and said that he has fears for his "safety, physical well-being and mental stability." He said that since Harvey was also the police chief, he is "afraid he will get PD to follow me and try to pin something on me.”

An internal investigation led to the city attorney and human resources director ruling Harvey violated city policy and recommending termination. Harvey then resigned.

Trying to move forward

Throughout the night’s process, branches of tension grew and grew, but not one councilmember disagreed that Rodriguez was an invaluable candidate. 

“My disappointment lies within the majority of Council who decided to take matters into their own hands and do both the appointing and the confirming of the police chief,” King said. 

Alyssa Cigarroa thinks Council's decision has undermined the city manager position.

“Unfortunately, tonight has unveiled the harsh reality. It has become painfully clear that what I truly believed ‘we all’ fought for was merely an illusion,” Alyssa Cigarroa said. “The city manager, despite his best intentions, did not receive the support he needed from the Council for his recommendation, (and) it is a slap in the face and undermines the integrity of the city manager position.

“We need to recognize that we are living in a critical time where further crises can only be prevented if we act now. This offers the representatives of this city an opportunity for fundamental change, and the decision tonight was not one for council to force but to support. In order for our city to thrive, we must let go of 'patron' politics, let go of control, and let our city manager lead.” 

Melissa Cigarroa further agreed that Rodriguez's hire was overall a positive selection, but the way it happened could impact public trust.

“The selection of Chief Rodriguez is a positive for this city,” Melissa Cigarroa said. “In his presentation to council, he had a lot of innovations he’d like to see implemented and he seems to have a strong understanding of what the department lacks and where he can build strengths.

“All of them must act to the highest ethical standards -- it’s in their oath. And when that doesn’t happen it eats away at the public trust. So, we will be looking at Chief Rodriguez to restore that public trust.” 

Campos Rodriguez said that Rodriguez’s presentation caught their attention and made him the top choice for the job.

“His presentation, it wowed a lot of us and the officers felt that that was our best candidate,” she said.