Nixon terminates Rice as city manager during special called meeting
Published: Tue, 12/05/23
Nixon terminates Rice as city manager during special called meeting
Harold Rice
COURTESY/NIXON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Gonzales Inquirer
By LEW K. COHN, Inquirer Publisher
Posted
Nixon City Manager Harold Rice was fired from his position with cause — effective immediately — during a special called Nixon City Council meeting Monday, Dec. 4 at City Hall.
Prior to the termination, Rice met in executive session with Mayor Dorothy Riojas, City Attorney Eddie Escobar and members of the council for about 75-80 minutes, alongside his wife Loyce and attorney Lori Hanson of Hanson Law P.C. of Schertz.
When the meeting reconvened in open session, Alderman Melissa Pompa moved to terminate Rice as city manager “due to the negligent misapplication or misuse by the city manager of public funds under his official capacity as city manager.”
Council members neither named nor discussed what those allegations of misappropriation, misapplication or misuse of city funds were that prompted the special called meeting Monday.
Pompa’s motion included the termination was to be effective immediately, though the city would pay out health care coverage through the end of the year for Rice and his family. Alderman Patsy Vigil Scherrer seconded the motion.
Before a vote was taken, Alderman Justin La Fleur tried to get Pompa to amend her motion to offer Rice a severance package.
“People come tonight to call me what they want and say what they want about me, but it’s put us in a tough position,” La Fleur said. “And although we’d like to have solidarity here, I'd like to offer Mr. Rice a severance package if he would so accept it. I don't think that's been brought to the table, so I'm trying to bring it to the table now. I don't know if that's part of the motion we can amend to offer him a severance package outside of his healthcare.”
Escobar said Pompa would have to amend her motion if she chose to do so.
“I think plans to cover his family’s healthcare for the rest of the year — that’s a generous offering by the city,” Pompa replied. “I believe my motion stands.”
The council voted 4-1 to terminate Rice, with La Fleur as the lone dissenting vote. Pompa, Scherer, Ellie Dominguez and Maggie Gaytan all voted in favor of the termination, while Riojas only votes in the event of a tie.
Council members also voted to remove Rice as a signatory on the city’s accounts at Sun Coast Bank and to replace him with Scherrer. That vote was approved unanimously.
Pompa asked about going back into executive session to discuss an interim assignment of a city manager, but Escobar told council members they would be prudent to hold another meeting to make that decision.
“The way that the agenda item is written under number one, it does say regarding the position of City Manager/Administrator, job description of City Manager/Administrator, performance the City Manager/Administrator and existing contractual terms,” Escobar said. “It could be argued that the position of city manager would cover that issue. But I would have to say that, out of an abundance of caution, probably the best thing to do is to set that on a different agenda.”
The council took Escobar’s advice and moved to adjourn the special called meeting at that point. Rice was asked by a Nixon Police Department officer to make sure he had submitted all city property and passwords before leaving the building.
Rice, a lifelong Nixon resident, was hired as interim city manager in January 2017 and appointed full-time city manager in October 2019.
This is a developing story. More to come.