Jalomo recalls 47 years of service to city

Assistant City Manager Hector Jalomo is seen inside his San Benito Municipal Building office. (Staff photo by Francisco E. Jimenez)

By FRANCISCO E. JIMENEZ
Staff Writer
reporter@sbnewspaper.com

Assistant City Manager Hector Jalomo will soon enjoy the 47th anniversary of his employment with the City of San Benito. Most marriages don’t even last that long.

Jalomo, who will be 63 on April 9, started working for the city in 1966 as a laborer while still in high school, doing mostly remodeling and carpentry work.

“I was working after school hours and on weekends,” said Jalomo. “I was being allowed to work as long as it didn’t interfere with my school, and it worked out pretty well because I was working 32 hours a week at the time.”

After being transferred to the water filtration plant, then to the sanitation department, Jalomo experienced firsthand his first real challenge in 1967: Hurricane Beulah.

“Back then we didn’t have equipment like we do right now; back then it was just a handsaw, a machete and a pitchfork to get the brush in the truck,” Jalomo said in description of the aftermath of Hurricane Beulah. “After Beulah hit, the mosquitoes were terrible. It was so bad that the federal government sent the Air Force to come and spray because the mosquitoes were just horrible. I don’t know what they used, but we saw that humongous plane. It did about three passes over San Benito and then it left. I remember thinking, ‘Is that all?’ Well, before you knew it, you could see everywhere on the ground, the mosquitoes were just gone. It was amazing.”

Jalomo worked for the city for a few more years before leaving to do contract work in 1969. He worked for 11 months building frame homes before being tracked down by then-City Manager Henry J. Harvill, who asked Jalomo to return to San Benito.

“I had a very good working relationship with Mr. Harvill when I left in 1969,” Jalomo recalled. “I understand that at that time, and in this department, they were having turnovers. So he went looking for me and he found me.”

According to Jalomo, Harvill went as far as showing up to his grandmother’s house.

“He said that he wanted me to go back and work for him,” Jalomo said. “I came in the next day, sat down with him in his office and filled out paperwork and started working that morning in 1970. At that time, I had no idea that I was going to be around this long. I was 20-years-old then, and now here we are.”

Upon returning, Jalomo worked customer service as a meter reader before being promoted to customer service supervisor in 1973. Then in 1980 he was promoted to public works director, a title he held from 1980 to 2001 until his title was changed to director of operations. In 2003, Jalomo was promoted to assistant city manager; except for a small stint as interim city manager, it’s a position that he holds to this day.

“It’s been a wonderful experience,” Jalomo said. “I practically grew up with the city.”

When asked how long he plans to work for the city, Jalomo expressed uncertainty.

“Who knows? My plans were to retire at age 55,” Jalomo said laughing. “I said I’d give it another three years until age 58, and here we are at age 63 and I’m still here. I’m healthy, so I might stick around another two or three years, God-willing. Let’s see what happens.”

What the longtime City of San Benito employee is certain of, however, is his affection for the community in which he was born and raised. “I enjoy what I do,” Jalomo said. “I love San Benito.”

In the meantime, Jalomo and his wife of 44 years, Eugenia Jalomo, continue to call San Benito home.

Read this story in the March 17 edition of the San Benito News, or subscribe to our E-Edition by clicking here.