By FRANCISCO E. JIMENEZ
Staff Writer
reporter@sbnewspaper.com
RIO HONDO – Rio Hondo City Attorney Eddie Lucio III confirmed Thursday that the city does not have any plans of selecting an interim city administrator until the commission hires a replacement.
As first reported by the News on sbnewspaper.com, former City Administrator Arturo Prida was fired during a regular meeting on Tuesday, June 14 via unanimous vote of the City Commission. It was also determined that Prida would receive a severance worth two weeks of pay.
Lucio said the city wanted to “more clearly” define the position of city administrator following Prida’s ousting.
“They have not officially named (an interim city manager),” said Lucio on Thursday. “I just think that the current city staff is picking up the slack where it’s needed. Any administrative decisions, like most always at the City of Rio Hondo, are being run through the commission on a per-meeting basis.”
Lucio also said that he does not believe that there will be any changes to the position, with the exception of more clearly defining the position as he had previously stated.
City Commissioner Gus Olivares echoed those sentiments.
“At this time, we’re letting the staff that we have in place (fill in),” said Olivares. “Normally, we’ve always had a public works director. She’s in charge of the personnel out in the field, doing all the stuff that deals with the work outside. Right now, on the inside, we have key people in there that are normally doing the financing, core clerks, the administrative part.”
According to Lucio, the city is currently putting together a job posting to seek requests for qualifications (RFQs).
“They put together a scope of responsibilities for the city manager. I reviewed it today and I’m submitting it back to them,” said Lucio. “I believe that they are going to put it on the agenda for approval, and they are going to send out the requests. They’ll determine what the actual protocol is as per the rules. They’re actively doing that.”
According to Lucio, the city commission had a workshop recently in which they discussed the type of responsibilities they want the city manager position to entail and how they are going to define those responsibilities as well as the qualifications they will require from anyone seeking to apply to the recently vacated position.
“They’re just gathering information,” said Lucio.
In the meantime, Olivares says that he is not worried about not having an interim city manager in place while the city searches for a replacement for Prida.
“The personnel that we have in place should be picking up the work that needs to be done for the next couple of weeks until we decide to hire somebody,” said Olivares. “I have confidence in the staff that we have right now. Things are going to get done and are getting done.”
To see this story in print, pick up a copy of the June 26 edition of the San Benito News. Or view our E-Edition by clicking here.
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