A few hours ago, city council appointed Tommy Gonzalez, aka Tomás González, as the city’s second city manager. Gonzalez’ appointment is for five years at a starting salary of $239 thousand annually.
Lilly Limon made the motion to appoint Gonzalez to the job. The motion was seconded by Noe. The vote carried unanimously.
City council also appointed Sean McGlynn as the interim city manager starting tomorrow. Joyce Wilson is officially stepping down at the end of the day. She will remain on, on a consultant basis.
The discussion about appointing Sean McGlynn as interim city manager centered on the notion that the city budget would be crafted by Gonzalez. However since Gonzalez would not be available full time before June 23 the interim city manager would be a bridge between the two city managers. The budget needs to be filed with city council by June 30, 2014. The motion made by Limon was not initially second.
During the debate that centered on the timing of the appointment of Gonzalez and the necessity to file the city’s budget by the end of June, Cortney Niland made a motion to keep Wilson in position until Gonzalez assumed the position. Wilson argued that it would be cleaner to appoint an interim city manager. Niland argued that she wanted continuity for her pending projects.
Cortney Niland’s motion was seconded by Noe to keep Joyce Wilson as the city manager until Gonzalez starts work full-time on June 23, 2014. After discussion about the “momentum” of ongoing projects, Noe removed his second. At that point, Eddie Holguin seconded the motion made by Limon to appoint Sean McGlynn as the interim city manager starting May 21 through June 22, 2014.
The motion to appoint McGlynn passed unanimously.
Gonzalez will be starting on June 23, until then he will be visiting El Paso on a weekly basis.
