EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — The El Paso City Council appointed Dionne Mack as the new city manager on Monday. The process has been marked by tumultuous proceedings over the past few months and reached its climax just hours before the planned announcement.
The final vote was 6-2, with Joe Molinar and Art Fierro voting against Mack’s appointment.
Mack was deputy city manager for quality of life in El Paso.
The vote on Monday was solely about the question of which candidate would advance and not specifically about the terms of employment.
To move forward, the City Council must agree on a contract and terms of employment that Mack must accept before she is officially sworn into office.
In recent months, everyone from a city council representative to a member of the Citizens Advisory Board has leveled criticism at the city manager selection process, calling it chaotic and rushed or claiming the vote was held too close to a meeting of the outgoing administration.
This criticism continued until a few hours before the scheduled announcement on Monday, when city representative Isabel Salcido requested that the appointment be postponed until February 4, 2025.
This motion was seconded by Josh Acevedo; Cassandra Hernandez and Henry Rivera also voted to delay the appointment.
However, this attempt ultimately failed with a 5:4 vote.
Nevertheless, months of criticism culminated in a press conference held by El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser on Thursday.
“I’m tired of hearing that everything was rushed. I’m tired of hearing that we’re in a difficult situation,” Leeser said.
Leeser expressed his frustration after public comments criticized the city manager selection process.
Some of those comments came from Cindy Conroy, a member of the Citizen Advisory Committee, who spoke to KFOX14/CBS4 in early August.
“I also think we are accelerating a process that we could have accelerated if it had happened a year ago or even nine months ago,” Conroy said.
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