Elsa mayor laments 'old city politics' in hiring of interim city manager

ELSA — City Manager Juan Ortiz was fired by the City Council last week in a unanimous decision that continues a revolving door at the city’s top position.

The council decided after meeting in executive session Friday to fire Ortiz, who was hired in May after an election ushered in a new majority on the council. But it’s a controversial pick to replace Ortiz that really caused the uproar.

In appointing Javier Rodriguez as interim city manager, a majority of the council looked past a previous conviction for intoxicated assault and his family ties to City Councilman Eli Rodriguez. Eli Rodriguez is a cousin of Javier Rodriguez.

Elsa Mayor Al Perez joined three council members in favor of terminating Ortiz but he was the lone voice to oppose hiring Javier Rodriguez. Perez, who was elected in May on a platform of improving city management, said the hire is an example of the political issues he promised voters he would clean up.

“The city will never change until we as a city change it,” Perez said Monday. “We’ve got to get the right people in there to do the right thing. Reverting to old city politics is not the answer.”

Javier Rodriguez began in his first day at the city Monday. He did not return a message left at City Hall seeking comment.

Javier Rodriguez is at least the fifth city manager the Elsa City Council has hired since 2009.

Eli Rodriguez, who was elected in May on a slate with Perez, also did not return phone calls seeking comment Monday. Several sources indicated that Eli Rodriguez, who voted in favor of the appointment, is a cousin of Javier Rodriguez.

Texas statutes prevent public officials from voting for or confirming the appointments of third-degree relatives by blood or second-degree relatives by marriage. Cousins would be exempt in both instances.

Javier Rodriguez most recently served as La Villa city manager for about two years before he was let go in May. The La Villa position was Javier Rodriguez’s first since a high-profile drunken driving arrest when he was an Elsa municipal judge in 2001.

Javier Rodriguez was convicted of intoxicated assault with a vehicle in the Nov. 8, 2001, incident where a woman riding a motorcycle was struck by Rodriguez’s van.

La Villa Mayor Hector Elizondo said he was surprised that his ex-city manager was hired in Elsa.

“The city was not moving in the right direction” under Javier Rodriguez, said Elizondo, who joined a majority in voting to dismiss him in May. “Things were just at a pause. I just didn’t see the city moving forward.”

Perez, the Elsa mayor, said dismissing Ortiz was the right decision because “he was not managing up to standards.” He said the city “needed to go in a different direction,” but he argued against the direction the council took with Javier Rodriguez.

Elsa City Councilman Cain Caceres, whose faction lost control of the council this year, said the pick was “frustrating and disheartening.”

“The majority of the council should put the city’s welfare ahead of politics,” said Caceres, who was not in attendance at Friday’s special meeting. “We need better hiring decisions.”

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Jared Janes covers Hidalgo County government, Edinburg and legislative issues for The Monitor. He can be reached at jjanes@themonitor.com and (956) 683-4424.

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