McAllen PUB Chairman resigns

McALLEN — Public Utility Board Chairman Roger Garza will announce his resignation at the board’s Nov. 24 meeting.

He cited difficulty finding time to run his growing risk management consulting firm as the primary reason.

Garza has served on the PUB for 11 years and was elected chairman by the board of trustees in July. His term was to expire in 2013.

“I’ve got some expanding business I’ve got to keep up with and I just didn’t have enough time to be able to devote to PUB as I wanted,” Garza said. “I thought I could, but I couldn’t. I enjoyed it while I was there. I gave it 11 years. It’s time to move on and let somebody younger take over.”

Garza founded Valley Risk Consulting in 2004, a McAllen-based firm that works primarily with school districts.

After accepting Garza’s resignation, the PUB will appoint a replacement. The replacement would be required to campaign for the seat and win the remainder of Garza’s term during the next city election in May 2011.

“We’ll be looking to find someone who has expressed interest or has served the city in some capacity and one interested enough to dedicate the necessary time to do it,” said Charles Amos, a PUB trustee.

PUB also votes among its membership on who holds the chairman’s post, and they will hold another vote to determine that once Garza’s replacement is appointed, Amos said.

“Having worked with him on the PUB for a number of years, it was disappointing to hear,” Amos said of Garza’s resignation. “I know how much he enjoyed being on the PUB.”

Garza was raised in San Antonio and moved to McAllen in 1990, where he has been active in politics for more than a decade. He ran for a seat on the city commission in 1997 and 2005, though unsuccessfully.

He was first elected to serve on the PUB in 1999.

“I certainly appreciate the confidence my colleagues placed on me, but having thought it over for the last 30 days, it was a decision I had to make,” Garza said.

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Nick Pipitone covers McAllen and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4446.