The new City Council District 2 representative elected during the Jan. 20 runoff will have to hit the ground running with key decisions that will have a long-lasting impact on the community this year.

Candidates Veronica Carbajal, 47, an attorney and environmentalist, and Josh Acevedo, 34, a school board trustee who works for a national nonprofit that supports elected officials, are facing off to replace city Rep. Alexsandra Annello, who is stepping down to run for state office and will serve until Jan. 29.

Early voting started Wednesday and continues through Jan. 16. Whoever wins the runoff will be sworn in the morning prior to the Jan. 30 City Council meeting. 

While each candidate has issues they want to address if elected, Carbajal and Acevedo have differing views on what should be the first order of business once in office.

Acevedo said his first priority is hiring  a permanent city manager.

“I think hiring the city manager will help put in place a lot of what I want to do,” Acevedo said.

The City Council has been operating with interim City Manager Cary Westin at the helm since they made an abrupt decision to fire former City Manager Tommy Gonzalez in February of last year.

Acevedo said having a permanent city manager in place will help him pursue his other priorities, including improving animal services, streets and maintenance and city parks.

Carbajal said her first priority if elected is to determine how the city can address the deteriorating streets in District 2.

“If I’m speaking from my constituents’ perspective, the number one priority (is streets), and that’s the one thing they want me to work on,” Carbajal said.

She said she has heard horror stories about the condition of the streets from countless constituents in all parts of the district that covers Central El Paso and parts of the Northeast.

“That’s a real issue for people – is that there are areas where people, pedestrians are being hit or there’s cars being hit and they don’t feel safe to walk,” she said.

Carbajal and Acevedo are in a runoff because neither garnered enough votes to outright win the Dec. 9 election. Carbajal led Acevedo in the polls by six votes during the election that drew an abysmal voter turnout of 4.5% of the 47,762 registered voters in District 2.

The winner will serve for the remainder of Annello’s term, which is set to expire in January 2025. The District 2 seat will be up for election for a full term during the November general election, along with three other city representative positions and the mayor’s seat.

New city manager contract

In hiring a new city manager, the City Council will have to consider a salary and employment package.

Carbajal said her biggest concern with a city manager contract is how to protect taxpayers and the city if the council wants to terminate the agreement. She said reasons for termination without paying a severance would need to be clearly defined.

Gonzalez was paid about $900,000 for the termination of the contract without cause.

“We need to have what we think of as ‘clawback’ provisions,” Carbajal said. “At what point does the City Council have authority to terminate the contract without having to pay a severance package?”

Carbajal said the city should remain competitive with the employment agreement, but benefits need to be assessed one-by-one and the city should also consider protections such as a salary cap. They should also be on par with other city employee benefits.

Acevedo said he does not think the contract should have a slew of benefits.

“I think that the contract will be a salary and a retirement (and) that it doesn’t need to be anything else,” Acevedo said. “No luxuries.”

Acevedo said other benefits such as vehicle or home office benefits should not be included and benefits should mirror those of other city employees.

“If the city employees have their salary, their retirement, their health care, I want the city manager to have the same thing,” he said.

In nine years, the City Council almost doubled Gonzalez’s salary to about $442,000, including a 25% pay raise after his first year despite the contract stipulating a 5% annual merit increase. 

Internal auditor employment

Another issue the new city rep will have to address is whether to give the city’s longtime chief internal auditor a contract.

The City Council now appoints three key employees: the city manager, city attorney and, following the May City Charter election, the chief internal auditor.

The change to the City Charter did not include language that addressed whether the chief internal auditor should have the perks and protections offered by an employment agreement or continue as an at-will employee.

That lack of clarity has come into play in a whistleblower lawsuit filed against the city by Chief Internal Auditor Edmundo Calderon, who is alleging he has not been given the employment contract he was promised after the charter change as retaliation by several city officials over a fuel card audit he released in April.

Acevedo said he has learned a lot about the internal audit function by serving as chair for the El Paso Independent School District audit board.

Acevedo said he thinks the City Council will set the auditor’s salary and benefits in a way similar to that of the city manager, but following the model that the city of Austin operates with may be beneficial.

The cities of Austin and Fort Worth have similar reporting structures where the internal auditor reports to the mayor and city council. Prior to the charter election, El Paso’s internal auditor reported to both the city manager and City Council.

In Austin, the chief internal auditor’s employment terms are set annually by the City Council through an ordinance.

While Acevedo said the City Council needs to determine the auditor’s pay and benefits, he also thinks it needs to have work sessions to further discuss the council’s role with the internal auditor.

“I think the council needs to do a lot of work to figure out how they’re gonna have oversight over the auditor because I don’t think that that’s been put in place yet,” he said.

Carbajal said she thinks the internal auditor should have an employment agreement with clearly defined terms and benefits as well as what would constitute grounds for termination.That would strengthen the relationship between the auditor and council, she added.

“The fact is that this is a very important position in the city,” Carbajal said.

Addressing the controversial immigration law SB 4

Another pressing issue the region faces is the pending implementation of Senate Bill 4, signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott. The law makes it a state crime to cross illegally into Texas from Mexico. It would allow local and state law enforcement officials – including El Paso Police Department officers – to arrest people they believe entered the country illegally.

The county of El Paso sued the state challenging its legality. The City Council discussed the bill in executive session on Wednesday, but did not take action. City leaders have publicly only said that they have concerns with SB 4, including that officers lack training to enforce the law and that the bill doesn’t provide funding for the work.

Both candidates agree that the city should join the lawsuit.

“I think that we need to be talking with and collaborating with the County Attorney’s Office, because the city also has the right to jump into a lawsuit,” Carbajal said.

Carbajal said there are several problems with SB 4 and the city will have to navigate those while the litigation moves forward. She said if the city chooses not to join the lawsuit, other questions of enforcement come into play if the law is determined to be unconstitutional.

“It’s a horrible law that should have never been put in place,” Acevedo said.

Acevedo said the law will put a strain on the police department and reduce public safety in El Paso.

He said if the city does not join the lawsuit then the City Council should find a way to instruct the police department to not enforce the law.