EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – The search continues for El Paso’s next city manager. The process was delayed even longer after Mayor Oscar Leeser put a stop to city representatives taking action during the Tuesday, Feb. 13 City Council meeting.
Representatives were set to discuss and take action on a timeline based on the process to conduct a search for a city manager put together by the Human Resources Department.
No action was taken after Leeser deleted the item entirely due to public comment that opposed a key component of the process – hiring from local candidates.
According to the Human Resource Department’s proposal, candidate search parameters would remain in El Paso. Feedback from community members at the meeting and some representatives expressed their concerns with this, saying limiting the pool to only locals could exclude qualified candidates and potentially skew the nation’s perception on the City.
Chief Human Resources Officer Mary Wiggins said: “The public did state they wanted a broader reach for a wider national search so we want to go back and have more conversations so we can make sure the best decision is made.”
Leeser stood by his decision to postpone action. “I don’t want the next city manager to come in with bad optics,” Leeser said.
Interim City Manager Cary Westin will stay in his temporary role until a new cvity manager is found, Wiggins said.
Despite the delay, the ongoing search will not accrue extra costs for taxpayers, city officials said.
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