Terminated without cause: Who is Tommy Gonzalez, El Paso's city manager
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Following a vote by the El Paso City Council last week, longtime City Manager Tommy Gonzalez only has 120 days left before his contract is terminated and the city installs a new city manager to take his place.
And while Gonzalez sparked a passionate response from both those wanting to see him dismissed and those hoping to see him keep his job, the city manager often stayed clear of wrongdoing during his time in office and largely avoided the need for close scrutiny despite his prominent place in El Paso's city government.
City Council representatives who voted to terminate Gonzalez's contract have largely remained mum on the reasoning behind their votes, with only El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser — who cast the tie-breaking vote to fire the city manager — releasing a statement regarding the road ahead.
“Today the City Council exercised its right to end the city manager’s employment with the city of El Paso in accordance with his amended and restated employment agreement," Leeser said in the statement. "I want to thank Mr. Gonzalez for his 8 years of service to the city. Mr. Gonzalez will receive a 120-day written notice as per his contract and we will inform the public additional steps going forward once they are finalized. As always, I will proceed in the best interest of the citizens of El Paso.”
Read More:Mayor Oscar Leeser casts tie-breaking vote to terminate city manager's contract
With so little information related to the upcoming search for a replacement or the reasons for his ouster, here is what we know about the outgoing city manager.
Who is Tommy Gonzalez?
Gonzalez is a native of Lubbock, Texas and went on earn a Master of Public Administration degree from Texas Tech University in Lubbock and a Bachelor of Science degree from Eastern New Mexico University in Portales, New Mexico. He served 22 years in the U.S. Army and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel.
Before taking on the role of El Paso's city manager in June 2014, Gonzalez served for seven years as city manager for the city of Irving, Texas, earning the Texas Award for Performance Excellence from the Texas Quality Foundation, as well as the nation's highest presidential honor for performance excellence, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.
Before that, he served as city manager in Harlingen, Texas, and as an assistant city manager in Dallas and Lubbock.
Under Gonzalez's leadership, the city of El Paso won numerous state and national recognitions, including the Texas Award for Performance Excellence from the Quality Texas Foundation for two consecutive years in 2019 and 2020, marking El Paso the largest city to ever win the award.
The city also won the All-American City (AAC) Award in 2018, 2020 and 2021, having been nominated five times during Gonzalez's tenure, and has seen seven years of General Fund surplus leading to the continuation of its coveted AA financial rating.
Wins and losses during Tommy Gonzalez's tenure as city manager
Gonzalez's tenure was marked by a series of enormous victories and tragic losses, both of which sparked the impassioned outbursts from community members during last week's council meeting, in which more than 30 people rattled off a litany of reasons both for an against his termination.
On one hand, the city, on its website, boasts that Gonzalez led the way in achieving $267 million in cost savings and eliminated a "multi-million deficit, tripling the fund balance by increasing it by more than $98 million and assembling a team to achieve zero audit findings for six consecutive years."
But critics pointed to the mass layoffs that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, during which time they said Gonzalez accepted another salary increase, as well as the failed Great Wolf Lodge deal and the ensuing land swap with El Paso billionaire Paul Foster.
The pandemic had a major impact on the Great Wolf Lodge development's collapse.
A Deeper Dive:City plans to sell former Great Wolf Lodge site to Missouri development company for $18.6M
Still others celebrated the expansion of water parks and splash pads across the Sun City, a favorite attraction of the city's youngest residents, as well as the infusion of new businesses and industries that infused hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue into the city's economy.
But while supporters cited unnamed new revenue streams and businesses, detractors had more specific gripes, including continually-rising property taxes, the sale of El Paso Electric to a J.P. Morgan-affiliated company and a pattern of decisions and actions they said favored El Paso's wealthy minority.
Under Gonzalez's leadership, El Paso residents were one of most inoculated populations for COVID-19 in Texas. He also lead the city through the Walmart mass shooting and most recently the death of longtime city police chief Greg Allen and the migrant migration crisis.
What is the El Paso city manager's role?
Though Gonzalez was criticized wildly during Tuesday's meeting, it is unclear what role he played in directing the city's action - a city manager's role is not to enact or propose policy, it is simply to implement and execute the actions taken by the City Council.
Following are the city manager's job responsibilities, according to the city's website:
Serve council and community;
Administer local government projects and programs;
Recruit, hire and supervise government staff;
Serve as council's chief advisor;
Carry out council policies;
And prepare budget for Council consideration.
Under El Paso's council-manager form of government, which is drastically different from the so-called "strong mayor" form of government, the city manager has broad executive authority to oversee the day-to-day operations of local government, as well as carry out the directives of the city's elected representatives.
A cursory look at recent city council agendas supports this, with Gonzalez regularly being given authority to execute contracts and, in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic and recent surge of migrant crossings, the authority to move and direct city personnel and resources at his discretion.
What is Tommy Gonzalez's salary?
Gonzalez's starting salary in 2014 was $238,959 in addition to $15,000 in annual deferred compensation, a monthly $500 car allowance and $2,500 a month for housing expenses during his first six months, as well as $10,000 in relocation expenses.
The contract also stipulated that the city manager would be eligible for any across-the-board pay increases and service implemented by the city, as well as service time increases and a 5% merit increase annually.
Over the course of his tenure in El Paso, Gonzalez has seen his salary change 16 times — it was decreased only once, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and promptly returned to normal. The City Council approved all salary adjustments.
The following is Gonzalez's pay schedule over the last nine years:
Starting salary, June 23, 2014: $238,959.82
New pay rate, Sept. 1, 2015: $300,000
Merit raise, Sept. 1, 2017: $315,000
Merit raise, Sept. 1, 2018: $330,750
Across-the-board raise, March 3, 2019: $335,711.25
Service time increase, June 23, 2019: $340,746.92
Merit raise, Aug. 18, 2019: $357.784.27
Across-the-board raise, March 1, 2020: $361,362.11
COVID decrease, May 24, 2020: $343,472.89
COVID decrease reversal, Aug. 16, 2020: $361,362.11
Merit raise, Aug. 16, 2020: $379,430.22
Merit raise, July 4, 2021: $398,401.73
Across-the-board raise, Sept. 26, 2021: $404,377.75
Minimum wage increase, May 22, 2022: $410,443.42
Merit raise, July 3, 2022: $430,965.59
Minimum wage increase, Sept. 11, 2022: $436,352.66
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Here's what we know about El Paso City Manager Tommy Gonzalez
