Yesterday we reported that Chief Internal Auditor Edmundo Calderon is resigning, with his last day of work scheduled for October 10.
The El Paso Taxpayer Revolt has now obtained his letter of resignation, which he submitted to the City this past Friday, July 18. In it, he expresses his pleasure to have served City Council, City management, and the taxpayers of El Paso during the last 20 years.
But he adds, “The last 3 years have been very difficult for me. During these 3 years, I worked hard on staying focused on being a professional and remaining true to my commitment as the Chief Internal Auditor.”
He is no doubt referring to the heat he took in the wake of the gas card and P-card audits from elected leaders and the upper administration, culminating in his lawsuit against the City.
It is telling that his letter is addressed specifically to Mayor Johnson and Rep. Josh Acevedo. We feel certain that Acevedo, who was appointed Chair of FOAC earlier this year, made Calderon’s job impossibly difficult.
CALDERON EMAILS KFOX14
We also obtained an email Calderon wrote to KFOX14 today after they reported his resignation came “just weeks after an external assessment of the Internal Auditor’s Office questioned practices and called for improvements.”
Calderon takes issue with the inference that his retirement resulted from a poor evaluation of his performance when, in fact, the Mayor canceled his performance evaluation even though Calderon asked that it be completed.
Calderon explains that the “Weaver Assessment” of his office cited by KFOX14 was a $128,000 “joke” that was not an audit of his department. According to him, actual audits have been conducted every three years and his department passed them all.
It is true that KFOX14 provided no context for the Weaver Assessment, probably because they allocated only 30 seconds for the segment.
We do not know whether KFOX14 responded to Calderon’s email.