Tracey Jerome was one of several medium-level City employees who climbed to the top during the reign of City Manager Gonzalez, who selected most of his immediate subordinates for their loyalty and their ability to say “yes” to whatever he demanded.
Jerome studied art history and historic preservation and then worked in a London art gallery for four years. In 2015, she moved to El Paso and Gonzalez gave her a job as Director of Museum & Cultural Affairs. He also appointed her Interim Director of two City museums, even though she had never worked for a museum in any capacity.
Under Gonzalez, Jerome was miraculously promoted to Deputy City Manager, and in May 2022 was appointed Senior Deputy City Manager.
She is now the third highest-paid City employee, with a salary of $232,375, just behind the City Manager and City Attorney.
We are still wondering how she qualified to hold a high-level managerial position with a background in art history and historic preservation.
Now that Gonzalez has been fired, Jerome has placed herself on the job market and is currently a finalist for County Manager of Los Alamos.
As for Elizabeth Triggs, she earned her BA in Economics at UTEP in 2007, continued at UTEP as a part-time, then a full-time research analyst for five years, and then worked briefly for the United States Postal Service.
In January 2012 she was hired by the City of El Paso as Senior Economic Development Specialist. She was promoted to six different positions before Gonzalez made her Interim Director of Economic & International Development, and then Director starting in March 2022, less than 15 years after graduating from college. She now earns $168,621 plus benefits and is the 26th highest paid City employee.
We have heard from several people that she is aiming for a position in Midland, Texas in the municipal administration of–you guessed it–Tommy Gonzalez.
We expect several other high-level employees to jump ship along with Jerome and Triggs now that the City is no longer in the grip of Gonzalez and the Oligarchy Caucus has lost its majority on City Council.
We hope that (Ret.) Col. Cary Westin, who is doing an outstanding job for the taxpayers of El Paso, will become permanent City Manager and that he will appoint highly qualified professionals with excellent managerial skills to serve beneath him.
We feel confident that he will purge the City of any underqualified and/or overpaid bureaucrats and work to streamline the municipal administration.