We just learned that from a pool of 80 candidates for the position of City Manager, the Mayor and City Representatives have narrowed their search to four finalists, all of them insiders:
Robert Cortinas, Chief Financial Officer and Deputy City Manager for Internal Services
Mario D’Agostino, Deputy City Manager for Public Safety
Nicole Ferrini, Community and Human Development Director and “Climate Czar“
Dionne Mack, Deputy City Manager for Quality of Life
Of these four, Ferrini is totally unqualified and it is frankly embarrassing that she is a finalist.
Mack’s experience is remarkably thin, having worked for the Brooklyn Public Library for most of her career before she was scooped up by Tommy Gonzalez and promoted to Deputy City Manager in 2017.
As for D’Agostino, he holds a MBA and was Assistant Chief of Capital Assets and Support Services (2013-2022) before he was appointed Fire Chief (2017-2022) and then Deputy City Manager (2022-2024). His administrative experience is rather limited, considering we are talking about managing a large American city.
CORTINAS IS THE ONLY VIABLE CANDIDATE
In our view, Robert Cortinas is the only finalist qualified to be City Manager.
He is a brilliant financial analyst and highly capable CFO and we are convinced he would take direction from City Council without overstepping his authority, engaging in politics, or promoting a personal agenda.
According to his LinkedIn, he holds a MBA in Business Administration from UTEP and has worked for the City for nearly 11 years, first as a Strategic Budget Advisor (2013-2014), then as Director of Management and Budget (2014-2018), and finally as CFO (2018-present).
He has school-age children who will be future taxpayers and therefore has a direct and personal stake in the financial health of our municipality.
ACEVEDO’S RANT
Strangely, City Rep. Josh Acevedo complained to both the El Paso Times and Escobar Matters about a lack of transparency in this process, even though he received all the resumes and voted, just like his colleagues. His misgivings about choosing a finalist during the “lame duck period” between the November 5 election and January 7 make no sense to us. He is new to City Council and in his first budget cycle and should strive to learn more about what the job of City Manager entails before making such statements.
Mayor Leeser, obviously upset about Acevedo’s comments, took the unusual step of issuing a statement characterizing them as “regrettable” and affirming that the selection process has been orderly and transparent.
We strongly advise our loyal followers to write to our Mayor and City Council and encourage them to hire Robert Cortinas as the City’s third City Manager:
mayor@elpasotexas.gov; district1@elpasotexas.gov; district2@elpasotexas.gov; district3@elpasotexas.gov; district4@elpasotexas.gov; district5@elpasotexas.gov; district6@elpasotexas.gov; district7@elpasotexas.gov; district8@elpasotexas.gov