Rio Grande City Commission appoints Sarah Hernandez as assistant city manager; approves board nominations and adopts personnel action

At a special meeting Wednesday in February, the Rio Grande City Commission approved several personnel and board appointments and adopted a personnel action following an executive session.

Commissioners accepted the police chief's recommendations to fill vacancies on the Airport Advisory Board, approving nominees Brian Garcia, Eloy Rodriguez and Kevin Sheffield Bay by voice vote. The commission then recessed into executive session for personnel matters, including consideration of the assistant city manager appointment, a Main Street advisory board appointment and the employment status of a special projects director.

After returning from executive session, commissioners moved and seconded a motion to appoint Sarah Hernandez as assistant city manager. The motion passed by unanimous voice vote. "Thank you. I won't take up too much time but I do wanna express my sincere appreciation for this opportunity and promise that I won't let you all down," Hernandez said after the vote.

The commission also approved the Main Street board appointment discussed in executive session. The mayor recognized a member of the audience identified by the mayor as Iracema Orta, a downtown business owner at 420 East Main Street, who expressed interest in serving on the Main Street board; after executive session the commission indicated Orta would serve on the Main Street board. The motion to approve the Main Street appointment passed by voice vote.

On item 2c, listed on the agenda as "discussion of possible action to determine the employment status of special projects director Lisa Deas," the commission voted to adopt the recommendations made in executive session. When a commissioner asked for the action to be placed on the record, a member of the commission stated, "The action is gonna be immediate termination of Miss Elizabeth." The meeting record therefore shows the agenda named Lisa Deas but the on-the-record clarification used the name "Miss Elizabeth." The transcript does not reconcile those two names.

The meeting concluded with a motion to adjourn.

Votes at a glance: motions to accept the Airport Advisory Board nominees, to appoint Sarah Hernandez assistant city manager, and to approve the Main Street board appointment were approved by voice votes; the commission also adopted the executive-session personnel recommendation recorded on the public record as an immediate termination. The transcript records affirmative "aye" responses; no recorded no votes or abstentions were announced during the public roll calls reported on the record.