Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Works Retirement topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
County attorney Eric Morales praised for colonia water work as he announces mid‑August retirement
Summary
Officials and colleagues honored Assistant County Attorney Eric Morales for decades of work on colonia infrastructure, water and land‑use reforms; Morales said his official retirement is mid‑August but he will finish several projects and remain available as needed.
El Paso County leaders and legal colleagues on Tuesday publicly praised Assistant County Attorney Eric Morales for a career the court described as pivotal to expanding water and sewer services in colonias and to statewide policy reforms.
Edward Sosa, first assistant to County Attorney Christina Sanchez, summarized Morales’s role in the county’s long campaign to bring basic utilities to unserved neighborhoods and to shape legislation that curbed harmful subdivision practices. “He has positively impacted the lives of literally hundreds of thousands of El Pasoans,” Sosa said, detailing Morales’s work on property law, water infrastructure and county regulatory frameworks.
Morales, who has managed the county’s public‑works legal portfolio for decades, told the court he did not plan a legal career focused on colonia remediation but said the work became “the most significant work of my entire career.” He described early efforts to bring water to unserved communities, tapping federal attention and state legislative change, and recalled turning on a tap in a neighborhood that had never had running water.
Colleagues and commissioners noted Morales’s broader statewide contributions: he served on task forces, advised municipal utility districts, and helped draft subdivision rules that have since influenced other jurisdictions. County officials also praised his role in assembling a public‑works legal team to carry the work forward.
Morales said his official retirement date is Aug. 15, 2026, but he will remain involved to close ongoing projects. He cited family reasons for stepping back — including the desire to spend time with his 100‑year‑old mother — while promising to remain available as a resource to the county attorney’s office as needed.
What’s next: The county said the public works division has several attorneys in place to continue active bond and infrastructure projects; Morales pledged to continue finishing priority items before his departure.
Quotation: “This truly has been a vocation,” Morales told the court. “I will leave with a full heart.”
