PRESIDIO — At last week’s meeting, the Presidio City Council selected Erik Rodriguez, a graduate of Presidio High School, as the city’s new chief of police in a unanimous vote. Rodriguez has served three years at the Presidio Police Department and has additional experience with the Presidio ISD Police.
Rodriguez stepped up to the plate during a difficult time for the department. In September 2023, former Chief Margarito Hernandez resigned amid concerns about the city’s funding through Operation Lone Star, a state program that provides extra funding for border counties.
Hernandez had been responsible for filing regular reports and paperwork for the money but had fallen behind, leaving the city ineligible for a full grant cycle. Damian Hernandez stepped up to fill the role, but resigned in February, leaving the city once again without a chief.
Mayor John Ferguson said that the city had been making it work in the interim — but deadlines for the same Operation Lone Star and Operation Stonegarden made the appointing of a chief crucial. “What we discovered was that we had to have a chief in place to get our state and federal law enforcement grants,” he explained.
Ferguson said he was grateful for Rodriguez’s experience and familiarity with the community and hoped that he would be able to keep up with the administrative duties that have become increasingly intertwined with police work. “If he can hang around for us, I think it’s going to be a great thing for the department and for the community,” Ferguson said.