ALPINE — Alpine City Council members met this week to discuss how to move forward with filling the now-vacant city manager position following the resignation of Megan Antrim on June 4. Antrim quit the day after her employment and performance was discussed in open session — at her request — in a council meeting, citing a lack of council objectivity regarding her evaluation.
On Tuesday, Mayor Catherine Eaves stated in her mayor’s report that there was nothing “underhanded” or “sneaky” about council’s actions that night and they had every right to discuss Antrim’s contract, which was set to expire soon, and introduce an employee survey as an evaluation tool. Eaves said she wanted to make it clear that Antrim was not fired, but resigned, and told council she was “suffering from burnout” and decided to take a step back.
In light of recent events, Eaves said she also wanted to ensure city employees were aware that there are open lines of communication between them and city council members. (It was previously stated in the June 3 council meeting that city employee morale was extremely low.)
According to the city charter, she said, council members can talk to city employees but cannot give direct orders like “fix that pothole or inspect that house” — that role lies with the city manager. “Council can talk to employees,” Eaves said. “They can ask you, “How are things going? What can I do to make your job easier?’”
Council voted last week to appoint City Secretary Geo Calderon as the interim city manager while the search for Antrim’s replacement gets underway. Calderon and council members discussed edits to the job description on Tuesday, analyzing the one used to hire Antrim in 2021 as well as a newer one that was generated as a part of the city’s recent compensation study.
While the newer job description included the minimum qualification of a Master’s degree in public administration and seven years of experience, Eaves and other council members indicated that they would like to loosen requirements and cast a wider net.
“You have quite capable individuals who have possibly run other city governments or school districts or nonprofit organizations that handle a multimillion dollar budget that will not have a Master’s degree in public administration,” Eaves said. “I feel like we’re shooting ourselves in the foot, if we require [that].”
Councilmember Robert Rückes agreed, stating that people with that level of experience are more likely to be attracted to a bigger-city role. Councilmember Rick Stephens recommended a minimum requirement of a college degree, in any subject, in addition to three to five years of public administration or municipal government experience. Many agreed being bilingual was also greatly preferred.
Eaves advocated for similar municipal government experience like leadership roles at nonprofit organizations and school districts to count towards minimum qualifications, with Stephens ultimately agreeing.
“I just don’t think this is a training ground for someone to go run a $17 million, 100 employee business,” Stephens said. “I’ve just seen too many try and fail with all the right heart and attention. I think we need a barrier that says they’ve actually run something. So if you want to say, not-for-profit, school district, fine with me, but they’ve run an organization comparable to this.”
Council decided to make necessary changes to the job description and officially finalize and vote on it at their next meeting on July 1 so it can then be publicly posted. For now, council will post the job on the Texas Municipal League (TML) website and see what kind of candidates they can attract organically before potentially hiring a head hunter.
Stephens said something the council is going to have to consider moving forward long term is how to evaluate whether a candidate is in it for the long haul. “How do you measure someone’s willingness to come to Alpine, stay in Alpine, and be in Alpine, and then they’re here for a month and say, ‘I’m out of here.’ This is a unique place,” Stephens said.
Council and Calderon also discussed critical vacancies in the utilities department, which has been without a director for 16 months, and is now also dealing with the loss of another employee, Johnny Marquez, Antrim’s partner who also recently resigned. Mike Maciaz, a utility technician at the wastewater treatment plant, has agreed to head up the utilities department while the search for a permanent director is underway.
“It’s clear that leadership within the department remains a critical focus,” Calderon said. “At this point, one of my top priorities moving forward will be the recruitment of a utilities director.”
