Donna swears in officials after disputed election

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DONNA — Letting bygones be bygones. That was the attitude of the Donna City Council as it convened at the Donna Recreation Center to swear in one new and one veteran councilmember on Monday evening.

The atmosphere inside the rec center was celebratory, as elected officials and city staffers mingled with family and friends just before Mayor David Moreno called the meeting to order.

There was no hint of the animosity that has plagued council meetings for several months after the council splintered over a question of whether Donna was obligated to hold a municipal election on Nov. 5.

Instead, officials were cordial, shaking hands and pledging to work together for the betterment of Donna.

“There was a little dispute as to whether we should have an election, not have an election, but at the end, we had an election and now it’s time to get back to work,” Moreno said.

“Today is all about moving forward. That’s in the past. We’ve gotta regroup with the city in mind. … We’re here for the citizens, regardless that we ran together or not together,” Place 2 Councilman Joey Garza Jr. said after the swearing in ceremony.

Garza added he was “honored” by Donna residents electing him to his sixth term in office.

Meanwhile, newcomer Manuel “Manny” Moreno, brother to the mayor, was also ecstatic about his election win.

“Just like the mayor has mentioned, I think we’re here to make sure that the city moves forward,” Manny Moreno said. “Obviously, we’re elated that we were able to run this election for the citizens of Donna, for sure.”

The council’s optimism Monday evening came in stark contrast to the tensions that have simmered at Donna City Hall for months now.

It all began this summer, when the council fractured over the interpretation of a charter amendment approved by Donna voters in November 2021.

Manuel “Manny” Moreno, second from right, takes the oath of office as the Place 4 Donna Councilman during a swearing in ceremony held at the Donna Recreation Center on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (Dina Arévalo | darevalo@themonitor.com)

One faction of the council — led by then-Place 4 Councilman Oscar Gonzalez and Place 3 Councilman Ernesto Lugo Jr. — asserted that Donna residents had given them a mandate to serve four-year terms after voting to extend term lengths by a year.

But another faction — led by the mayor and former Donna City Attorney Robert J. Salinas — asserted that the new term lengths applied to future election cycles, and not to the Place 2 and 4 seats that were also on the ballot that year.

As such, Gonzalez and Garza, the two council members whom voters elected then, were obligated to run again this year if they wanted to hold onto their seats, Salinas said during a council meeting in August.

But Lugo, Gonzalez and the rest of the council disagreed, leading to a 4-to-1 vote to not hold an election.

That difference of opinion ultimately pitted the city attorney and mayor against the rest of the city council while the mayor’s brother took the dispute to the 13th Court of Appeals.

There, a three-judge panel affirmed Salinas’ legal opinion and ordered the city to call for a November election.

Later, Manny Moreno went on to form a political slate with Art Mendoza, to try to unseat the Place 4 and 2 incumbents, who themselves were running on a joint slate.

But between the appellate court’s decision and Election Day, tensions within the city of Donna continued to boil over.

Those who opposed the mayor soon orchestrated an attempt to fire Salinas, who served as both the Donna city attorney and as general counsel for the Donna Economic Development Corporation.

Between the two, Salinas was making a combined $330,000 per year.

Joey Garza Jr., left, is sworn into his sixth term in office as a Donna councilman during a swearing in ceremony held at the Donna Recreation Center on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (Dina Arévalo | darevalo@themonitor.com)

That ouster effort then prompted a lawsuit from Salinas and the mayor, who alleged that Lugo and Gonzales had orchestrated an illegal meeting in violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act.

To bolster that claim, Mayor Moreno signed an affidavit saying that another member of the council, Place 1’s Jesse “Coach” Jackson, had divulged the secret meeting to him.

But Lugo and Gonzales fired back, launching a counterclaim alleging that the mayor and city attorney had overstepped their authority, and denying they held any illegal meetings.

To bolster their counterclaim, they obtained an affidavit from Jackson, who swore that the mayor’s affidavit was nothing but lies.

The council ultimately succeeded in firing Salinas, and the litigation remains mired in district court, but none of that tension had seeped its way into Monday evening’s celebrations.

Instead, both sides appeared to want to smooth things over, with each having only partially won, since Donna voters elected one candidate each from the two opposing slates.

“We’re all from Donna. We’re all Donnaites and we’re here to move the city forward,” Garza said.

David Moreno, the mayor, echoed a similar sentiment.

“We’ve known each other since we were little. Just like in any relationship, any family, you’re gonna have disputes here and there, but in the end, we’re gonna work together because our citizens deserve that we all stay together,” David Moreno said.

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