Harlingen city manager up for annual job evaluation

Gabriel Gonzalez (Courtesy: City of Harlingen)

HARLINGEN — City commissioners are standing behind City Manager Gabriel Gonzalez’s job performance as he completes his annual evaluation, working to set their goals for the next year.

Earlier this month, commissioners met with Gonzalez, planning their goals during the evaluation process he described as “going well.”

Now, Gonzalez said he’s placing their goals “in writing.”

“The commission is working on setting goals for this new fiscal year and I look forward to sitting down with him to map out the path together,” Mayor Norma Sepulveda said Tuesday.

For more than 20 years, Gonzalez has worked with the city’s departments under several administrations.

“Our city manager, Gabriel Gonzalez, has spent more than two decades serving Harlingen with integrity and a true love for this community,” Sepulveda said. “He continues to be a steady partner in our mission to move the city forward.”

So far, commissioners have not discussed giving Gonzalez a pay increase.

In 2023, his evaluation led to a $25,000 pay increase, bumping his salary to $250,000 while leading to a contract extension.

This year, Gonzalez’s evaluation comes about two months after the Texas City Management Association selected him as the recipient of its Excellence in Ethics and Integrity Award, going each year to an association member recognized as serving local government “with dignity, honor and integrity” while demonstrating “exceptional ethics while carrying out their duties.”

Three weeks after an historic storm dumped 22 inches of rain here, spurring widespread flooding pushing floodwaters into hundreds of homes, much of the city’s focus is on drainage issues.

On Tuesday, Commissioner Daniel Lopez praised what he described as Gonzalez’s “exemplary leadership.”

“His recent recognition with the Texas City Manager Association’s Excellence in Ethics and Integrity Award is a well-deserved acknowledgment of his unwavering commitment to our entire city,” Lopez said in a statement.

“During my tenure, Mr. Gonzalez has consistently demonstrated an exceptional ability to translate the city commission’s policies and priorities into tangible progress across all districts,” he said. “His stewardship has been instrumental in the significant advancements we have witnessed in Harlingen’s infrastructure and financial stability city-wide.”

In 2023, Gonzalez’s launched a $170,000, five-member crew assigned to work full-time drainage upgrades.

“Under Mr. Gonzalez’s direction, the city has achieved notable milestones,” Lopez said, describing the drainage crew as “a crucial step in mitigating flood risks across Harlingen.”

“He spearheaded the implementation of the most extensive and comprehensive water and sewer infrastructure improvement plan in our city’s history, a vital investment in our long-term well-being for all residents,” he said. “The establishment and success of our city’s grants department, under his guidance, has also been remarkable. This strategic initiative has secured tens of millions of dollars in funding, directly supporting critical improvements to our drainage systems, roadways, parks and essential public services throughout Harlingen.”

In District 2, which Lopez represents, crews are completing work on a $550,00, 14-acre detention pond with depths of three to seven feet.

Now, officials are preparing to launch a drainage project aimed at the Lazy Palm subdivision, Lopez said.

At City Hall, they’re also designing drainage projects in the Fifth and Seventh street area along with a project in the Jefferson Street area.

“We have an additional four crucial projects that we are aiming to move into the design stage this year,” Lopez said.

Lopez said Gonzalez is working with regional governments on drainage projects.

“He is working closely with local drainage and irrigation districts to identify opportunities for joint efforts aimed at improving and bolstering our regional drainage systems,” he said. “This collaborative approach is essential as we strive to weatherize our infrastructure in the face of increasingly variable and extreme weather events, characterized by both historical rainfall and drought.”

For about 12 years, Commissioner Michael Mezmar has worked with Gonzalez, who served as an assistant city manager before taking the city’s top administrative job in October 2021.

“He’s very competent,” Mezmar said in an interview. “I think he’s doing a decent job. Gabe is responsive to my phone calls, texts and emails and he will get me the answer when he doesn’t know the answer.”

While Commissioner Ford Kinsley said Gonzalez was “doing an outstanding job,” Commissioner Frank Morales said he’s requesting the city manager work more “assertively.”

“I need to see more assertiveness from his office,” Morales said in an interview. “I’ve got that in writing. We have a lot of issues to be addressed. I see a lot of loose ends.”

Pointing to last month’s record storm, Morales said he wants the city better prepared to handle major flooding.

“Do we have the equipment to clean up all the inlets and ditches to be prepared for a storm like a 500-year storm?” he asked, referring to a storm with a one in 500 chance of occurring in any given year. “We need to be very assertive in preparing ourselves instead of our neighbors helping us.”

During a February 2023 evaluation, commissioners gave Gonzalez high marks on his job performance, helping lead to a $25,000 raise.

Five months later, they signed him to a three-year contract paying a $250,000 salary.

In October 2021, the past commission hired Gonzalez, who had served as an assistant city manager since 2001, signing him to a contract paying a salary of $225,000 after firing past City Manager Dan Serna, who was drawing a $265,822 salary.

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