Progreso City Council still can’t agree on election details

PROGRESO, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The Progreso City Council remained divided Thursday over Mayor Hugo Gamboa’s plan to hold an election in November.

During a meeting on Thursday afternoon, Gamboa asked the City Council to put three positions on the November ballot.

“Does anybody have anything to discuss?” Gamboa said.

Not a single member of the City Council had anything to say.

They had already discussed the mayor’s plan during a meeting on Aug. 12, when the City Council split 3-3.

As a result, Progreso wasn’t able to place any positions on the ballot — even though a majority of the City Council agreed they needed to hold an election.

Gamboa responded with a lawsuit, which claimed members of the City Council and city administrators had “blatantly mismanaged” local elections to maintain “corrupt political power.”

The City Council held another meeting to discuss the mayor’s plan on Thursday. Once again, the City Council split 3-3.

The City Council split 3-3 on Aug. 22, 2024. Mayor Hugo Gamboa, City Councilman Raul Flores and City Councilwoman Sandra V. Estrada voted to place three City Council seats on the November ballot. City Councilman Raul Martinez, City Councilman Ruben Abundiz and City Councilman Javier Morales voted against the motion. (Dave Hendricks / CBS 4 News.)

“I’m fed up with it. And I think the community’s fed up with it,” said Janie Sarmiento, 52, of Progreso, who attended the City Council meeting. “Give us a chance to vote.”

The Problem in Progreso

Progreso had no contested elections from 2014 to 2024.

During that ten-year period, local power brokers would pick candidates for City Council. Nobody ran against them.

The system allowed Gerardo “Jerry” Alanis, a member of the influential Alanis family, to become mayor in November 2017.

Alanis ran for re-election in 2020 with City Councilman Raul Martinez and City Councilman Ruben Abundiz. Nobody challenged them.

In 2022, three other members of the City Council were supposed to run for re-election.

Progreso, however, apparently lost track of the city’s election cycle. The city allowed Alanis, Martinez and Abundiz to run again.

That mistake created a major problem.

Three members of the City Council had run for re-election a year early. Three others hadn’t run for re-election at all — and remained on the City Council anyway.

City Councilman Armando Cavazos, who hadn’t run for re-election since 2019, died in December 2023. The City Council appointed Raul Flores, a local insurance agent, to replace him.

Another member of the City Council who never ran for re-election, Blas Medrano, stopped showing up for meetings. His seat remained vacant until June, when voters elected City Councilwoman Sandra V. Estrada.

City Councilman Javier Morales, meanwhile, simply remained on the City Council for nearly five years without running for re-election.

Searching for a Solution

In 2024, when Alanis resigned, voters elected Hugo Gamboa, a sergeant in the Texas Army National Guard.

Gamboa began searching for a way to fix the city’s election cycle and get Progreso back on track.

In August, he sent a three-page memo to City Attorney Javier Villalobos, suggesting that Progreso put Place 1, Place 3 and Place 5 on the November ballot:

> Place 1 must appear on the ballot, according to the mayor’s memo, because City Councilman Raul Flores was appointed to fill a vacant position.

> Place 3 must appear on the ballot, according to the mayor’s memo, because City Councilman Javier Morales hasn’t run for re-election since 2019.

> Place 5 must appear on the ballot, according to the mayor’s memo, because City Councilman Raul Martinez resigned to run for mayor in June. Under state law, Martinez remains a member of the City Council until his replacement is sworn in.

A majority of the City Council agreed that Place 1, Place 3 and Place 5 should appear on the ballot, but several members had additional questions.

City Councilman Raul Martinez and City Councilman Javier Morales wanted Villalobos to provide Progreso with a legal opinion.

Villalobos declined. In a memo, he called the situation “not a legal issue, but a factual issue.”

“Progreso held some elections, but was not consistent on following the terms or even the position, or place,” Villalobos wrote. “The two different factions in the city cannot agree on what positions are up for election. I have recommended that they meet and agree to the positions, at which point I could file a declaratory action and enter an agreed judgment. From that point on, with a court order, they can start properly following the positions.”

The City Council, though, couldn’t even agree on how to discuss the elections.

Gamboa placed items on the Aug. 12 and Aug. 22 agendas to call an election for Place 1, Place 3 and Place 5.

That prevented other members of the City Council from voting on alternatives, such requiring all six members to run.

“I understand my place is up and I’m willing to run,” Martinez said. “But I think we’re missing places.”

Martinez and Morales also wanted the City Council to discuss authorizing the city attorney to request assistance from the Hidalgo County District Attorney’s Office.

They submitted a formal request to place that item on the agenda, but the city rejected it.

“We’re trying to fix this,” Martinez said.

They wanted to provide the City Council with options, Martinez said, but the mayor called another meeting to vote on the same motion.

“To me, it’s just to make a show,” Martinez said.

City Councilwoman Sandra V. Estrada said Progreso needed to move forward with Place 1, Place 3 and Place 5.

Estrada rejected the suggestion that Progreso reset the election cycle by placing all six City Council seats on the ballot and drawing straws for terms.

“I think we’re over the ‘drawing straws’ era,” Estrada said. “We’re at a place where we need to make a stand and say: “You know, this needs to be done now and everybody needs to be in accordance.’”

Taking the Case to Court

Gamboa attempted to break the deadlock by filing a lawsuit against Progreso.

Attorney Baltazar Salazar of Houston, who represents Gamboa, addressed the City Council on Thursday.

“All we’re asking in this lawsuit is to allow the community to vote,” Salazar said.

Salazar also said he remains concerned that Progreso apparently can’t find the oath of office paperwork for City Councilman Javier Morales.

According to City Council meeting minutes, Progreso held a swearing-in ceremony for Morales on Nov. 8, 2019.

Morales provided CBS 4 News with photos from the ceremony and state District Judge Joe Ramirez, who administered the oath of office, confirmed the photos are real.

Salazar said nobody can produce the actual paperwork.

“I know that you put on Facebook that you were sworn in. I have no doubt,” Salazar said. “The problem is that the Election Code requires you to have an oath of office. It doesn’t say to put a picture on Facebook. So I’m just asking that you meet the requirements.”

As a result, the lawsuit requests that Morales be removed from the City Council.

The lawsuit is scheduled for an initial hearing on Aug. 30.