Del Rio Council names Manuel Chavez interim city manager, hires Denton Navarro

City leaders said the Del Rio City Council moved March 4-6 to stabilize operations by naming Assistant City Manager Manuel B. Chavez as interim city manager and approving a contract with a San Antonio law firm identified as Denton Navarro Rodriguez Bernal Santee & Z, but a detailed roll call from a special meeting Wednesday recorded the council voting 2-5 on the motion to appoint Chavez. The roll call listed yes votes from DeReus and Quinones and no votes from Arreola, Sanchez, Councilman Jesus L. Lopez Jr., Councilwoman Ernestina "Tina" Martinez and Councilwoman Carmen Gutierrez.

The personnel shakeup followed council action at its Feb. 24 regular meeting to accept a "mutual separation agreement" with City Manager Shawna Burkhart, with the separation becoming effective Feb. 25. The Feb. 24 meeting also produced a majority vote to "proceed with the dismissal of City Attorney Ana Markowski Smith," leaving both the city manager and city attorney posts in flux as Del Rio moved into early March.

"A resolution appointing an interim city manager was one of a handful of items on the agenda of Wednesday's special meeting," council materials show. At that special meeting, the motion to appoint Chavez was made by DeReus; Arreola asked if there was a second; Quinones seconded the motion. The council vote is recorded as: DeReus and Quinones voting in favor, Arreola, Sanchez, Jesus L. Lopez Jr., Ernestina "Tina" Martinez and Carmen Gutierrez voting against.

Following the open-session vote, the council "then moved into executive session and spent nearly two-and-a-half hours behind closed doors" in the City Hall conference room. Several people were called into that executive session, including former Del Rio Mayor Roberto "Bobby" Fernandez, Communications and Marketing Director Peter Ojeda, Assistant Finance Director Roxy Soto and Manuel Chavez. Records note that Fernandez left City Hall while the council remained in executive session.

The competing accounts present two unresolved questions for Del Rio residents: who is now legally serving as interim city manager, and whether the city formally engaged the San Antonio law firm whose name appears truncated in city paperwork as Denton Navarro Rodriguez Bernal Santee & Z. The original March 4-6 report asserts both an appointment and approval of a contract with that firm, while the Wednesday special-meeting roll call shows the motion to appoint Chavez failed 2-5.

City minutes, the special-meeting audio or video, the mutual separation agreement with Shawna Burkhart, and any contract paperwork for outside legal counsel should clarify the record and define who is running day-to-day operations in Del Rio. Until those documents are released, council division reflected in the 2-5 vote leaves the city's leadership and legal representation unsettled as residents await formal confirmation from the city clerk and council.