The ongoing search for a full-time city manager has become a more dire priority following this week’s announcement from Interim City Manager Cary Westin that he does not want the job, but the El Paso City Council is still not ready to move ahead.
During the Tuesday, Jan. 30, meeting, the City Council voted unanimously on new city Rep. Josh Acevedo’s motion to delay the vote on approving a search firm to head up the city manager search for four weeks.
Acevedo asked for the delay in the vote in an effort to have more time for a thorough briefing on the search process, as Tuesday’s meeting was his first as a council member.
The city could be shifting directions altogether.
Mayor Oscar Leeser said during Tuesday’s meeting that Westin bowing out as a contender for the city’s top administrative post opens the door for other city employees to throw their hat into the ring.
“One of the things I think we ought to consider as a council is to look from within,” Leeser said during the meeting. “We have 60 deputy city managers or other people that may want to look at it and I think it’s important that we look within before we go out.”