The Pecos City Council pulled the plug on former El Paso city manager Tommy Gonzalez’s consulting deal on April 23, voting unanimously to end a contract that had been paying him $9,500 a month. Councilman Randy Graham pushed the motion to terminate the agreement outright instead of letting it simply run out next week, after weeks of grumbling from both council members and residents that Gonzalez had turned in just one strategic-planning report and that the city was not getting its money’s worth.
According to the El Paso Herald Post, the contract, awarded in 2024, was paying Gonzalez $9,500 per month, and Pecos had cut checks totaling about $215,988.37 through this month. At the meeting, Graham said he “might not have voted” for the arrangement if he had known Gonzalez had previously been fired by the El Paso City Council, a revelation that helped solidify support for ending the deal.
As reported by KVIA, the El Paso City Council dismissed Gonzalez in 2023. He later landed in Midland as city manager, where the Midland Reporter-Telegram reports his contract comes with a base salary of about $350,000. In Pecos, critics said that juggling a full-time city manager job while collecting outside consulting checks raised serious questions about priorities and focus.
Ferrini’s appointment raises questions
While Gonzalez’s contract was going up in smoke, another El Paso name was surfacing at Pecos City Hall. Nicole Alderete-Ferrini is now listed as an assistant city manager in Pecos with an annual salary of $155,000, according to the El Paso Herald Post. Ferrini left her post in El Paso in 2024 amid questions about whether she misrepresented her professional credentials, and El Paso News reports that community activist Max Grossman has threatened potential legal action tied to an editorial she authored.
Council and residents push back
At the meeting, residents lined up to tell the council they did not want the Gonzalez contract renewed and argued that nearly ten grand a month would be better spent on basic services and long-delayed infrastructure work. Several council members said the single report Gonzalez delivered did not come close to justifying the cost and said they wanted a much clearer return on any future consulting deals. Councilman Hector Carrasco seconded Graham’s motion, and the vote to terminate was unanimous…