By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Del Rio City Council members on Tuesday confirmed the assignment of Scot Carcasi as the city’s interim planning and zoning director.
Carcasi has most recently served as the city’s operations and compliance auditor, but worked for the city’s fire department for 23 years before his retirement in 2015.
After the agenda item was announced, Mayor Al Arreola called for a motion on the resolution to confirm Carcasi’s appointment. Councilman J.P. Sanchez made the motion to approve the resolution, with Councilman Randy Quiñones giving the second.
When Arreola asked if there were any questions about the resolution for Interim City Manager Manuel Chavez, Councilman Jesus Lopez Jr. said he had some.
“Mr. Chavez, in that department, sir, is there a chain of command, of who takes care of the department while others are absent? Like, if you have a director that’s going to be out on vacation or for a hospitalization, who’s the next in line to take care of that department?” Lopez asked.
Chavez replied, “As with any department, the department head, pretty much, based on the individuals and based on experience, will make that recommendation moving forward, and so in this particular case, Mr. Carcasi will evaluate to see who, in his absence, would be one in charge of (the department) at any point that he’s not available.”
“So it doesn’t go, director, city engineer, assistant city engineer?” Lopez asked.
“Just to clarify, the planning and zoning department and engineer are two different departments, and one doesn’t oversee the other. They’re independent. Under the planning and zoning, you do have several divisions, which include the code (compliance) and planning, so there are different divisions. We do have a planning and zoning division and the code compliance division, and those are the ones that report directly to the planning and zoning director,” Chavez replied.
Then Lopez asked if the city had hired a consulting firm for permit review.
“Yes, we will continue to utilize them to review any permit, any process that is needed, and as long as it’s needed, but that’s something we currently have under contract,” the interim city manager replied.
Lopez asked if the consulting firm answered directly to Chavez or to another director.
“With any department that reports to the city manager, that is correct,” Chavez said.
In answer to a further question by Lopez, Chavez said department heads oversee the city divisions within their departments, and the department heads report directly to the city manager, while division heads report to their respective department head.
“So if Mr. Carcasi gets this position, is he still going to be maintaining the other departments as well?” Lopez asked.
“So now that he is interim planning and zoning director, there were some divisions that he was overseeing, and I will provide the city council with a plan of divvying up those divisions to report to either a different department head or the previous department head, but I will provide that to council,” Chavez replied.
He added he will make a determination as to what departments those divisions would best fall under.
Lopez then asked when Carcasi became a director.
Chavez replied, “I did send out an email last week, and (Carcasi’s new assignment) was effective as of that email, as far as making Mr. Carcasi the interim planning and zoning director.”
“I don’t agree with it, but if that’s the way it works, that’s the way it’s supposed to be in the process, because you are the interim city manager, in charge right now, if you see fit, you know, we’ll just go with it right now, again, until the new city manager comes in and has his administration to work the best for the city, in conjunction with you and any staff member he still has here with him,” Lopez said.
“Correct, and yes, just for the record, Mr. Carcasi currently has a temporary assignment. As soon we lost our previous planning and zoning director, that’s something that I tasked Mr. Carcasi (with), and I have full confidence that he can continue to oversee that department to get us where we need to in that particular area,” Chavez said.
Lopez then wanted to know if Carcasi’s title would change, and Chavez replied the agenda item was for.
“Moving forward, until this assignment is complete, he will be the interim planning and zoning director,” Chavez said.
Arreola asked if there were any other questions, and Councilwoman Carmen Gutierrez asked, “Just for transparency, is there a salary adjustment associated with this temporary assignment?”
“Yes, with any reassignment, with any additional duties, there’s always a pay consideration,” Chavez replied.
“Do you know what that is yet?” she asked.
“That’s something that we’re negotiating with Mr. Carcasi,” Chavez said.
With no further questions, Arreola called for the vote. Six members of the council voted in favor of Sanchez’s motion, and Lopez cast the sole opposing vote.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
