By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
A Precinct 3 resident on Tuesday urged county commissioners court to appoint Andrew Michael Wancho as the new Precinct 3 constable.
Ken Herrera spoke to Val Verde County Commissioners Court members during the citizen comments portion of the meeting.
“Two weeks ago, I stood at this very podium, along with other residents of Precinct 3. Included was former Val Verde County Judge Laura Allen and the current Justice of the Peace Pct. 3 Pat Cole, and we were here in an effort to persuade this court to appoint Mr. Mikey (Andrew Michael) Wancho to the position of constable of Precinct 3, due to the untimely death of Steve Berg,” Herrera told the court.
“The appointment that you’re going to make is an elected position. It’s not one that human resources has to fill or should fill, as so directed by this court two weeks ago. Previous appointments have been filled in this manner by the affected commissioner or judge, and they’ve been approved.
“It was basically a gentlemen’s agreement in the past. Right now, I feel we have no gentlemen on this court. And since this court s hell-bent on doing the complete opposite of what the residents of Precinct 3 want, let’s play a game: This court has a propensity to waste taxpayers’ money for invoices for work that hasn’t been completed, so let’s play this game: Let’s spend some money on a special election instead,” Herrera said.
“In November, there’s going to be a constitutional Texas amendment (election). Let’s add this to the ballot. Let’s spend the money wisely. Let’s do it that way. There’s nothing wrong with that. Let’s let the voters decide. Let the voters make the determination on who they want as their constable for Precinct 3. Not this divided court. Not human resources, but the voters. It’s the voters’ decision. Not yours,” he added.
“As I stated two weeks ago, elections have consequences. Let’s do the right thing. Add the election for Precinct 3 constable to the ballot for the Nov. 7 election. Thank you,” Herrera finished.
After Herrera finished, County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. asked the court to next consider the agenda item addressing the appointment of a Precinct 3 constable.
Before he allowed discussion or a motion on the item, Owens said, “I’m going to correct Mr. Herrera on a couple of things.
“One, HR (human resources) is not the one that made the decision. That was not my motion. My motion was for her (HR director) to gather information and bring it back to the court. It was not HR. It never has been HR.
“You are correct on saying that it’s always been the court, it’s always been the commissioner, and then the court follows whatever (the commissioner asks), but it never has been HR,” Owens added.
“And it is our decision. It isn’t the constituents’ decision to vote this individual in today. It is our decision, the court. Whatever happens here, happens, but it is the court’s decision. That’s the way it’s set up,” Owens finished.
After Owens finished, County Commissioner Pct. 3 Beau Nettleton made the motion to appoint Wancho, which failed 2-3. County Commissioner Pct. 1 Martin Wardlaw then made a motion to appoint retired U.S. Customs agent Donald Fernandez to the post, a motion which passed on the 3-2 vote, with Wardlaw and County Commissioner Pct. 2 Juan Carlos Vazquez and County Commissioner Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus” Flores voting in favor.
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