By Karen Gleason
Raul Casso’s tenure as Del Rio’s city attorney is over.
The Del Rio City Council terminated Casso’s employment with the city on a 6-1 vote following a closed-door executive session during Tuesday night’s council meeting.
On the council’s agenda, the two items to be considered during the closed-door session were discussion of personnel matters, including “the deliberation of the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline or dismissal of the city attorney” and “the deliberation of the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline or dismissal of the city manager.”
The council went into executive session, and when it returned to open session, Mayor Bruno “Ralphy” Lozano announced that “no action was taken by the council” when it was behind closed doors.
When Lozano called for discussion of the portion of the agenda dealing with the city attorney, Mayor Pro-Tem Alfredo “Fred” Carranza Jr. announced he would like to make a motion.
“I’d like to make a motion calling for the termination of the city attorney effective at midnight tonight,” Carranza said.
“Okay, there’s a motion on the table. Is there a second?” Lozano asked.
Casso, sitting at City Manager Matt Wojnowski’s left hand, could be seen shaking his head as Carranza made his motion.
City Councilman Steven Webb gave the second.
Lozano then asked the city council members if they had additional comments or concerns.
The mayor called on each of the council members by name, and none of them offered additional comments or questions.
When the mayor called for a vote, all of the council members, with the sole exception of Councilman Jim DeReus, voted in favor of the motion.
Reached after the meeting, DeReus made the following comment, “The reason I voted against termination was because I thought the process done incorrectly. Apparently, the deficiencies people saw in his performance had never actually been addressed.”
In a telephone interview today, when asked why he had made the motion to terminate Casso’s employment, Carranza said, “He (Casso) was on agenda for evaluation, and we had a discussion, and for me personally, I felt like he had only been there a few months, in the transition from being assistant city attorney to city attorney, and I just wasn’t comfortable with his job performance. I had asked for a few things and wasn’t comfortable with him, and we decided let’s not wait any longer and go in a different direction, and that’s what we decided last night.”
Casso was hired as assistant city attorney in late 2020 before becoming city attorney when former City Attorney Suzanne West assumed her duties Jan. 1 as elected district attorney for the judicial district that includes Val Verde County.
Casso had previously served as city attorney for the city of Laredo for nine years.
