By Karen Gleason
Del Rio City Council members have called a special meeting Saturday to discuss the continued employment of City Manager Matt Wojnowski.
The council meeting, which is open to the public, is set for noon Saturday in council chambers at City Hall, 109 W. Broadway St.
There is only one item on the agenda for the special meeting: a closed-door executive session to discuss personnel matters and possible action in open session following that discussion.
The subject of the executive session is described as “deliberation of the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline or dismissal of the city manager.”
Asked Thursday about the special meeting, Mayor Bruno “Ralphy” Lozano said, “I’m aware that there’s been a special meeting called for the evaluation of the city manager. Although I cannot comment specifically on each council member, I can say that there was no action taken during the previous executive session during Tuesday’s regular meeting.”
Lozano’s reference was to Tuesday’s regular council, which included an executive session to evaluate the employment of both the city attorney and the city manager. Following that executive session, a majority of the council voted to fire City Attorney Raul Casso.
“The council at that time (Tuesday) requested that I call a special meeting for Saturday to continue the conversation,” the mayor added.
Asked if he would identify the council member who asked him to call the special meeting, Lozano replied, “It was a consensus of the council.”
Mayor Pro-Tem Alfredo “Fred” Carranza Jr., who on Tuesday made the motion to fire Casso, said today he is not spearheading any move to fire anyone.
“We have a meeting scheduled for tomorrow to continue the evaluation and council discussion of our city manager. Any action taken would be in open session and would require the majority vote of the council,” Carranza said via text message.
Wojnowski has served as the Del Rio city manager since February 2019. Before coming to Del Rio, Wojnowksi was employed as assistant city manager for the city of Altus, Okla.
