Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
A three-member bloc of county commissioners balked at a fourth commissioner’s choice for a constable appointment Tuesday, saying they want to give all prospective candidates a chance to apply for the position.
Val Verde County Commissioners Court met Tuesday and one of the items on its agenda was the appointment of a new constable for Precinct 3, necessitated by the recent death of the elected constable, Steve Berg.
After several citizens addressed the court during the citizen comments section of the agenda, all speaking in favor of appointing Andrew Michael Wancho, a sheriff’s office deputy, to the constable position. County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. moved the agenda item up dealing with the constable appointment.
For a complete recap of earlier comments, go here.
After Owens read the agenda heading, County Commissioner Pct. 3 Beau Nettleton said, “Judge, I will make a motion to appoint Andrew Michael Wancho as the constable. He has filled this position and worked with us for quite a while. The precinct has been without a constable for a very long time, and I think it is time we get somebody in, and this position will be filled until the next election.”
County Commissioner Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus” Flores said he would second Nettleton’s motion for discussion purposes.
Owens then asked Flores to speak.
“When Justice of the Peace Pct. 2 Joey Gonzalez passed away, we didn’t appoint somebody. We opened it to the public. JP4, the same thing. We’ve never gone straight and appointed somebody. It’s nothing personal against Mr. Wancho. We need to open it to the law enforcement community. There’s people wanting to apply for this job, so we cannot do this. We need to open it up to the public. If people apply, and they don’t qualify, and Wancho’s the man, then Wancho’s going to be the man named as constable, but I think we need to open it up to the law enforcement community that are retired from Border Patrol, U.S. Customs, the sheriff’s department and so on,” Flores said.
“So I will remove my second (to Nettleton’s motion),” Flores added.
After Flores finished speaking, former County Judge Laura Allen asked to be recognized from the audience.
Owens asked her to wait until he gave the other commissioners a chance to speak.
County Commissioner Pct. 1 Martin Wardlaw said, “When there was an opening in Precinct 1 for a JP, the court did not allow me to make that selection. I just want to remind the court of that. I made a recommendation, and I was refused, so then it was thrown open.”
County Commissioner Pct. 2 Juan Carlos Vazquez also spoke.
“Nothing personal against this gentleman that’s running for maybe being appointed, but I think we need to be fair to all the people and open it up for (qualified applicants). That’s just my opinion,” Vazquez said.
Owens then recognized Allen.
“I just want to speak to some of the comments that have been made. In the past when we had vacancies in the JP position, I myself appointed a JP. It’s not an easy thing to do, because you have to find a qualified candidate. I had to dig hard and deep to get Judge Brockwell to come out of retirement to accept that appointment because he was the only qualified individual that I could find outside of a visiting judge from another county, so sometimes these appointments are not easy,” Allen told the court.
“You have to fall within the guidelines of the law, and the guidelines of the law are very specific. You have a qualified individual. They have to be a peace officer, and speaking of a constable, they have to be a peace officer. They have to be recognized, and they have to be capable of coming in and doing the job. They can’t come in and then qualify to do the job,” she added.
Allen urged the court “to do the right thing.”
“This young man (Wancho) has worked very hard, and it’s not about, as everybody said, anybody on this court. It’s about the fact that we need a constable. We need a constable to serve now. We needed a constable to serve yesterday. We needed a constable to serve a year ago, six months ago. This man is qualified to the letter of the law, and willing and able to do the job,” Allen said.
“A Border Patrol agent, a federal employee, still has to be a peace officer in the state of Texas in order to take the appointment. Take the qualified individual you have now. Then try to find someone you want to see run for that position later on if that’s the case, but please, I implore you, in God’s name, I will bring God’s name into this court today, do the right thing,” Allen added.
“Judge, going back on your comment about appointing Judge Brockwell. We had about eight or 10 applicants back then,” Flores said.
“If you’ll remember, commissioner, there was a very specific requirement in the law, and they had to have had experience over four years,” Allen said.
“We had an attorney apply for that position,” Flores said.
“They did not qualify under the letter of the law for the appointment. The letter of the law required that they had to have over four years’ experience prior as a JP,” Allen said.
“But we went through the process. I mean, we didn’t appoint straight out,” Flores said.
“Commissioner, with all due respect, I don’t believe you’re listening to what I’m saying,” Allen said.
“I am listening. You’re not giving all the information,” Flores said.
“The letter of the law is very clear in the instance of a JP, which is not what we’re discussing here, but the instance of a JP, they had to have served in excess of four years in that position in order to be appointed, and at that point, Judge Brockwell, and Judge Weddle, who was not willing to retire, was the only one that was willing to serve at that point who had the qualifications. The only other option the court had at the time was to bring in a visiting JP from outside of the county, which would have been cost prohibitive,” Allen said.
“I’m very, very familiar with the circumstances. But we’re not talking about a JP, we’re talking about a constable. The letter of the law states very clearly, they must have resided in the county for the year prior. They must have been in the precinct for six months prior. They must be a peace officer recognized by the state of Texas. It’s very simple, gentlemen. Again, in God’s name, do the right thing,” she added.
After Allen finished, Owens thanked her and said, “We had a motion and a second. The second has withdrawn. Do I have a second to the motion made by Commissioner Nettleton?”
When none of the other commissioners spoke, Owens said, “Okay, I’ll second the motion. We have a motion. We have a second. I’ll take a vote. All those in favor, aye.”
Nettleton also voted “aye” in favor of the motion.
But Wardlaw, Vazquez and Flores voted against, and the motion failed.
“The motion fails, two to three. In saying that, we still need to move forward, so I will make a motion to,” Owens began.
Nettleton interrupted him, saying, “Judge, this is my item.”
Owens stopped and asked Nettleton, “So do you want to do something?”
“They’re going to have to put something else back on the agenda,” Nettleton said.
County Attorney David Martinez said any member of the court can make a motion on any item on the agenda.
“And with all due respect, we still have to move forward, commissioner. I’m not trying to go against you, but at some point, I’ve got to move forward. I’m going to ask a question. Can I, under the way the item is listed, make a motion under this item?” Owens asked Martinez.
“Yes, sir,” the county attorney replied.
“I’m going to make a motion for Juanita (Barrera, the county’s human resources director), to post this position on our web site and get the information out and open it up to the general public with the requirements that these individuals must qualify to be a constable, and that the applications be received no later than March 24, and if you will put an item on the agenda for the meeting on March 28 to pick a constable,” Owens said.
Wardlaw gave the second and Owens, Wardlaw, Vazquez and Flores voted in favor of the motion, with Nettleton voting against.
After the vote, Owens made his own comment on the situation.
“I really believe that you (Wancho) are the individual for the job, just because of what we’ve been through the last couple of years. I wish that it would have passed, no matter how, but we still have to move forward. I would really appreciate if you would apply for the position. I don’t know what to say, folks,” Owens finished.
Justice of the Peace Pct. 3 Pat Cole then stepped back up to the podium. She had spoken earlier in favor of appointing Wancho. (Comments can be found here.)
“Judge, commissioners, I would like to remind you that this is not a hired position as an employee of the county. This is an elected position. You don’t go through a process through HR to have an elected official, otherwise none of us would be here. This is a matter of doing the right thing, and all of you know what the right thing is, and none of you, with the exception of Judge Owens, has the courage to speak up, admitting that it is the right thing, and Judge, I admire you greatly, but if you know it’s the right thing and you wish he would have been appointed, why didn’t you vote?”
Owens pointed out he had voted, after having seconded Nettleton’s motion to appoint Wancho.
“I’m sorry. I missed that. Please forgive me,” Cole said.
“I still maintain the fact that this is not an employment position. This should not be run through HR. It should be run through commissioners court just like it has been done in the past,” Cole added.
“Wancho, I can say you’re the most qualified person for this job. The people of Precinct 3 made it clear in the last election, which you only lost by a few votes. I apologize to you and Judge Cole for getting caught up in the politics of this game we’re playing up here. I do hope you apply for this position. I think you are the most qualified. You’ve done the job. You understand the job. It’s very sad we’re in this position. We’ve been without a constable for a very long time, which puts the judge and everybody else at risk, but we’ll go through this process, and we’ll see how it plays out,” Nettleton said.
The writer can be reached at mailto:delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com .
