By ALBERT VILLEGAS
Special to the NEWS
After serving as interim city manager since late June, Carlos Yerena was named San Benito City Manager following a split vote by the San Benito City Commission at a Tuesday special meeting.
Newly elected commissioners Ricardo Perez (Place 1), Daniel Cortez, Sr. (Place 2), and Victor M. Gonzalez (Place 3) voted to approve Yerena’s hiring.
Mayor Pete Galvan and Mayor Pro Tem Jose E. Navarro (Place 4) voted against his appointment.
Mayor Galvan shared his thoughts on Yerena’s new position.
“The decision was made by a majority vote to proceed with Mr. Yerena as city manager; the way Commissioner Perez made the motion was for the mayor to engage in contract negotiations, and I’ve started that process,” Mayor Galvan said. “I’ve set some minimum requirements for the city attorney to put together and present to Mr. Yerena to see if he will accept.”
As of press time, Yerena had not signed a contract and had until the end of City Attorney Eric Flores’ workday to accept it.
“He is the city manager, as far as the discussion the night before, but the contract negotiations haven’t started,” Mayor Galvan said at 6 p.m. Wednesday. “I just got off the phone with our city attorney, so we’re going to try to finish that up and present it to him by the end of the business day today, which could run until midnight.”
According to the Texas Municipal League website, where the City of San Benito advertised the opening (a post that has since been deleted), the city manager position’s pay ranged from $180,000 to $230,000, depending on experience. It also stated that five years of management experience and a bachelor’s degree were required.
Yerena began his tenure as interim city manager during a special commissioners’ meeting on June 23.
Since then, Yerena has sat alongside Attorney Flores and city staff at regular meetings, special meetings, budget workshops, and community events. He’s attended eight commissioner meetings at which a quorum of elected leaders was announced.
The last meeting on Aug. 11 was a special meeting. According to the agenda, commissioners discussed two finalists during an executive session, with Yerena among them.
Mayor Galvan confirmed that the other finalist was La Vernia City Administrator Lindsey Wheeler.
“I wanted a fresh perspective on things, but it just didn’t fall my way, and that’s okay because the majority made the decision,” Mayor Galvan said. “Both candidates were qualified, and each could be impactful in their own way for the community.”
In his interim role, Yerena has led a staff of 250 city employees, including those in administrative positions.
The commissioners have heard a need to raise the pay scale in keeping with the upcoming budget. Commissioners have had Yerena’s ear as they listen in to prepare a $19 million fiscal year budget that begins Oct. 1 and runs through Sept. 30, 2027.
The City Commission appointed Yerena as interim city manager at a special-called meeting on June 9. At the same meeting, commissioners reviewed Fred Sandoval’s resignation. Sandoval served as city manager for nearly three years.
“Now we have to take Mr. Yerena to task; every commissioner is going to have their ask, and the community will have theirs as well — their expectations, really,” Galvan said. “We’re going to put the heat on because we’re moving forward, and we need to move fast. We need to work yesterday.”
Mayor Galvan said he will introduce a two-year contract with a six-month probationary period and salaries ranging from $150,000 to $200,000.
In his interim role, Yerena was working with three new commissioners and a new mayor. Three of them defeated incumbents in a May 2 election.
Less than two weeks later, Fred Sandoval announced his resignation as city manager, and the city commissioners approved it.
Galvan has been a commissioner since 2020 and defeated incumbent Rick Guerra for mayor, also on May 2.
Yerena has worked in an administrative role in Donna, Harlingen, and Kingsville.
City of San Benito’s Public Relations Officer Cristina Garcia didn’t return calls to confirm how many applied for the city manager’s position or to explain the process for becoming a finalist.
Earlier this year, the Commissioners decided to grant Sandoval a new three-year contract with a $150,000 salary, a $15,000 increase over his previous compensation plan with the City.
Replacing the previous City Manager, Manuel De La Rosa, in October 2023, Sandoval took the helm of the City’s operations and, a mere four months later, also assumed the role of economic development director for the San Benito Economic Development Corporation (EDC), replacing then-director Ramiro Aleman, who left the post in December 2023, shortly after Sandoval’s hiring.
With prior experience as both City Manager and EDC Executive Director for the City of Pharr, he became a candidate for the City of San Benito’s economic development plans, according to then-Mayor Ricardo “Rick” Guerra of San Benito.
In that deal, Sandoval was aiming to receive a total of $225,000 through his combined package, with $150,000 as City Manager and $75,000 as EDC executive director.
His predecessors, former City Manager De La Rosa and former EDC executive director Ramiro Aleman, received $ 175,000 and $ 103,000, respectively, before resigning.