Dionne Mack selected to be El Paso’s next city manager
Update: City Council voted 6-2 to make Mack the next city manager.
Dionne Mack, who already worked for the City as Deputy City Manager for Quality of Life, was one of the four finalists up for the position of city manager. The other three finalists also worked for the City and were Robert Cortinas, Mario D'Agostino, and Nicole Ferrini.
City Council went into executive session for more than 9 hours as they interviewed each candidate. Each candidate had a total of 1 hour and 45 minutes to answer the questions made by the Council.
The Council voted to appoint Mack as the new city manager following a 6-2 vote, with Representatives Joe Molinar and Art Fierro being the ones who voted "No".
Earlier in the day, Representative Isabel Salcido made a motion to postpone the appointment of a new city manager until February of 2025, when a new City Council would be in place.
Representative Josh Acevedo and Salcido said they had listened to feedback from their constituents who had questioned the process and believed the next Council should be the one to appoint the city manager.
Representatives Cassandra Hernandez and Henry River voted "Yes" along with Salcido and Acevedo, causing a 4-4 tie. The motion failed after Mayor Oscar Leeser cast a tiebreaking vote.
Following her appointment as new city manager, Dionne Mack spoke to the media and expressed the benefit she saw in appointing someone like her who already knew the community of El Paso.
“The benefit that we have is I understand the issues, I understand the complexities of those things, and we can hit the ground running and making sure we continue to move things forward that are going to be important to our community," said Mack.
The advertised date for the new city manager to start is September 3. City Council will meet in executive session on Tuesday, August 19, to discuss proposed terms that would be offered to Mack. The Council would then go into open session to approve these terms.
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- El Paso City Council is going to vote to put forward Dionne Mack as the next city manager. The motion to put forward a vote on Mack was seconded and the vote is expected later tonight. Stay tuned.
