Rankings of City of El Paso’s city manager candidates revealed after legal push

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — KFOX14/CBS4 has obtained new documents revealing the rankings of the 14 candidates vying to become El Paso’s next city manager.

KFOX14/CBS4 filed an open records request with the city of El Paso in July for the rankings and scores of 14 candidates selected by search firm Baker Tilly.

The city council had to choose a finalist and an alternative candidate from these 14 candidates.

According to our data, El Paso’s Chief Financial Officer Robert Cortinas took the highest place with eight votes, Nicole Ferrini and Dionne Mack came in second with seven votes, and Mario D’Agostino came in fourth with five votes.

Samuel Pena and Veronica Soto were the recommended alternates, receiving four votes.

RELATING TO:El Paso mayor defends city manager selection process amid criticism

KFOX14/CBS4 also obtained resumes from some candidates applying for the city manager position.

Eight of the 14 candidates had prior city manager experience, but none of those eight were among the top four finalists, which City Rep. Joe Molinar said surprised him.

“How did the four current city employees score so highly? I don’t understand how four active city employees reappeared as one, two, three and four. Other candidates had experience. There is something abnormal about this, something illogical,” Molinar said.

KFOX14/CSB4 first requested this information in July, but the city attempted to deny release of the information by sending the request to the Texas Attorney General’s Office.

However, the Attorney General determined that the City must disclose this information.

So KFOX14/CBS4 obtained insight into how the four finalists vying for El Paso’s city manager are four current city employees despite a national search.

This was just phase one of the process of finding El Paso’s next city manager; The subsequent process included community feedback, panel interviews, as well as a one-on-one meeting between each of the four candidates and the city council.

After the selection process concluded, Deputy City Manager Dionne Mack was selected as El Paso’s new city manager.

RELATING TO:New city manager aims to align El Paso’s goals with community needs through dialogue