Mission Council Plans To Reassign City Manager Mike Perez

[email protected]

 

The Mission City Council will hold a special meeting on Friday, August 29 at 4pm at city hall to consider changes to Mike Perez’s role as city manager. The meeting is open to the public.

 

 

On Tuesday, Perez declined to comment on his employment status. The reason for Perez’s separation is unclear, as he greatly improved the city’s finances over the last 17 months, but it appears he will be relieved of the duties associated with city management.

 

In a written statement, Mayor Norie Gonzalez Garza said the city is heading in a new direction.

 

“Our city council and I are confident in the leadership of assistant city managers Juan Pablo Terrazas and Andy Garcia, who will guide Mission forward during this transition,” Garza wrote. “Together, we remain focused on ensuring stability, progress, and the continued success of our city and residents.”

 

The press release also stated that the city is not providing interviews regarding Perez’s employment status.

 

City employees who did not want to be identified for fear of retribution told the Progress Times that Perez is officially on leave all week until Friday’s meeting, and that Perez vacated his office at city hall on Tuesday.

 

In order to remove a city manager, state law requires that the council vote on a potential dismissal in public. The agenda is required to be posted at least three days in advance, must clearly state that a vote on the city manager’s employment will occur, and a simple majority vote is needed to make it official.

 

The council hired Perez in March of 2024, after it was revealed that Mission was financially unstable, and withheld $2.7 million it owed to the Mission Economic Development Corporation. Records show the city inquired about a $5 million line of credit at the time, and a financial services company responded with concerns over Mission’s fiscal status as the city faced challenges making payroll in the fall of 2023.

 

Perez enacted a hiring freeze, cut some jobs and produced a budget with no pay raises in order to get the city out of the red. He also produced a detailed five-year plan that would build up the city’s cash on hand to at least $5 million over that time.

 

 

On Monday evening, Perez presented his latest proposed budget from the public podium, not from his usual seat on the dais alongside the council, and it appeared his numbers are on target with his five-year plan.

 

“We had numerous budget workshops, and the general fund shows revenues of about $69,714,000,” Perez said. “We have expenditures of about $68,815,000,

 

“We anticipate a fund balance next year, on September 30 of a little over $3 million,” Perez said. “And this year, we will end with about $2.1 or $2.2 million.”

 

Perez successfully served as McAllen’s city manager for over two decades and is credited with rescuing the city of Weslaco from financial ruin and administrative chaos, when some of its officials pled guilty to federal bribery charges several years ago.

 

His most recent work involved negotiating pay raises this year for Mission’s longest serving fire fighters and police officers, while maintaining a positive fund balance.

 

While Perez just led the city through the budget planning process, he may not be the city manager when the council finalizes the figures.

 

On Tuesday, August 25, the first agenda posted for a September 2 workshop listing Perez as leading a discussion on the proposed budget. About 20 minutes later, the agenda was edited and listed assistant city manager Andy Garcia as leading the budget talks and Perez’s name no longer appeared in the document.

 

The city council will hold the workshop on September 2 and then vote to adopt a budget on September 9. Both meetings are at 4:30 pm and open to the public. It remains to be seen if the mayor or council will make changes to Perez’s proposed budget before it is formally approved.