The Palmview City Council last Friday authorized its legal counsel to negotiate an interim city manager agreement with Ben Arjona following the resignation of City Manager Michael Leo last month.   Arjona is currently interim city manager of Progreso.   Council selected Arjona after interviewing him and three other candidates for interim behind closed doors…

Palmview City Council last month agreed to pay legislative consultant Lee Roy Loya $2,500 a month to advocate for the city’s interests in Austin.   Loya and his company — The L Firm — specialize in “combining subject matter knowledge and expertise with a well-established, highly respected reputation and relationships within the industry” in a…

The Mission school board voted 4-2 to elect new officers on May 26 after an awkwardly contentious transition of power on the board.   After much conversation, the board voted to name Natividad “Nati” Sosa as president, Abby Reyna as vice president and Victor O’Caña as secretary.   Humberto “Beto” Garza voted to nominate those…

The McAllen school board last week heard results from this year’s employee opinion survey that largely point to growing contentment amongst its staff.   A total of 1,537 employees completed surveys, most of them teachers.   That survey, conducted in March, asked employees to respond with how much they agree about various statements in different…

A judge last week dismissed a federal lawsuit filed by the former wife of a former La Joya ISD School Board trustee against the district and its superintendent.   Juliana Garza initially sued the district in September, alleging in that suit and an amended complaint early this year that she had been wrongly terminated, slandered…

A total of 48 employees decided to take the Mission Consolidated Independent School District up on a $500 incentive offer to tell the district they planned to resign early.   According to a release from the district, the incentives supported “proactive staffing efforts” for the upcoming school year.   Essentially, if school districts know who’s…

Former Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District School Board Trustee and well-known South Texas renewable energy consultant Robert Peña Jr. died Tuesday.   A 1986 Edinburg High School graduate, Peña was a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and developed some of the first wind farms in the Rio Grande Valley.     “Today we lost a hometown…

Two new Mission Consolidated Independent School Board trustees were sworn in Tuesday, though a recount petition for the Place 1 race prevented anyone from being sworn in to that seat.   According to the district’s legal counsel, Mission CISD received that petition just 55 minutes before the board’s meeting started Tuesday.   Unofficial totals from…

The Catholic Diocese of Brownsville last week settled a lawsuit filed by a man who says an Edinburg priest’s affair with his wife tore his family apart.     According to court documents, Jose Gonzalez and the diocese agreed to dismiss all claims and counterclaims against each other, with each side paying for its own…

The South Texas ISD Board approved on April 29 a $235,000 three-year contract with Sandra Ochoa.     Ochoa, who the board named lone finalist for the position in early April, is slated to start on June 1.   School Board President Henry LeVrier said the board was pleased to approve the contract.   “We’re…