County repositions Chief of Staff amid accusations of conflict
Alex Villalobos, who serves as a Kyle city council member and chief of ctaff to the county judge, has been repositioned to answer to the entire commissioners court.
Villalobos’ positions have been called into question by Commissioners Lon Shell and Walt Smith, citing a possible conflict of interest. Villalobos serves as the county’s emergency management coordinator while also holding a position on Kyle’s City Council. A primary concern for the two commissioners has been Villalobos’ participation in discussion regarding the county’s co-location agreement with the City of Kyle, causing a contentious debate between County Judge Ruben Beccerra, Shell and Smith.
Repositioning
Concerns initially began on Aug. 27 when Shell brought up Villalobos’ participation in City Council discussions involving the county’s co-location agreement with the City of Kyle.
During a budget workshop on Sept. 17, Smith initiated further discussion regarding the chief of staff, citing a possible budget amendment as a reason for the conversation.
Smith addressed his concern with Villalobos’ two positions as an elected official and employee of the county.
“The same option or the same funding discussion came up this week in Kyle City Council,” said Smith during the Sept. 17 meeting. “And when it did, after initially saying that he would recuse himself, our chief of staff again inserted himself into the conversation and talked about it again, asked questions about how the contract works, and what the implications of moving forward or not moving forward would be. I have serious issue with that.”
Smith then recommended either moving the position to answer to the entire court, or removing the position altogether.
“I’m saying, and I said it when we talked about this last time, that it’s a conflict to me and if it was me I would step out of the room,” Shell said. “I wouldn’t discuss it, I don’t think that would be the right thing to do.”
Shell then suggested that the chief of staff position be moved to underneath the entire court.
Tensions rose as deliberation progressed. Topics such as the co-located public safety building, the new Hays County Jail, transparency in the County and Villalobos’ position as emergency management coordinator were brought to the table. Villalobos was not in attendance for the discussion due to emergency training.
Becerra brought up the location of the public safety building, and claimed that officials across the county feel left out of the situation.
“The taxpayers dollars are being used to raise the building four feet so it’s technically out of the flood plain,” he said. “And anything can happen — like of course we know a UFO could land on the building — we have to plan for everything.”
After cries of lack of transparency, Pct. 2 Commissioner Mark Jones entered the conversation.
“It’s just not today Judge, it’s your Facebook posts, and it’s the things you put out in public, you’ve denigrated our staff, you say we don’t communicate with you, we saw you try to do away with a whole department without communicating with any of us,” he said.
The Hays County Commissioners Court voted 3-2 to move the chief of staff position to answer to the entire commissioners court. Becerra and Pct. 1 Commissioner Debbie Ingalsbe voted against the motion.
Tuesday’s discussion
Following the vote to move Villalobos, Becerra brought up the subject in an agenda item on Tuesday.
“I’m hoping to receive some clarification with intent and goals based on last week’s meeting and I wanted to see if we could use this agenda item to articulate some of that,” Becerra said.
Shell said the move will not eliminate the position, but would reorganize the position in a way so it can serve the entire court and help communication problems.
“I don’t see a whole lot changing, physically the location of the office or even any of the duties that are performed for the County Judge, but that there also be some focus on the entire court,” Shell said. “Especially on communication on major topics and issues, coordination with the court members, those type of additional duties.”
When given the opportunity to speak by Ingalsbe, Villalobos said he is sensitive to his obligations.
“I’m so sensitive to the point that I would seek advice outside of here to ensure that I’m making and taking the right step forward and to the point that I’ve gotten three separate ethics rulings to ensure I’m in the right,” he said.
A memorandum of the ethics opinion mentioned by Villalobos shows that he requested the opinion by email on Aug. 23, and received the advisory opinion from Monte Akers, an ethics compliance officer on Aug. 30.
The opinion asks two questions: Is it a conflict of interest for you to serve as the Hays County EMC while also serving on the Kyle City Council? As the chief of staff for Hays County, what involvement and participation can you have in the matters surrounding our co-location agreement with Hays County?
The conclusion of the opinion states that it is not a conflict of interest to serve as EMC while also serving on City Council. In relation to the dual office holding, Villalobos is not prohibited from serving as a city council member and chief of staff.
“However provisions of the Kyle Code of Ethics, particularly that involving prohibited interests in contracts (Section 10 of the Code), together with that involving the appearance of impropriety mean that Mr. Villalobos should not participate in the negotiation and finalization of any contract between the City and the County,” the opinion reads. “In regard to the colocation agreement, which has already been executed by both parties, Mr. Villalobos must be vigilant to not be involved in a manner that creates and appearance of impropriety, but he is not prohibited from, for example, being involved in budget, manpower, or basic implementation details of the project for which such a contract was created so long as, in doing so, he is able to remain one hundred percent loyal to the interests of both the city and the county.”
After a closed executive session to discuss the chief of staff, no action was taken on Tuesday’s agenda item.
“Commissioner Smith and I will be working with (human resources) to modify the job description of the Chief of Staff and it will be brought back to court for an update and possible action,” Becerra said.
