Some residents are urging the Edinburg City Council to keep the voting process that elects the municipal judge.
At the April 17 meeting of the council, three residents requested the city to not remove the municipal judge voting process.
They spoke in reference to an item on the city council’s agenda titled “Discussion and Possible Action on Proposed Charter Amendment Election.”
“If it weren’t for [Edinburg Municipal Judge] Terry [Palacios], I can honestly let everyone know I do not know where I would be right now,” said Raul Casares, a professional boxer and business owner. “I think it is crazy that somebody like Terry would get removed from such an important position.”
Edinburg Mayor Richard Molina then responded to Casares.
“The council does not have the power to remove an elected official that is serving his term,” Molina said.
Sandra Davis, a retired schoolteacher from the Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District, also spoke.
“My concern is that you’re going to take an elected position … and our illustrious city council is going to decide who is going to be there,” Davis said.
Audience members cheered for her as she continued her speech.
“… You let the public and yourself decide,” she said. “You don’t let a few people … decide who’s going to sit in judgment of you on your bad day. That’s your right, to pick your candidate, to who’s going to be your judge and if you don’t like him, get rid of him the next [election].”
Davis then addressed the audience.
“You got that voter registration card? You use it because I have a suspicion that they’re not appointed either,” she said, pointing to the council. “… I don’t have any issue with [the council] because they were elected to this position, and maybe that’s because some of us didn’t do our job.”
The audience laughed and cheered once she ended her speech.
Attorney Regi Richardson was the last to speak.
“When you are examining the decision that you made to vote on that issue, think about whether you think that the electoral process should be trusted,” Richardson said. “And if you think it should not [be trusted], then you question how you got there yourself.”
Asked by The Rider after the meeting on her stance, she replied, “I understand that Judge Palacios, in particular, has been elected to that position quite a few times, but I did tell the council that sometimes good things are repeated, and it could be that this is the community’s way of saying that they approve of the job that he is doing, by continuing to employ him.”
The council took no action on the item.
In other business, the council recognized the UTRGV Chess Team, which won The President’s Cup, a national competition, on April 1 in New York City. The team defeated Webster University in the Final Four of Chess.
Members of the chess team are Grandmaster Andrey Stukopin, a math senior from Russia; Grandmaster Carlos Hevia, a computer science junior from Cuba; Grandmaster Vladimir Belous, a finance sophomore from Russia; Grandmaster Kamil Dragun, a management freshman from Poland; and Hovhannes Gabuzyan, a computer science freshman from Armenia; and Head Coach and Grandmaster Bartek Macieja. The team received a proclamation of recognition for its performance.
Several UTRGV economics students also received a proclamation of recognition for placing first in the 15th annual CME Group Trading Challenge, in which 2,100 students in 500 teams participated.
Christopher Martinez, an accounting junior; Michael Villarreal, a finance and philosophy junior; and Jose Naveja, a finance senior, are members of UTRGV’s The Trading Association.
The council also:
–awarded a bid for the purchase of two new 2019 Class A Triple Combination 1500 GPM Pumpers to Municipal Fire Apparatus Specialists L.L.C. The purchase price is not to exceed $988,498.55;
–and authorized City Manager Richard M. Hinojosa to submit a grant application to the U.S. Homeland Security/FEMA Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grant (SAFER) Program for $2,090,000. If approved, the grant would allow for the hiring of 12 full-time firefighters for the term of the three-year grant. The city would be responsible for providing matching funds totaling $801,160.
