Cuero council fires city manager
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Marie Gelles
CUERO CITY MANAGER TIMELINE
May 2008 - 10-year city manager Corlis Riedesel retires after May election.
May 2008 - Then Cuero police chief Glenn Mutchler named interim city manager.
June 2008 - Marie Gelles hired as interim city manager through ...
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CUERO CITY MANAGER TIMELINE
May 2008 - 10-year city manager Corlis Riedesel retires after May election.
May 2008 - Then Cuero police chief Glenn Mutchler named interim city manager.
June 2008 - Marie Gelles hired as interim city manager through Texas First Group Replacement Service.
December 2008 - City Councilwoman Shirley Riemenscheinder escorted from council chambers by police after shouting match with Mayor Randy Saenz over hiring of Gelles.
December 2008 - Gelles offered permanent position from among 22 applicants. Contract negotiations begin.
January 2009 - Council votes 5-2 to hire Gelles as permanent city manager.
April 2009 - City Councilman David Ruiz censured because of remarks made about Gelles' handling of agenda items.
July 2009 - City council votes 4-3 to retain Gelles as city manager after an executive session discussion on her future.
October 2009 - Gelles fired by unanimous vote. Raymie Zella named interim city manager.
CUERO - Marie Gelles is out as Cuero city manager.
Less than nine months after being hired, Gelles was ousted by a unanimous vote of the Cuero city council after an hour-long executive session Wednesday night. The council also voted to give Gelles $42,000 in severance pay.
Mayor Randy Saenz could not be reached for comment.
Raymie Zella, public works director since June, was named interim city manager. Zella worked for the city of Gonzales for more than 30 years. His experience includes municipal law, water/wastewater and electric operations.
Gelles faced opposition since before her hiring. Councilman David Ruiz and former councilwoman Shirley Riemenscheinder voted against hiring Gelles in January.
"I told them (other council members), 'Mark my words. You'll want to get rid of her in 18 months,'" said former council member Riemenscheinder, who lost her bid for re-election in May. "She was just not right for Cuero. I hope we can go forward from here."
Ruiz declined to comment directly on Gelles' termination, preferring to accentuate the positive.
"I'm proud of the appointment of the interim. He's excellent," Ruiz said. "We've got to start fresh."
Cuero had been without a permanent chief administrative officer since May 16, 2008, following the retirement of Corlis Riedesel, who served in the position for 10 years.
Former police chief Glenn Mutchler served in the position temporarily before Texas First Group Replacement Service recommended Gelles, who served as interim city manager from mid-June 2009 until the end of January, when she was hired as the permanent city manager. She served 16 months in the position.
A screening committee of three council members narrowed the search to Gelles and two other finalists. The entire council interviewed all three separately.
Gelles served as the chief administrative officer in Helotes from 2001-03. She also worked as the executive director of the Helotes Economic Development Corporation from 2005-07. She served as economic development manager for the San Antonio Water System, assistant court administrator for the Bexar County Commissioners Court, and as a budget and research analyst for the city of San Antonio.
Gelles could not be reached for comment.
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Would paying a city engineer from San Antonio over $300,000 be factual enough for absolutely no major projects. How about illegally hiring her friends to do work for the city all being from San Antonio without going out for bids on the projects. Some as minor as carpet replacement or fencing the warehouse and sewer plant. I wouldn't have thought we needed an engineer for that or used a company from San Antonio when Dreyer Fence already had a bid submitted. Hiring some lady to tell us about how the labor law works and transfered employees and assisted in discipline and grievances when this should have been what the Manager was hired to do. That lady probably made out with about $15,000 for doing nothing. Mostly shirking her duties onto other people, treating the employees like we are ignorant, uneducated and referred to us as hillbillies. Self serving individuals that pass the blame and blatantly lie usually eventually get caught. I guess she finally ran out of people to blame. I could go on and on, but its time for the city to unite and move forward for everybody's sake. One last comment, the photo shown doesn't even look like her, this picture looks way outdated.
October 20, 2009 at 7:22 p.m.City Council terminated her in last Wednesday's meeting and we are just now seeing it in the news?
October 20, 2009 at 9:29 a.m.This is probably the best move made by officials as the city was working towards bankruptcy with the way she was blowing and going. Although some changes may needed to have been made, a small town can't handle the financial burden of many projects all at once. In her eyes, she wanted Cuero to be a little San Antonio. Best move by the council, although they would have never been in this position if they hadn't hired her in the first place. my .02