Rick Gets Richer
Category: Local... News Commentary...
Posted Wednesday, June 27, 2007 at 07:38 AM [GMT-6]

I was flabbergasted to learn that our city council approved a $481,000-and-change settlement with departing Midland City Manager Rick Menchaca. This settlement includes 16 months of salary, one-third more than was called for in his supposedly "at-will" employment contract.

According to news reports, the council (in a 5-2 split) approved the magnanimous settlement in order to avoid potential litigation. This is an interesting theory of city governance – decision-making through lawsuit avoidance – although the recent "dry cleaners/pants lawsuit" in New York proved again that anyone can sue for anything. In the case of the city manager, the defensiveness of the council makes one wonder whether Menchaca's departure was handled properly from a contractual perspective.

However, it's not insignificant that the only practicing attorney on the council, Mayor Canon, voted against the settlement. His response was that he was comfortable sticking to the strict requirements of the employment contract, which seems an eminently reasonable thing to do.

Being the cynic that I am, I'm probably reading too much into the arrival in Midland tomorrow of a DOJ mediator to hear concerns about recent city police actions. The mediator is coming in response to a request by LULAC, the same group who held protests in response to the dismissal of Menchaca.

The council's generosity with taxpayer's money is one thing, but the long-term significance is in the implicit message to future employee-litigants: "you litigate; we capitulate."