| Hopefully, CAA will start living up to its motto. |
Among the countless missteps and bad press coming out of Webb county, there's a semblance of what appears to be good news. The latest CAA-Director-elect, Juan Vargas has reportedly (catch phrase coming up) hit the ground running. According to an article appearing the Laredo Morning Times today, Vargas has already been up in Austin talking to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs about some proposed changes in regards to the CAA's current structural makeup. Following is an excerpt from LMT"s Andrew Kreighbaum :
The Commissioners Court is set to name Vargas, the county’s economic development director, as the next director of the CAA at its Monday meeting.This week, while dealing with other county business, Vargas was already meeting with officials from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs in Austin — a group familiar with Vargas from his work in economic development.“It happened that most of the people in the meeting were people I already knew,” he said Thursday.
Vargas said he wants to ask for authorization to change the agency’s structure.He said he will start by proposing the merger of the troubled Community Action Agency and his own department of economic development, which he will continue to oversee.“They have functions that complement each other, economic development being a grant-writing arm and CAA being an implementation arm,” he said.
Since December, Vargas has served as one-third of an interim management team at CAA, along with County Auditor Leo Flores and human resources director Cynthia Mares.Vargas said he will also ask to make changes to the job descriptions of staff positions at the agency to bring in more qualified applicants.
“I might as well start now instead of waiting for the next (Commissioners Court) meeting in February,” he said.
This article had an interesting take for those of us who believe in making government efficient versus more spending. Mr. Vargus admitted that CAA and the county Economic Development Dept. had overlapping responsibilities, hence his ability to take over with ease.
ReplyDeleteThis being the case, why wasn't this done years ago versus having another department head?
Actually, I was wondering the same thing. Well sort of, I was wondering if they are going to have someone replace Vargas as Economic Director or let him have both responsibilities. The latters seems to be the case, but it wasn't spelled out in the LMT.
ReplyDeleteI just read in the Webb County meeting agenda for the 14th that the court will most likely approve a $20,000 increase for him. That will raise him to about $128,000 or so from what I hear. Also, they are still going to hire someone at a pay rate of $65,000 to head the deparment. That original position paid $85,000. So much for efficient consolidation. This will be discussed tomorrow a.m. on my show. Thanks Max.
ReplyDeleteThe big suprise today will be Auditor Leo Flores telling the county dads that he is putting the Webb County check register on line. All checks written will be visible....ouch to some.
ReplyDelete