Webb County top Leader ship needs some changes in 2014 Laredo Morning Times 29 reprimands filed Numerous complaints about former water utilities chief From claims ranging from neglecting his job duties to misusing resources, records show that Johnny Amaya, who recently resigned as Webb County water utilities manager, was reprimanded nearly 30 times over a decade and at one point was up for termination. Amaya, a former City Council member and current Laredo Independent School District trustee, resigned Aug. 21 amid a boil water alert in Rio Bravo and El Cenizo after stating he wanted to spend more time with his family. Also in August, it surfaced that the county had overcharged several United Independent School District campuses by a total of about $140,000 on water utility bills. Amaya’s first of 29 reprimands were issued in 2001 after numerous complaints of negligence. In a May 2002 letter from then-Webb County Engineer Tomas Rodriguez Jr., Amaya was reprimanded for failing to maintain essential equipment. “You allowed the water system to run out of water because you did not follow my instructions,” the letter read. “You had not reported any problems or lack of funds to repair the water treatment pumps.” Amaya was not available for comment Friday. Rodriguez, who is now the utilities director for the City of Laredo, told Laredo Morning Times last week that Amaya’s negligence became so frequent that he had to take on his responsibilities. “I was doing his job for him,” said Rodriguez, who issued 14 reprimands to Amaya from 2001 to 2006. “He failed to do it properly so that’s why he got so many reprimands” In 2003, Amaya was reprimanded for failing to pay invoices that were three years past due. A year later, Amaya was notified he was again late on payments to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. According to records, lack of response was a continuous problem during Amaya’s tenure. In a May 2004 letter, Rodriguez blamed Amaya for allowing customer complaints go public. “I strongly recommend that you become more aware of customer service and complaints and take appropriate action immediately,” the letter stated. Three months later, Rodriguez and Webb County officials sent a lengthy complaint to Amaya after touring El Cenizo and Rio Bravo. They alleged Amaya overcharged residents, threatened to cut off their water and did not provide adequate customer service. “The most serious complaint was that you and your personnel were rude and did not provide service,” the letter stated. “This is not the first time I have given you written notice for failure to perform your duties as systems manager. “The current complaints clearly demonstrate that you have not corrected the majority of the deficiencies. Webb County will not tolerate your failure to perform your duties anymore. This will be your last opportunity to prove that you can perform the duties you have been assignedmin an effective and efficient manner.” Rodriguez said he petitioned Webb County officials to fire Amaya but was overruled. “I had essentially fired him,” Rodriguez said. “But the county wanted to keep him around so there was nothing I could do.” The reprimands continued after Rodriguez left the county. Most recently, Amaya was reprimanded for leaving early without generating absence requests and misusing county resources. In November 2011, the county said Amaya misused county resources by calling contractors for donations for his Thanksgiving steak plate sale. He used the county’s contractors phone list for numbers to call to solicit donations,the county said. Two years earlier, hewas reprimanded for using a county printer to print political campaign related materials. “That definitely could’ve been grounds for termination,” said Cynthia Mares, Webb County administrative services department director, of misusing county resources.“Luckily we have commissioners that corrected the problem but it was a day late and a dollar short.” Mares said Amaya may have been able to keep his job at the county because “regrettably, there was not a definitive reprimand limit during that time period.“It all depended on the decision of the department head,” she said.“But common sense said that if you had five or six reprimands, something was wrong.” She noted that the county did not have a true human resources department until 2006. In her role as head of that department, she said the only thing she can do in a situation like Amaya’s is to make a strong recommendation for action or termination.“With civil service in place, there should be immediate action taken after three reprimands,” she said.“During the verbal warnings, there should be a recommendation for a plan of action.” Rosaura “Wawi” Tijerina, the longest-standing commissioner on the court, elected November 2006, said she had no knowledge of Amaya’s reprimands. She added that she could not recall any performance issues being brought before the court. Webb County is not the only entity that treats reprimands on a case-bycase basis. David Garcia, assistant superintendent of human resources at UISD, said each case depends on the severity of the situation. “Each situation is unique on its own,” Garcia said. “If there are minor infractions like tardiness over a number of years, we have an improvement plan as an option rather than handing out a reprimand immediately. However, if there is something like contact with a student, action could be taken immediately.” David Garza, executive director of human resources for LISD, said the district follows the same protocol when it comes to issuing reprimands. “We’ll usually start off with warning and take it from there,” he said. m“Like United ISD, we base our reprimands on the severity of the situation. We don’t have a ‘three strikes’ rule.” Though results from the TCEQ investigation into boil water notice have yet to be released, Webb County Engineer Luis Perez-Garcia has stated numerous times that the problem at the water treatment plant was personnel based.“The employees are undergoing a training program that will be intense for the next six months,” Perez-Garcia said on Aug. 30. “We will be doing an intensive study of operations at the water treatment plant and we still have a long way to go.” (Aldo Amato may be reached at 728-2538 or aamato@aamato@lmtonline)
Posted on: Sun, 22 Sep 2013 21:49:50 +0000
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