Within the past two months, the city of New Braunfels has appointed its second interim legal counsel.
The latest
New Braunfels City Council unanimously appointed Nathan Brown as interim city attorney following a closed session during a special City Council meeting July 20. The decision comes after the city appointed Brown to serve as the city’s acting city attorney July 14, removing Davidson Troilo Ream & Garza as the interim firm serving as city attorney.
Following a review of five submitted proposals, City Council directed staff to enter into a contract with Affion Public to help recruit the city's next permanent city attorney. Affion Public—a firm specializing in executive recruitment for public sector organizations—will engage with stakeholders, develop a candidate profile, screen and evaluate candidates and present qualified candidates for the council's consideration, according to an email from the city.
Although the timeline for when a new city attorney is selected will vary based on the quality of the candidate pool and the availability of qualified candidates, the search is anticipated to take about three or four months, according to the city's email.
How we got here
The City Council had voted to terminate the employment of its previous city attorney, Valeria Acevedo, in May. The decision to terminate Acevedo’s employment came after city officials and staff discovered a conflict between the city charter and the Texas Constitution regarding the New Braunfels mayoral race, as previously reported by Community Impact.
Following the May 2 election, city officials reviewed the city charter, which stated that the mayoral election is decided by the candidate who receives the most votes, or a plurality of votes, regardless of whether a candidate receives a majority. The city had received information that this was incorrect under state law, which led to a runoff election for the mayor's seat, according to previous Community Impact reporting.
