FORMER PHARR CITY MANAGER ASKS FOR CLARIFICATION ON SICK PAY

By G. Romero Wendorf

The $465k payout handed to former City Manager Fred Sandoval last week needs some adjustment, according to Sandoval.

After the checks were issued, and he had picked them up from city hall, Sandoval sent an email to the city manager, saying he thought that the amount was in error, and he was due extra money. He asked for clarification.

The reason?

According to Sandoval, his unused sick and vacation pay, which totaled 3,014 hours (1,704 vacation; 1,310 sick), had been miscalculated on his payout check. It had been calculated using his base pay as city manager, $190,000 per year ($91.34 per hour based on a 40-hour week), instead of the total gross pay he was making when he resigned/retired, which was $248,700 ($239,700 plus a $9,000 car allowance). Which equates to an hourly rate of $119.56.

The hourly difference between the $190,000 per year and the $248,700, based on a 40-hour work week, is $28.22. And then multiply that number by the 3,014 hours of unused vacation and sick pay Sandoval said he was due.

So now, instead of a payout worth $465,323.42, Sandoval questioned whether or not he was due a higher total payout: approximately $550,353.84 - a difference of almost $85,000.

Last week, the Pharr mayor “Amos” Hernandez said as far as he was concerned, the city commission had voted on the payout rate of $190,000. And that should apply to Sandoval’s sick and vacation pay as well.

In other words, because the commission had approved Sandoval’s severance based on his base pay of $190,000, that’s the number on which his unused sick pay and unused vacation pay should be based. Not the $248,700 salary (including car allowance).

But contacted by phone this week, Hernandez said he has since been advised by the city’s legal counsel, Michael Pruneda, to no longer discuss the Sandoval matter with the media or the general public. Moving forward, any discussion about this should be handled in executive session, wrote Pruneda in a text message to the city commission and staff. The final agreement signed between Sandoval and the city once the severance package had been agreed to precluded either party making disparaging remarks against the other.

So now, instead of a payout worth $465,323.42, Sandoval questioned whether or not he was due a higher total payout: approximately $550,353.84

So now the question becomes, what number should be used to determine Sandoval’s hourly rate for his unused sick and vacation pay (the 3,014 hours): approximately $91 per hour or the $119.56?

The difference to the city amounts to $85,030.42.

The city manager, Juan Guerra, said this week that he’s waiting for a legal opinion from City Attorney Michael Pruneda as to how to proceed.

Contacted by phone this Tuesday, Pruneda said the decision is basically an administrative decision. He says that in his opinion, the city commission capped the severance pay at the $190k number, but didn’t render any opinion on the rate for sick pay and vacation.

City Commissioner Bobby Carrillo said he’s going to wait for the city attorney to render an opinion on the matter.

“At the end of the day, I don’t think this is an administrative decision. I think what Fred is asking for is going to be determined by what city policy dictates. I don’t think it’s the choice of the city commission. And Mike (Pruneda) is going to be the one to have to interpret the city policy. If the city makes the wrong decision, and Fred ends up suing us, it’s going to be the city attorney that’s going to have to defend the city.”

In the payout that went to Sandoval originally, the mayor refused to sign the release, saying he was opposed to it, leaving it instead in the hands of the mayor pro tem, Oscar Elizondo.

“As long as I’m legally able to do so, I’ll sign the release,” Elizondo said.

He checked with Pruneda, got the go-ahead and signed off on the payout.

Now, when asked what he thought about Sandoval’s request for the payout to be re-calculated, Elizondo said he thinks the decision should be left in the hands of the city attorney.

“It’s whatever the city policy says and (the city attorney’s) interpretation of it,” he said.

But Elizondo is still a staunch defender of Sandoval.

“I still think he did a lot of great things for this city,” he said. “And now it’s amazing how many people are dumping on him. I feel sorry for the guy. His career has basically been ruined.”Why, though, does he think Sandoval walked away from his PEDC director’s position, which the city commission approved giving him after his resignation as city manager?

“I just don’t think he could work with this new administration. And he realized it after a few weeks of getting into it. But I just hate to see so many people going around now bad-mouthing him. The very same people who used to speak highly of him, are now running him down all the time. People turn on a dime. One minute you’re their hero, the next minute, they can’t say enough bad things about you. It’s like, what-have-you-done-for-me-today kind of thing. Sure, he can retire, but his career is basically over.”

Elizondo said for him, it’s odd how so many people “freak out” over Sandoval’s pay of approximately $239,000. 

“But he worked his (expletive) off getting to that point. It’s like some people say doctors make too much money. Yeah, but how hard did they have to work getting to that point? How many hours did they put in on the job? Fred didn’t work a 40-hour week. And then if a doctor who’s making $235,000 is going to retire, we’re going to pay him less than that to retire? And besides, he was working two positions.”