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BASTROP — Applause and cheers exploded from a frequently rowdy audience as City Manager Sylvia Carrillo won a vote of confidence from the majority of the City Council during a special meeting last week to decide her fate.
The session Thursday, Nov. 21, was called by Mayor Lyle Nelson and Councilwoman Cheryl Lee to seek legal advice on a resolution stemming from a recent performance review of Carrillo.
The council voted to deny the request for an investigation into Carrillo’s actions with only Lee dissenting.
The elected leaders also voted to formally express confidence in Carrillo’s management.
“I have openly many, many times said our greatest achievement that we have had on this council since I’ve been on it is the hiring of Sylvia Carrillo,” said Councilman Kevin Plunkett. “When I came in here, I was in agreement with a lot of the comments that this was a giant waste of time. But I have to disagree now, because this city has spoken loudly, and I am so proud of that.”
Much of the meeting revolved around a report Lee submitted to her colleagues Nov. 12 during executive session, in conjunction with Carrillo’s annual performance review.
“The memo contained information I found to be concerning regarding questionable spending and actions taken by the city manager regarding city funds as well as allegations that staff are operating in a hostile work environment under her leadership,” Lee said.
She told council she had been working since May to gather the information through records requests and interviews with past employees.
Lee reminded them that during the Nov. 12 meeting, council members said they needed time to review the memo and reconvene to determine if a formal investigation or action regarding suspension or termination of employment was warranted.
Even though it was intended to be confidential, the report from Lee quickly made its way into the public arena, spurring an outcry on social media and a call to arms that filled the meeting room and the overflow room at the convention center with Carrillo supporters, including many members of city staff.
Few members of the audience spoke out against the city manager.
The discussion originally was scheduled to take place in executive session, but at the request of Carrillo it was moved to an open forum.
Ca r r i l lo went through the memo point by point, answering the 15 allegations. She noted that some of the issues happened before she was hired in 2022.
She had video evidence from previous council recordings refuting other points. Many of the accusations she answered through explanations of her actions as well as copies of contracts and budget items.
“I’m going to start with Ecclesiastes: ‘There is a time for everything. There is a time to cast away stones, and there is a time to build,” Carrillo said. “My hope is today all the stones are cast away, and we use it to build a beautiful city because, Lord knows, we have a lot of work to do.”
The council directed the city manager to bring back individual resolutions of support for other city employees who were mentioned in the report.
Her colleagues on the dais have not changed her mind about Carrillo, Lee said.
“This was about documented information that I found that the city manager was flat out not truthful about. Choose to believe what you want, but I’m not going to back down on what I believe is principal. Read the memo for yourself. Decide for yourself,” Lee told the audience afterward.
Others, however, had high praise for Carrillo.
“I’ve been (on the Planning and Zoning Commission) six years and on City Council a year and a half. I have never seen city government operated as efficiently and as well as it does under Sylvia Carrillo Trevino,” said Councilwoman Cynthia Meyer. “I can tell you that because of my love of this town and all of its citizens, I support Sylvia to the 100th degree. Sylvia loves this town.”
“My hope is today all the stones are cast away.”
— City Manager Sylvia Carrillo
