Three of the six city employees let go by Sweetwater Mayor Jose Diaz last month in what he called a “clean sweep” were 
re-instated by the commission on Monday.
Former Human Resources Director Joanna Rubio was the only department head to be rehired by the minimum required 5-2 margin. But I hope she doesn’t get too comfortable or put up photos of her kids: She’s most likely just going to get fired again.
Maybe Rubio wouldn’t have been rehired on appeal if the vote on her had been later in the meeting, after Commissioner Orlando Lopez — who was made Vice Mayor, as expected, because he had the votes — would have understood the rules sooner. See? Lopez didn’t vote in favor of the other department directors’ appeals because, he said, the city attorney clarified for him that they were employees at will, after all.
Why didn’t anyone call a do-over on Rubio?
Diaz will also likely refire Miriam Mallea, who works in the passport office and did not disclose an arrest 14 years ago on her employment application. While that wasn’t the reason that the mayor stated when he fired her, it can probably be a legitimate reason now. The city has already fired four people who lied on their applications about past arrests and/or criminal charges, said Sweetwater Police Lt. Marcos Villanueva, who has stepped in as the mayor’s acting chief of staff for the past three weeks.
Villanueva said that he could not tell me who those employees were. Ladra suspects it has something to do with the multiple criminal and ethical investigations into city operations and employees at the state, federal and mun
icipal level. But he did say that neither Mallea nor anyone else was targeted. The mayor had criminal background checks done on all city employees after they learned last year that a former code enforcement officer now in charge of the property room at the police department was a federal convict on probation. And that Rubio had allegedly been telling applicants not to worry about that line about prior arrests and/or convictions.
The packed house in council chambers Monday — and there were almost as many people there for the employees as there were for the animals (more on that later) — erupted in applause every time an employee was reinstated.
Mayor Diaz shook his head and interrupted now and then, always through the chair. That is now Lopez, instead of his ally, Commission Vice President Jose Bergouignan, which made the mayor’s handlers — Villanueva and Absentee Ballot Queen Sasha Tirador, who we are supposed to believe is now the mayor’s government affairs consultant for a $1-a-year salary — roll their eyes a couple of times.
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