ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT: GRACIA FINALLY IN, PASSES TEST

 By Juan Montoya

Call it 71 days late and a Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (T-COLE) certification short.

Word has reached the Cameron County Commissioners Court, Human Resources and the District Attorney's Office that soon-to-be (we think) Cameron County Sheriff Department Chief Deputy Robert Gracia has finally passed the T-COLE certification test last Friday

This comes 71 days after Sheriff Eric Garza's swearing in, more than two months and 12 days after Gracia assumed the office without even being hired or on the salary schedule.

On December 31, Gracia assumed the position held by long-time Chief Deputy Gus Reyna, ordered all personnel – even those off duty – to attend Garza's swearing in January 1, required the entire personnel at the department to reapply for their positions, made everyone submit highly private and confidential information for his review upon a threat of disqualification or termination.

Gracia has a noticeable knack to be be overly authoritative and was recorded addressing the assembled departmetn personnel he demanded tier loyalty...or else:

"(For you establish?), this is the chain of command. Whatever happened before goes out the window. This is a new administration, new rules, a new game and we will hold everybody accountable. Whatever loyalties you guys had to anybody, that's gone. If you all wanna get in trouble with me, you just disregard what I just said and then we're going to have issues." 

Then it was revealed that he lacked the T-COLE certification required by the job description and the department was thrown into turmoil and department personnel wondered whether he had any authority to even hold the position, much less to have access to their personnel confidential information or transfer staff in the patrol and jail divisions.

Until Friday, it is obvious he did not. 

Let's see if Garza, who touted himself as a crackerjack administrator while district clerk finally gets this right. Now let's see if the position is advertised again. Last time there were eight applicants, and Gracia did not bother to apply yet assumed command on January 1. Will history repeat itself?

What has become apparent is that Garza and his cadre are somewhat challenged in labor and Human Resources laws upon which county policy is based, and it has not been manifested that they care what the policy says. However, also indisputable is the fact that Gracia contributed some $50,000 toward Garza's campaign and people wondered whether the position was just a payback for his contributions, also, by the way, against state law. 

Others wondered whether Gracia could be charged with impersonating a police officer. It's obvious that the DA's Office did not move on the matter.

Garza's human resources faux pas have not gotten better since.

As a candidate for sheriff Garza promised that – unlike incumbent Omar Lucio – compadrismo would not be tolerated in the department.

And even as he promised that he would give more and better trained jailers for the jail staff, he recently made a salary schedule amendment where he gave up four jailer's positions in exchange for his sheriff administrator position and two clerks to assist him.

The sheriff administrator position was open from March 3 to March 9 and even before the application period was over, and no interviews had taken place, Cameron County District Clerk Laura Perez-Reyes was already congratulating Rick Cornejo on his new position on a Facebook post on March 9 at 2p.m, three hours before the application deadline.

The "We'll be Blue Without You" going away party was held before any other applicants were notified the position had been filled.

Were there any other applicants and did they get a fair shake?

What happened to "ending the compadrismo"? 

For a candidate who hawked his administrative skills at the district clerk's office, this placement – plus that of Chief Deputy to a major financial supporter and non-TCOLE certified Gracia - is making it obvious that Garza is only paying lip service to the county's personnel policies.

The Garza "compadre" got his slot at $45,726. It's who you know in Cameron County, isn't it?

Like we said up top in the headline, there's room for improvement.