Hispanic chamber future still unclear
The Odessa Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is proceeding “slowly” and “cautiously” to fill the organization’s CEO place, which turned vacant immediately after the August firing of previous leader Paul Garza, OHCC Board Chairman Ben Quiroz claimed to the Odessa Growth Company on Thursday.
Garza, who was hired in January, was fired following an audit uncovered discrepancies in the Chamber’s functions account, Quiroz reported. Garza’s previous Government Assistant Sarina Galindo is now serving as interim CEO.
Quiroz, who was evasive when responding to issues requested by the ODC Board, claimed the prolonged troubled chamber organization has established no time table for hiring a new chief.
“We’ve formed a look for committee and have gained a handful of applications,” Quiroz claimed. “But we really feel it would be far better to have a larger sized pool of candidates to decide on from. We’re not dashing the approach.”
Quiroz confirmed that the Odessa Police Department is even now investigating the incident and has asked for the organization’s money documents.
Police Main Mike Gerke could not be achieved for remark.
The Hispanic chamber board is thinking about several procedures to make the organization’s finances and functions far more clear, Quiroz explained.
The firm, which has been plagued by controversy and leadership complications for a number of a long time, has a whole lot of work to do to restore the public’s self esteem, Quiroz admitted.
Due to the organization’s present organizational and lawful difficulties, the ODC and Metropolis Council in August voted to not concern the Hispanic Chamber any new dollars for the 2021-22 fiscal yr.
It’s not the first time the ODC and city council has expressed considerations about the Hispanic chamber’s functions.
In 2018, the ODC unanimously voted to terminate its deal with the Hispanic Chamber after mastering then CEO Price tag Arredondo had been fired, and a number of top-rating board customers pushed out.
The shake-up arrived just several hours prior to Arredondo was about to suggest adjustments to the firm that would have provided ending public payments to the leader of a controversial effort to make business ties with Mexico. That effort and hard work, which was named the “Mexico Initiative,” promised new economic ties amongst Odessa and Mexico, but in no way delivered on its target, in spite of the ODC and town investing hundreds of thousands of dollars on the task.
