LaredoBuzz.Com

Courtesy Rafael Benavides,

LAREDO, Texas—The Laredo City Council voted on Wednesday to confirm Robert A. Eads as city manager, effective immediately. The council also voted in favor of appointing Rosario Cabello as deputy city manager. Both had previously served as co-interim city managers for a period of 13 months while the City of Laredo went on a national recruitment effort for a new city manager.

Slavin Management Consultants lead the effort to recruit applicants with a council-appointed city manager ad-hoc committee overseeing the process. The City of Laredo Human Resources Department, the city attorney and Co-Interim City Manager Rosario Cabello served as liaisons between the consultants and the committee. The committee was charged with evaluating the applicants that met the minimum qualifications and then gave their recommendations to city council, which ultimately decided to interview the two finalists during a special city council meeting on Wednesday, March 4, 2020. After about 6 hours of interviews, the council found Eads to be the most qualified and best fit to lead and manage a city staff force of almost 3,000.

Eads is well-prepared to take on the new role, having recently received the prestigious Credentialed City Manager designation by the International City Manager Association (ICMA). The designation makes him one of only 96 city managers in the entire state of Texas with these credentials, and the only ICMA-certified manager in City of Laredo history.

According to the ICMA, in order to receive the credential, a member must have significant experience as a senior management executive in local government; have earned a degree, preferably in public administration or related field; and demonstrated a commitment to high standards of integrity and to lifelong learning and professional development.

Eads has over 20 years of professional management experience. Aside from serving as co-interim city manager for Laredo since February 2019, he was previously the Laredo Traffic Director, Assistant City Manager for Laredo, City Manager of the City of Del Rio and the City of San Luis, Arizona, and Chief Operations Officer/Vice President of the Laredo Chamber of Commerce where he served for 10 years.

He holds both a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems and a Master of Business Administration from Sul Ross State University. Eads served honorably as a U.S. Marine from 1993-1998 in counterintelligence as a signal intelligence analyst and held a top secret clearance with additional Special Compartment Information designations.

He has received numerous recognitions throughout his career including the 2012 Government Hispanic Business Advocate of the Year award by the Texas Association of Mexican American Chamber of Commerce, the 2011 Innovation Award by the Del Rio Chamber of Commerce and the 2011 Administrator of the Year award from the Del Rio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

In addition, he has also made significant contributions to a number of organizations including the United Way of Laredo and the Streets of Laredo Urban Mall. He is also a graduate of both the City of Laredo and the Laredo Chamber of Commerce Leadership Laredo programs.

Eads is a proud husband to his wife Lupita and a father of two: Rudy Vedia, 25, and Robert Eads, Jr., 12.

“Personally, this has been a long but worthwhile journey,” said City Manager Robert Eads. “I thank the council for believing in my ability to manage and lead such a talented team of civil servants. The process for applying, interviewing and being selected was very difficult and I believe that’s how it should be. This is an important position for our organization and I knew going in that whomever was chosen had to have thick skin and believe in their abilities no matter what.

I also want to thank my mother, wife and many friends who supported me throughout this process. We have a lot of work to do to make the council’s vision for our community a reality. I have an open door policy with staff and the public and promise to not only lead by example, but to listen to the needs of our citizens and to our mayor and council who have been elected to represent them. Laredo is an amazing place and with the input and participation of our citizens it will become even better.”