Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Council Renewed Gilbert Consulting Contract


City Council rehired Gilbert Consulting when it approved the Consent agenda yesterday.  No Council member asked how the arrangement had benefited the city.  City Clerk Julia Antilley's rationale for hiring Gilbert was the exactly same as a year ago.  There was no data showing the impact of Gilbert Consulting on any performance measure.

The City of San Angelo hired Judge Allen Gilbert as a consultant shortly after he retired as Municipal Judge.  City Council approved the initial hiring of Gilbert Consulting on March 5, 2019.


The initial recommendation arose from City Attorney Teresa James.  On February 19, 2019 City Council entertained "contract negotiations with court consultant" in Closed/Executive Session.  

It took but a City Clerk and City Attorney to recommend renewing a $60,000 annual contract.  Council failed to ask any questions.  No one asked staff how the transition had gone and if the city got value for its money.  Municipal Court reports directly to City Manager Daniel Valenzuela but his name has been conspicuously absent from all documents.

Update 2-23-20:  While Gilbert was still with Ener-tel the Development Corporation awarded the company $25,000 in BREP funding.  Judge Gilbert is no longer Consulting General Manager and President of Ener-tel Services.  Ener-tel continues to partner with Gilbert Consulting in "developing personalized security policies and procedures for your court."  

Update 2-18-23:  City Council will consider another contract with Gilbert Consulting for $36,000.  Council approved four $60,000 annual contracts since the judge's retirement in 2019.  That's a nice $240,000 post retirement gig.

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