San Angelo City Council will discuss the following item in closed session on Tuesday:
Personnel matters regarding the Assistant City Manager & City ManagerThe Development Corporation Board received an update regarding the hiring of an Economic Development executive. Assistant City Manager Michael Dane has performed this additional role since Guy Andrews left in August 2022. He has been compensated for that extra work since October 1 of that year.
Dane said he hoped a candidate would be hired and possibly in place by the December meeting. That's three years and three months since the full time position opened up.
City Manager Daniel Valenzuela announced he is in his last year and will retire in October 2026. Rumors have Michael Dane leaving/retiring at the end of 2025.
Personnel matters can cover many things, evaluations, pay increases or adjustments, disciplinary appeals, etc., so the potential list is broad. It will be interesting to hear if Council has anything to share once their meeting reconvenes after executive/closed session.
Big investors behind future power and AI projects have clear expectations around tax abatement and the need for economic subsidies, direct and indirect. They also demand fast track everything, where their needs are prioritized over existing citizens, electricity ratepayers and public water users. That requires a subservient City Council and an accommodating city management.
Dane indicated the City will contract for the work associated with the Northeast Sector Master Plan. Assistant City Manager Rick Weise seemed to confirm Dane's upcoming retirement in the Development Corporation meeting during their banter about "greenery" vs. "design."
Council will consider $255,000 to fund a Northeast Sector plan. That's the area of town where Skybox Data Centers plans to build an AI data center. It's also close to where Peregrine Energy plans to put a battery storage facility.
The Industrial Park is included in the Northeast Sector. The Board of Regents of the Texas A&M University System is buying 5.5 acres in the city's Industrial Park.
Texas Tech is a provider of land for the giant AI Project Matador associated with former Governor Rick Perry's Fermi. There are a lot of players and movers in the AI space amid the land, electricity and water rush.
It's but one data point, the November 18th Council meeting, but it likely indicates the trajectory of our future.
Update 11-16-25: The City is recruiting for Michael Dane's position and applications closed on November 9th according to LinkedIn. That could be the topic of discussion in Council's closed session.
Salary range begins at $178,303
This essay was born out of revulsion to an accidental summer reading that paraded progress as virtue and private equity as its high priest. Every paragraph spoke the same pious language of “sustainable improvement,” “societal benefit,” and “long-term value creation,” as though leverage, asset-stripping, and balance-sheet cosmetics had become moral acts. I found myself revolted not merely by the hypocrisy, but by the vacuousness of it. In our hyper-financialized society, we have come to mistake valuation for value, and activity for achievement. The word ‘progress’ has been exploited to justify anything that moves—no matter what it destroys. What follows is an act of refusal to bow to the idea that more money is progress. If this essay has a motive, it is contempt for the trivial slogans that pass as thought, and for the hollow theory that confuses financial §engineering with human improvement.
Local politicians and Texas voters would be wise to read his piece.
Update 11-19-25: Mayor Thompson had no report, no action items after Council's closed session. He did joke with Michael Dane regarding a February 2026 meeting that will held in the evening as to whether that would be alright with the retiring Assistant City Manager.
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