Rio Grande City: $1 million in water bill issues led to police chief’s suspension
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A Rio Grande City official is speaking to Channel 5 News after the city’s suspended police chief filed a lawsuit.
Rio Grande City Police Chief Noe Castillo was suspended on Nov. 13 as the city investigates reports of “negligent mismanagement” of the public utilities department that allegedly occurred while Castillo was serving as deputy city manager.
The lawsuit filed on Friday revealed that the investigation into Castillo involves “faulty meters and water loss.”
READ MORE: Suspended police chief sues Rio Grande City
“There was a drastic water loss, 40%,” Rio Grande City City Manager Gilberto Millan said.
When Milan was appointed city manager, he said he checked up on the departments he was now overseeing and noticed water bills from three accounts did not add up.
According to Millan, the Starr County Jail, South Texas College’s Starr County location and the El Sauz Water Corporation saw lower water bills in the four years Castillo served as deputy city manager. Castillo also oversaw those accounts as part of his role.
“It went from thousands of dollars to a couple hundred,” Milan said. “All the entities are pretty current in their bill. It's the reading, the drastic change in the billing, that triggered our investigation."
Millan said the city lost about $1 million because of the payment issue.
Castillo’s attorney told Channel 5 News his client feels the city is not being transparent.
“Channel 5 News unfortunately knows a lot more about this issue than my client knows about this issue, and that's surprising to me,” attorney Jay Peña said. “And that's why we filed this lawsuit.”
Peña said the suspension was political, and that the new city leadership is treating his client unfairly.
“I have enough evidence to show that he was targeted — his employment has been targeted,” Peña said. "All of the evidence seem to point to just looking for a reason to fire him."
Peña wants to show that evidence in public. The lawsuit asks a judge to force the city to hold any discussion about Castillo in an open meeting, and reverse the suspension that wasn't made in public.
A hearing for the lawsuit has not been scheduled as of Tuesday evening.
Watch the video above for the full story.
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