The Helotes City Council voted to hire Alan R. Ewaniszyk to fill the city attorney position at its Oct. 11 meeting, wrapping up several weeks of struggle that included a date in court.

The 4-1 vote, with Councilman Jeff Ellis opposed and Councilman Rich Whitehead absent, chooses Ewaniszyk over Mayor Tom Schoolcraft’s choice, Vicki Graham.

Ewaniszyk, ranked No. 1 by a panel called to review candidates, is a private business consultant who served as city manager for Aransas Pass for 18 years before he was terminated in 2003, according to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Ewaniszyk also was a city manager finalist for Navasota and Hutto in 2005. Councilwoman Guillerma Contreras, member of the city administrator selection committee, says the normal lifespan for such an official is 3 to 5 years. “City councils come and go,” Contreras said. “I’m thinking that 18 years is really good.”

At the city’s previous meeting, the council voted to strike the phrase “selected by the mayor and approved by the council” to have the ordinance read “This position will be filled by a person selected by the council.”

Schoolcraft expressed his disapproval of the ordinance change that led to the final selection, adding that he did not sign it.

“This type of action can set a precedent for the majority, whoever that may be, to change ordinances at will to enable them to manipulate the management of the city,” states an open letter Schoolcraft wrote to the city.

“This ordinance has worked well in the past and should not changed simply because of a disagreement over which candidate should be selected.”

Councilwoman Alina Matutes-Eckhardt denies that the policy change was a takeover of power, an allegation residents have made at meetings.

“There is no removal of the mayor (from the selection process),” she said. “It could have been easily stricken, but it wasn’t.”

Ellis, who decried the policy change, likened the hiring process to that of the business world. In this case, the panel would be akin to a head-hunting agency.

“I am fundamentally opposed to that,” he said of the policy change.

To make the city administrator selections, the council reviewed 50 applicants and narrowed the pool to three candidates, who were then interviewed by a committee that included Contreras, Whitehead, Police Chief Morton Ault and Fire Chief Walton Daugherty. Ewaniszyk was ranked No. 1; Graham was ranked No. 2. The mayor chose Graham, and a majority of council members declined to hire her.

Graham, who has already served one tour as city administrator, was named in a Texas Election Commission investigation in September involving a political action committee that helped fund campaigns of Helotes candidates.

On Sept. 13, the policies were brought to the table for change, but the agenda, prepared by the mayor, prohibited action on the issue. The mayor has been preparing the agenda because of the absence of a city administrator.

Contreras and Mayor Pro Tem J.B. Richeson took the issue of agenda item altering to court, where the mayor had to agree to permit items as they were originally submitted.