Duncanville fires City Manager cont.

According to Ferrell-Benavides, her annual performance review had been postponed three times due to a number of issues including weather and health challenges. It was finally rescheduled for April 4 during the regular City Council Meeting.

While she was out of town, she received an email that stated there would be a special call meeting on Thursday, March 30 to review her performance.

“I think the reason the meeting was called, was because she had already put on the books that she was on vacation. Knowing that she was going to be out of town meant that she would not be at the meeting to defend herself,” said Cooks.

Concerned about the motivation for moving her performance review to a timeframe which was impossible for her to attend, Ferrell-Benavides had her attorney Craig Capua read a prepared statement on her behalf. The statement mentioned the challenges that she had faced and accomplish- page 1 and Owner of Parrish Restaurants Ltd., which owns and operates 25 McDonald’s restaurants in Dallas and surrounding cities. The Dallas Business Journal ranked Parrish Restaurants, Ltd, the second Largest Black Owned Firm in North Texas, in 2021 and 2022. from page 1 ments that she made during her tenure as city manager.

In 2017, Parrish received the Dallas Business Journal’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Parrish Restaurants, Ltd consistently makes the Black Enterprise BE 100 as one of the Top 100 Black Owned Businesses in the United States.

Parrish is the second largest investor for the restructuring of the Re-Imagining Red Bird Project which will bring a Marriott Hotel and hundreds of jobs to the Red Bird community. The Project, dubbed Dallas Business Journal’s 2020 Best Real Estate Deal of the Year, includes 200,000 square feet of medical/ clinical services to the southern sector, through Parkland Hospital and UT Southwestern Medical Center.

“I have lost confidence in the performance of Aretha Ferrell-Benavides due to the fact that for two consecutive years the Duncanville annual City audit has been late,” said Patrick Harvey, one of the Duncanville City Council Members who voted to relieve Ferrell-Benavides of her duties as city manager. “I cannot recall a period of time in the history of the City that for two consecutive years the annual audit was not completed on time.”

According to Ferrell-Benavides, Harvey only attended two of the last eight City Council meetings this year and he also initiated the Special Meeting to discuss her performance once she left town.

Mayor Barry Gordon and two other council members voted in favor of Ferrell-Benavides keeping her position. Several members of the community also showed up to support and speak on behalf of Ferrell-Benavides’ performance. Howev- er, this was not enough to sway the entire council.

Ferrell-Benavides stated during the time she served as city manager; she received anonymous remarks about hiring too many Blacks. She also received friction when she began to show concern regarding some bookkeeping issues that were discovered during a recent audit, which contained issues prior to her taking office.

“I have been doing this for 30 years. This is the third city that I have served as city man- ager. I have worked all over the country in city government. My claim to fame is that I have been able to turn around cities,” said Ferrell-Benavides.

Ferrell-Benavides, who is originally from Fort Worth, has served as city manager of Glenn Heights. Prior to returning to Texas to take the position with the City of Duncanville, she also served as city manager of Petersburg, Virginia.

As City Manager for Petersburg, VA., she is credited with helping pull that city back from financial collapse.

Ferrell-Benavides, is only the second African American to be an executive official for the City of Duncanville since the city was incorporated in August of 1947. The first African American to be an executive official was Robert D. Brown Jr., who previously served as Duncanville's police chief from 2007 to 2021. Brown is currently serving as the interim City Manager of Duncanville.

According to the most recent American Community Survey for 2023, Duncanville with a population of almost 40,000, has a racial composition of 52.97% white, 31.07 % Black or African American and 9.75% other.

“I am still working through this situation in my mind. I know that I am not at the end of my career in local government. I was not prepared to change jobs,” said Ferrell-Benavides. I wish this had never happened; I wish I could work on what we were doing for the city. I would like to think that sometimes you can say things that are not pretty and continue to do your job.”

Ferrell-Benavides, who is currently unemployed, admits that she was attracted to the position in Duncanville to help her be closer to her 95-year-old grandmother. Over the last two years she said that it has been important for her to put people first as she has strived to rebuild a city of champions.

While other council members were contacted. They refused to speak on the issue.

He Is A Serial Rapist

The Strong One

By La Juana Barton

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