Rick Menchaca is the “boss man” for the whole panoply of city departments and services. He and his two assistants, Tommy Hudson and Marcus Johnston, are responsible for: Police; Fire; Airport; Community Services (Health and Senior Services, two senior centers, and the city’s parks and golf courses); Development Services (construction and repair of streets and traffic); Utilities (water, electric, sewer, solid waste, landfill); Support Services (finance); Administrative services; Communications and Information Services (the city’s computers; City and Midland County 911 Dispatch Center); Internal Services (a fleet of about 800 items of rolling stock, the city’s purchasing office, and the construction and maintenance of buildings). Lots of work to do. The year 2000 was a big one for Rick Menchaca. He became city manager at the age of 34. And he married. His bride was Kristin Torgeson, who had three youngsters by a previous marriage. Since marrying, Rick Menchaca and Kristin have had two more children, so now they have a family of five, all at home: Elodie 10, Savannah 8, Hayden 6, Gabriella, who will be 3 in April of this year, and Breiten Augustus, 15 months. (Breiten, Rick Menchaca’s maternal grandmother’s maiden name, is pronounced Britten.) Rick Menchaca and Kristin and their children attend the Episcopal Church of the Holy Trinity in Midland. Rick Menchaca and Kristin make a special point of family dinner together (sans TV). And they travel as a family, mostly in Texas, and to visit grandparents and other relatives.
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He began to debate with the administration on that, and it indeed finally happened not long after he graduated. Rick Menchaca went on without delay to Texas Tech University in Lubbock, where he received the degree of Master of Public Administration in 1988. While working on his own courses he was also a teaching assistant in political science. And while at Texas Tech, Rick Menchaca earned a summer internship in 1987 with the City of Midland. After he graduated, he went to work as a budget analyst for the City of Lubbock from 1988 to January 1990. Then the City of Midland— apparently Rick Menchaca’s destiny—called again. He came to work here January 15, 1990 as an assistant to the then city manager, Fred Poe. Rick Menchaca advanced to an assistant city manager in 1993. Poe retired and the next city manager was Mike McGregor, who in turn retired in 2000, and that was when Rick Menchaca advanced to the top job by appointment of the City Council. Midland is governed by an elected mayor and city council. Michael Canon is mayor, ending a three-year term this May. He is expected to run again. The mayor and the Midland City Council appoint the holders of the four top positions in the city hierarchy: the city manager, the city attorney, the two municipal judges, and the city secretary. The City Council has six members elected by the citizens: four from designated geographical districts and two at-large for the whole city. These elected officials set the policies that Rick Menchaca executes.
