Ricardo "Rick" Cortes

Originally from San Antonio, Rick Cortes’ 40-plus year municipal government career began in the City of Austin Budget Office; in his role as budget analyst for the City of Austin, his main areas of responsibilities included the Police, Fire, EMS, and General Services Departments. He also served as Fiscal Planning Manager for the San Antonio Fire Department overseeing the department’s fiscal, purchasing, special projects, and research functions. His career has also included stints as city manager for the cities of Donna, Kirby, and Leon Valley. Most recently, Rick served as Deputy City Manager for the City of Seguin. As Deputy City Manager, Rick oversaw the city’s Electric, Water & Wastewater Utilities, as well as Capital Projects/Engineering, Planning and Codes, Main Street/CVB, Facilities, Parks & Recreation, and Golf. On a professional level, Rick has served on the ICMA Board of Directors representing the Mountain Plains Region and TCMA Board of Directors representing both Region’s 8 and 10.

As Deputy City Manager for the City of Seguin, he specialized in several aspects of municipal services to include electric wholesale power acquisition, natural gas hedging, electric distribution growth and planning, and development services. Helping manage one of Texas’ fastest growing cities, Rick’s area of responsibility included some of the City’s most growth-improved departments such as Planning and Codes, Engineering/Capital Project, Electric, and Water & Wastewater. Rick was able to collaborate with staff to ensure that high complex projects were completed on time and within budget to ensure that growth would progress smoothly mitigating unforeseen issues. Some of these projects include but are not limited to the decommissioning of Walnut Springs Wastewater Treatment Plant, the expansion of the Walnut Springs Wastewater Treatment Plant, expansion of the City’s water CCN to accommodate growth nearly doubling the City’s water customers, and working closely with the development community to help mitigate the impact of this high growth both on residents and staff.

Recently, Rick was honored to receive both the ICMA and TCMA Life Membership designation.