BROWNSVILLE, Texas - The City of Brownsville has about half as many full- and part-time employees per capita than the City of McAllen.
This statistic was revealed by Alan Guard, the new interim city manager of Brownsville.
“We (the City of Brownsville) have between 1,200 and 1,300 full time employees and part time. We have about 5.1 employees per 1,000 residents. That's about half of what McAllen has. McAllen has about 9.8 employees per 1,000,” Guard said, as he was about to take over the reins from Helen Ramirez, the outgoing Brownsville city manager.
The Rio Grande Guardian secured an in-depth interview with Guard at a reception the City of Brownsville held for Ramirez at the Brownsville Events Center on Thursday, December 18, 2025.
Guard, who had been Brownsville’s deputy city manager for the past two years, has over 30 years experience in public administration. He was previously mayor of Pilot Point, Texas, and Chickasha, Oklahoma. He took over as interim city manager of Brownsville at 5:01 p.m. on December 18.
Asked about Ramirez’s legacy in Brownsville, Guard said it has to start with her One City philosophy.
“I think the most important thing (Ramirez has done) is the creation of the One City culture. It's really embedded in all of our employees. They believe it, it's authentic. It's really our brand. It's who we are, and because of that, everybody who is working here has a purpose.”
Guard said Ramirez has been “very authentic” about her One City philosophy. “People believe her, and people work for her because they believe in her and and that's great for our community.”
Asked where the One City concept came from, Guard said it came to Ramirez when she was preparing to make her pitch for the city manager’s position.
“She kind of sketched it out on a napkin and came up with the idea. And it is so simple. One City: people, purpose, project. We do projects, our people work with purpose. But our people come first. If you are not taking care of your people, if your people do not understand the ‘why?’ then the won’t produce for you.
“So, people, purpose, project is a natural progression for that. And it was just an idea that came to her. And the idea was to break down silos, not only within the city but working with our partners, GBIC, BCIC, our business communiy, our hospitals, our school districts, everybody. If we come together as One City we can accelerate our growth, our prosperity, even faster. And it works.”
GBIC stands for Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation. BCIC stands for Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation.
Asked what he thought of the concept, when he first heard about it, Guard said: “Having been a city manager and having had to come up with that type of branding, my first through was: brilliant. It is simple, it is easy, it is easy for anybody to understand. And when you say it and you start thinking about it, you immediately buy into it.”
Guard said the One City philosophy will continue long after Ramirez has gone.
“That’s what you want to do when you work at the top level, you want to leave a legacy. You want to leave something behind that people remember. But not only do they remember it, they keep doing it. I think it's become so embedded in all of our employees that… it will carry it on. I know that the (city) commission, within the promotional materials that they're having prepared for the recruitment (of the next city manager), they talk about continuing that One City culture. It is going to be a requirement of the next city manager.
“So, the leadership believes it, the commission believes it. They're going to ask questions about it when they interview potential candidates, and I'm sure they'll take that into account with whoever they hire.”
Guard said he agreed with Ramirez that Brownsville needs all types of housing. “We have people at different income levels. We have people at different points in their life. So, we need a wide variety of housing, including apartments, town homes, big houses, small houses, medium houses. We need to have that whole variety to meet the needs of our all our citizens.”
Guard said he is going to miss Ramirez.
“I came here to work for her. Obviously, when she announced that she was going to move on, I was very disappointed. But, at the same time, I'm very grateful to her for bringing me here. I love working for Brownsville. I love the people I work with. She's left us in a very good position. She’s leaving on her own terms, and she's leaving us in a good place.”
Asked how long he will stay as interim, Guard said:
“Well, that's up to the commission. The commission is confident. I think I've proven myself over the last two years. I'm very comfortable being in this role. I have been a city manager before, so I understand the role. But, I'm very confident that not only will we keep things going, we're going to keep things moving forward. We have our 2026 work plan. The commission has strategic goals they want to accomplish, and we have the momentum going. So, there's no intention of just being a placeholder. We're going to keep moving forward and carrying out the commission's strategies and make sure that we keep Brownsville advancing.”
Asked if he could recite some of the economic numbers that illustrate the growth of the city, Guard said:
“I don't know them nearly as well as Helen does. I do know that they're hiring people out at the LNGs. They’re hiring people out at SpaceX. Those are constantly growing. Our housing permits continue to stay up. We continue to see commercial development, like Barnes and Noble opening. Amazon is getting ready to open their fulfillment center. We're starting to build our new public safety facility out at the GBIC industrial park, and they (GBIC) are continuing to bring in new businesses. So, just from that standpoint, I know that things are going to continue to grow, and we're going to continue to see it.
“You see new buildings going up all over town, new apartments, new gas stations, new restaurants. You see things getting repurposed. The old Johnny Carino’s is now a Palenque Grill, and so we're not stopping. The mall is full on the weekends. We're still moving forward. Our first month of sales tax numbers are up ten percent over the last same month the prior year. So things are still going to keep moving forward.”
Asked if there was anything else he would like to add, Guard said: “Nope. Just looking forward to the challenge. I have a great team. I'm not worried about us moving forward. Buckle up. It will be a great ride.”
Editor's Note: Here is a video recording of the Guardian's interview with Alan Guard:
