PORT MANSFIELD, Texas - A new director has been appointed to help navigate the waters of Port Mansfield.
Oscar S. Montoya, Sr., the current mayor of the City of Mercedes, was chosen from a list of six applicants during the Wednesday, March 11, meeting of the Willacy County Navigation District Board of Commissioners.
Three commissioners – Ernesto “Lefty” Cavazos, Stacey Reyes and Albert Trevino - voted in favor, while Steve Kendrick cast the only dissenting vote.
Montoya, who is 62 years old, has accepted the job offer but hasn’t signed the paperwork to make it official.
“I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves and meet with everybody who live at the port and everywhere else,” Montoya told the Rio Grande Guardian on Friday. “I would like to see the port to the level it’s meant to be.”
The port has a permanent population of a little more than 200 people but the navigation district jurisdiction goes as far as Lasara, about 30 miles to the west.
Montoya said he knows the port has a thriving fishing community and it’s involved in a number of much-needed infrastructure projects that are still to be completed.
“It’s important to make sure people do what they like to do,” he said. “Everything has to be taken in steps, and any economic growth has to be done responsibly.”
According to a news release issue by the WCND, Montoya has more than 38 years in public service and law enforcement.
He worked as security director at Lone Star National Bank, managed the Office of the Sheriff’s Police Academy and was the emergency management director, both in Hidalgo County.
Montoya is replacing Ron Mills, a Brownsville resident who served as port director for nearly 11 years.
He turned in his resignation following an executive session of the district board of commissioners held on Oct. 22, 2025.
Mills tried to bring commercial activity to Port Mansfield, such as container and barge traffic.
However, he was heavily criticized by a group of port residents for the way he ran the port, for living outside Willacy County and for not being accessible.
But, under Mills’ leadership the port secured record funding from the federal government that allowed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to keep the ship channel to navigable.
