Hidalgo County judge’s leadership tested during pandemic

When Richard F. Cortez took office as Hidalgo County judge in 2019, he had four goals in mind: win the public’s trust, be efficient and effective in running his government, reduce poverty, and bring investments to the area. Cortez felt good about where he was on that list. Perhaps one of the most important issues on his plate at the time was the 2020 census, which if an accurate count would have been achieved it could very well lead to the resources and funding necessary to address so much of what he sought to accomplish. But in just the second year of his term, something else happened that would not only divert attention, but consume all facets of governing and challenge the highest elected office-holder in the county.

Once the coronavirus made its arrival to the Rio Grande Valley in the spring of 2020, it was only a matter of time before it made its way to Hidalgo County, and when it did, it placed Cortez in the position of being the central repository for all needs and concerns shared by 22 cities in the county’s jurisdiction, not to mention nonprofits and hospital systems — each with their own unique requirements, each imperative. And all that Cortez sought to address at the onset of his first term had to take a backseat to the global pandemic that had made its way into the community. “Unfortunately, as we were embarking on trying to make improvements in all those areas, COVID-19 hits,” Cortez said Tuesday. “It just really put a damper on so many things that I wanted to do because of the seriousness of COVID-19. As you all know, it’s been crippling not only for Hidalgo County but for the whole country.” In March 2020, he met with his staff and municipal leaders about implementing broad pandemic restrictions that left much of the county, like the rest of the country, in quarantine with only essential business and services remaining. Curfews were instituted, businesses were closed, events were canceled, face mask requirements and social gathering limitations were ordered — all signed off by the county judge. It took massive coordination considering each city’s cooperation. “I think we started off very well in working together and identifying what kind of restrictions and regulations we were going to put on our citizens,” Cortez said of initial cooperation with the cities. “I think they did look to the county for leadership to do that. I would always ask … my first question to the 22 mayors was always, ‘Are we doing something that we’re not supposed to be doing? And should we be doing something that we’re not doing?’ so that we could pull our aggregate wisdom. The wisdom of two is better than the wisdom of one. The wisdom of 10 is better than the wisdom of two to come up with rules and regulations with COVID.”