The Laredo City Council today approved City Manager Robert Eads’ recommendation to appoint Utilities Director Riazul Mia and City Attorney Kristina Hale as Assistant City Managers effective immediately.
Mia and Hale will each be responsible for a number of city departments and will assist both the Deputy City Manager and the City Manager in running city services and affairs.
“Riazul Mia brings an incredible amount of technical and managerial experience in engineering and development and is a perfect fit for many of our public works and services departments,” said Eads.
“Kristina Hale is an expert in governmental legal affairs and has helped to implement a quicker and more transparent process for public information requests. Our Deputy City Manager Rosario Cabello also brings more than 20 years of expertise in finance management. Together, we have assembled a great team that is not only capable of managing all aspects of our city and implementing the wishes of the Council, but that will improve the services we provide to all Laredoans.”
Riazul Mia
Mia grew up in Bangladesh and received a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology in 1988. He graduated from Louisiana State University with a Master of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering in 1996 and obtained a Master of Public Administration from Texas A&M International University in 2003. He completed the Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program at Harvard University’s J.F.K. School of Government in 2006.
Mia has 24 years of experience in water/wastewater management, storm water management, hydrologic and hydraulic analyses, watershed and floodplain studies, subdivision development and regulation, and construction and project management.
He became director of the Environmental Services Department in May 2001 and has been the City’s Utilities Director since July 2015. He led the the Chacon Creek Restoration Project and the River Vega Master Plan: two projects that protect local natural resources while allowing for better flow and drainage of the watershed system and allowing residents another opportunity to enjoy nature.
He was the project manager and contract developer for the public-private partnership that allowed for the construction of a much-needed five lane concrete road to extend Bartlett Avenue.
Mia is a members of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Texas City Manager Association, the Texas Floodplain Management Association, and the Texas Water Utilities Association, among others.
Kristina Hale
Native Laredoan Kristina Hale earned a Bachelor of Science from St. Mary’s University in 1994 and studied law at Texas Southern University School of Law. She qualified to take the Texas Bar exam during her third year of law school, earning the distinction of graduating as a licensed attorney in 1997.
Hale has devoted her legal career to the practice of government law, having served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Laredo Child Support Division, Assistant District Attorney, and Assistant Webb County Attorney before joining the City of Laredo as an Assistant City Attorney in 2007.
As Assistant City Attorney, she automated the open records system and centralized the processing of all department requests to ensure strict compliance with the applicable provisions of the Texas Public Information Act.
For many years, Hale served as lead attorney for the city in all litigation not covered under its risk pool, and has filed dozens of successful lawsuits on the city’s behalf. She exclusively has handled all levels of appellate work for the city to include the successful granting of a Petition for Review by the Texas Supreme Court that reversed the decision of a lower court and helped to establish new state law.
Throughout her tenure with the city, Hale has served as legal counsel to all city departments, boards and commissions of the City, and served as the attorney for the Ethics Ad Hoc Committee in which she was instrumental to help draft the initial Ethics Code of Conduct, and subsequently was appointed to serve as the City’s Ethics Compliance Officer.
Hale was promoted to First Assistant City Attorney in 2011, a position that she held for five years before being named Interim City Attorney in December of 2016. She was officially appointed City Attorney on December 3, 2017, and is notably the first female to have held that position in the history of the City of Laredo.
Hale has served as president of various civic and professional organizations, including the Laredo Young Lawyers Association, Webb County Bar Association, Webb County Women’s Bar Association, International Good Neighbor Council, and the Society of Martha Washington. She was appointed by the State Bar of Texas to serve on its Public Affairs Committee and currently serves as a councilmember of the Texas Government Law Section.
She is an active member of the State Bar College and has received certification in municipal law from the Texas City Attorney’s Association.
Hale is the recipient of numerous recognitions over the years, including the Award for Meritorious Performance from the Texas Attorney General’s Office, the Spark Plug Award, Star of Achievement Award, and Outstanding Partnership Award from the State Bar of Texas.
