The Donna City Council held a special meeting on Monday and voted to terminate City Manager Jorge Pena.

The council was in executive session for about two hours, and when they returned to open session held a vote for Pena's immediate termination.

Councilman Manuel Moreno spoke out against Pena's termination.

"I feel we're going back to the old ways of Donna, plain and simple. Unless I'm wrong, but I don't think so. Everybody's got their own vote and I respect that, and we'll go from there and see how it turns out, but again it goes back to, we've gone through a lot, we've seen a lot, and we still go back to the same ole, same ole a lot of times, and I don't want to do that," Moreno said. "But, again, we're all elected officials, and we have our opinion and I respect everybody's opinion and whatever they vote on, that's fine, that is up to them. They have to deal with the constituency when different things have been put to the side....so the motion has been made and everybody has to live with the decision they'll make tonight."

Councilman Ernesto Lugo Jr. also spoke and explained the reasoning behind Pena's termination.

"We all have different opinions about what's acceptable and what's not... I've got a list of things that are not acceptable. In my opinion, it's nothing personal, but I look at the financial integrity of this city and what concerns me is there's some budget restraints already 45 days after the budget was passed, and we still have 10 months to go, we still have a long ways to go. From a business standpoint, this is all business related, this is nothing personal, and I've got the numbers here, and we're at a deficit already, and it's all based on finances," Lugo said.

Donna Mayor David Moreno allowed Pena to make some final remarks.

"Mayor, council, I can't thank you enough for the opportunity. I like to see good and bad, and there is nothing bad happening today. I'd like to respect the council's wishes, they were elected by the people. I walked in here, recognizing that the city maybe has gone through five or six city managers over the last maybe 15 years. It was very scary, especially giving up employment at my previous employer. I took the opportunity, because there is a lot of good, we did a lot of good," Pena said. "I learned a lot this year, been grateful for this opportunity. It's unfortunate to leave under these terms, nonetheless I respect the council's wishes, more than anything, I respect this community... I hope to leave Donna in a much better place than it was, I know financially we are, contrary to what's been said."

Pena held the position of city manager for a year.