By extension, the man whose executive duty it is to keep one of these cityships on a smooth course is a kind of social warrior, a captain of a big ship, who, like the captain of “Big John,” must maintain himself and his crew at a high level of alertness and efficiency. The specifics of how that works in an individual case come clear in a review of the work, life, and career of Ricardo (Rick) Menchaca, city manager of Midland, a man who, as the jargon of our time puts it, “has his act together.” Midland’s official web site notes that the city’s manager is “the chief executive officer of the government carries out policy and administers city programs.” That’s the whole story in a sentence. Rick’s days split rather neatly into two areas: one is “routine management” (not always so routine), which includes supervising 865 city employees—98% of everybody who works for the city—and the other is “special projects,” individual undertakings to implement city policy, of which a couple of stand-out examples are the new Scharbauer Sports Complex and the Midland International Airport.

 Rick Menchaca is especially happy about some special projects that have been accomplished in his time as city manager: Scharbauer Sports Complex Rick helped bring into being in his years as city manager the fine, new Scharbauer Sports Complex. Built with a 1/4 cent dedicated sales tax, the Scharbauer complex cost $45 million—$40 million for the stadium and $5 million for theroads and other development required. Scharbauer is beginning to pay its way by bringing in an increased “sports tourism,” an influx of business related to the sporting events at the Complex. The Midland baseball team, the Rockhounds, is a minor league team of the Oakland Athletics, who have agreed to play two major-league games a year in Midland. These games always sell out. The Rockhounds pay to lease the stadium and also pay for certain operating expenses. Then there are the high school sports tournaments. Scharbauer is a better facility for these events involving so many teams than any single high school offers. Rick notes that the Midland Rockhounds and the Odessa Jackalopes are both owned by one management company, Midland Concessions Inc., and so overhead costs for both teams can be kept below where they would be if each team required its own separate management.