Alvarado, staffers to testify before grand jury

We were sitting around this weekend wondering what happened to everyone's favorite city councilwoman — no, not that one; we're talking about Carol Alvarado, who stepped down as mayor pro-tem after it was discovered staffers in her pro-tem office took $143,000 in unauthorized pay bonuses. It's been quite a while since we heard anything in the pro-tem case, but now, finally, there's some news: The four dismissed pro-tem employees and Alvarado herself will testify before a grand jury this week.

The panel is expected to spend at least two weeks hearing from witnesses and reviewing evidence before deciding whether criminal charges are warranted, he said.

"We're just trying to let a grand jury sort it out and decide who ought to be indicted, if anybody," said Smyth, chief of the office's governmental affairs bureau.

A seven-month investigation into the City Hall payroll scandal concluded that the four employees — Rosita Hernandez, Christopher Mays, Theresa Orta and Florence Watkins — broke city rules when they took the bonuses and payraises, and it also found evidence that Alvarado didn't know anything about what they were doing. Walter A. Boyd III, Hernandez's lawyer, said Hernandez plans to testify that Alvarado authorized the payments — it's that authorization, whether direct or not, that's been one of the central issues in the scandal so far.

One thing everyone can agree on: This investigation has taken a while. Alvarado's lawyer, Rusty Hardin, told the Chronicle that Alvarado was anxious to answer questions, noting that "this has been going on a long time." And, as Off the Kuff noted earlier this month, Harris County DA Chuck Rosenthal was getting antsy, too: "It seems like it's been a long time to me since we've been looking at this without being able to bring something to the grand jury," he said.