Mendoza discusses plans for Gallup

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Less than two weeks into his new job, Mayor Harry Mendoza isn't saying much about his plans for Gallup, not until he gets to talk them over with the rest of the City Council. But even the little he's said doesn't all seem to be getting through.

During his campaign, Mendoza turned questions about curbing alcohol abuse into answers about the city's illicit drug problem and the need for more cops on the street. On election night, he called it one of his 90-day initiatives and spoke of finding those extra cops from among the ranks of the Gallup Police Department's administrators. Friday evening, he said the idea was alive and well.

Police Chief Sylvester Stanley didn't seem to know about it, though. Stanley said he'd met one with Mendoza since he took office, but left with the impression that they agreed to continue with business as usual. So far as Stanley was concerned, "we will continue doing what we've been doing."

While it would always be nice to have more people, Stanley said, he was comfortable with the way the ones he has were currently distributed through the department. Of the force's 60 personnel, he said, 25 are dedicated to patrols. Since taking over, Stanley said he's also dedicated more people to narcotics and created a property crimes unit. And of the six additional officers he's asked the council to fit into its 2008 budget, he said, all would be dedicated to patrols.

But Mendoza still wants to move people out of the department's offices. Exactly how, and how many, he said he'd leave to Stanley's and City Manager Eric Honeyfield's discretion.

"I think I know what we need," Mendoza said, "but they're going to work out the details."

In any case, he added, it won't happen right away.

"It's not something we can do in the next few days or even the next few months," Mendoza said.

He's also been talking with Honeyfield about renegotiating the city's current contract with the police union in order to give officers a raise. If the council picks up Stanley's budget requests, everyone from lieutenant through captain would also see a pay increase.

And they're not the only personnel changes Mendoza has in mind. He also has city staff working on an advertisement for a personnel director and hopes to have it out by next week. Since Anthony Lincoln left the post in 2003, Administrative Services Director Larry Binkley has been watching over the personnel office, next to all this other duties.

With a city work force well over 400, Mendoza thinks the city needs someone devoted to the job full time. Some city staff aren't so sure.

Those who think the job needs its own director might point to the city's $300,000 payout to the U.S. Justice Department in September of 2004 for employment discrimination against American Indians. But as Binkley pointed out, the city had a personnel director for nearly all of the seven years the settlement covers from 2004 on back.

Binkley, who's announced his plans to retire in May, doesn't see the need for a personnel director. Neither does another employee, speaking anonymously, who noted that the city hasn't been sued over employee matters since the settlement, has a pay plan with all its employees and hasn't had to pay an outsider to negotiate contracts.

"What was the problem that you needed to fix?" the employee asked. "There isn't one."

But the personnel director is another one of Mendoza's 90-day initiatives. And when that person arrives, the mayor wants him or her to conduct a thorough review of all employees.

That has some city employees more worried that others. Most are protected from the political winds that shift with each new administration from labor laws that demand just cause. But a select few six to be exact are at will. That means they can be ordered to pack up their things for just about any reason, or none at all. The city manager and city attorney can be removed by a majority of the council. The administrative services director, economic development director, police chief and city clerk, meanwhile, can be removed by the city manager alone.

As the city's most high-profile employees, these six tend to make a lot of both friends and enemies through their work. The hope for any one of them during election season is that none of the enemies they've made is a very close friend of any of the candidates who win.

For any new administration, one employee said, "the quickest way to show you're doing something is to get rid of people."

But of all six at will employees, another said, "the city manager has to be the most concerned. He's the most exposed. He makes a lot of decisions."

There's always some tension between a new city manager and mayor, Honeyfield conceded: "It's kind of like a forced marriage where we're both dating other people."

Still, Honeyfield believes it's a marriage with potential. Over the course of their daily meetings, he said he's been impressed by Mendoza's experience. The new mayor has been on the council before and served a few terms on the McKinley County Commission.

Mostly, Honeyfield said, he's been filling Mendoza in on the state of the city.

So far Mendoza has announced no personnel plans other than his desire to hire a director and moving some cops around. But that hasn't stopped some from speculating.

"Definitely there were rumors going around, and that certainly made some people more anxious than others," Binkley said of the campaign buzz. "But I don't think it's different than any other election ... The unknown is always there."

"I think a lot of people get caught up in the rumor mill," said Economic Development Director Glen Benefield. "The fact that they don't know probably makes them worry more than if they didn't know anything at all."

Unlike the city's other at will employees, though, Benefield already has someone lined up to take his place. Former State Rep. Irvin Harrison applied for the job when it went to Mike Enfield, Benefield's predecessor. As part of its settlement with the Justice Department, the city agreed to offer Harrison the job if it ever opened up again. But Benefield said he was feeling no pressure to leave from the mayor or councilors and doubted Harrison would want the job now anyway since he's making more money as the chief advisor for Carol Sloan, the newest member of the state's Public Regulatory Commission.

If a little apprehension at the start of a new administration is natural, then so is change.

"Every administration has a different game plan," Benefield said, and as an employee, "you adapt and move on."