Two city officials given the axe
Benefield, Holland told to leave

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Two more top-tier City Hall officials are packing up.

Economic Development Director Glen Benefield and City Clerk Patty Holland confirmed this morning that they've been told to leave, with little to no explanation. As at-will employees, the city can let them go at any time and for any reason — or none at all. In addition to these two, Larry Binkley, administrative services director, will be resigning effective in May.

Technically, Benefield and Holland both work at the pleasure of City Manager Eric Honeyfield, who's job alone it is to hire and fire the city clerk and economic development director. But according to Benefield and Holland, Honeyfield, who broke the news to them Wednesday afternoon, said he was directed to fire them by the city council.

Honeyfield and the councilors could not be immediately reached for comment. Mayor Harry Mendoza said he was on his way to a meeting and had no time to meet this morning.

Benefield was Councilman Pat Butler's campaign manager when he defeated Mendoza in a runoff for his District 3 seat two years ago, but would not speculate about whether that had anything to do with his termination. Holland, meanwhile, admitted to having strong suspicions that her handling of the mayoral election, and of delinquent utility accounts, had much to do with her own firing.

When Mendoza fell less than one vote shy of winning the March 6 race for mayor outright — forcing him into a runoff against second-place finisher Ralph Richards — Holland, citing state statute, refused to round Mendoza's percentage of the total votes cast up to the 40 percent he needed. Mendoza said the statutes were open to interpretation and that Holland could have rounded if she wanted. But City Attorney George Kozeliski backed Holland up, scouring the Internet for any signs anywhere in the United States that rounding up was kosher, finding none. The council, pre-Mendoza, subsequently certified the results, forcing the runoff.

A translating error on the ballots also forced the election's canvassing board to recount the general election votes, which put Mendoza within less than one-tenth of a vote of an outright victory, but Holland believes the city arrived at the right numbers in the end.

"I think I did my job. I did it well. I followed the rules," she said. "I would do it the exact same way."

Holland also took a lot of heat for the extra pressure city hall has been putting on delinquent utility customers. Before cutting anyone off, the city sends out two notifications and attempts to work with the customer to set up a repayment plan. But when customers have been uncooperative, they have gotten cut off. Some have complained — vehemently.

"It's an uphill battle," Holland said, "but we take great efforts to let them know that they're past due."

Holland said she hasn't been given a final day, but expects to be out within the next week or so.

Benefield said he's been told to leave by June 30, but he's wondering if his position will go with him. He's not sure if the council has a mind to do away with his department altogether.

He's worried it might.

"It concerns me that we won't have that contact for the business community," Benefield said. "I'm here to serve the city, and I think I've done a lot of good things."

It was only last week that Benefield said he felt secure in his post despite pre-election rumors that Mendoza had a lot of changes in mind for city hall. But he conceded this morning to harboring some concerns.

"I had an inkling for a long time based on how the election would go," he said.

In any case, as at-will employees, neither he nor Holland have any ground for protest, and neither plans to try.

"I can go out kicking and screaming, or I can go out gracefully, and I chose to go out gracefully," said Holland.