City manager is mum to press

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Two weeks after taking office, City Manager Gerald Herrera is still refusing to speak with the media.

Herrera hasn't even given the media a reason for his public silence since the City Council elected him to the post July 13. Marlene Custer, administrative assistant to both the mayor and city manager, said Herrera told her he would hold no meetings with the media "until further notice."

Herrera has been busy, however. Just one week into the job, he fired Gallup Police Chief Sylvester Stanley. The Independent's message requesting comment was not returned.

When The Independent called Herrera's business following his appointment to request an interview also not returned his wife, Patti, said the couple was displeased with an article the paper published about him.

The July 9 article mentioned that Mayor Harry Mendoza said he liked the fact that Herrera had a diploma from Gallup High School and that the mayor, to that point, had offered no other reason for supporting him for the job. According to Patti, the couple thought the paper was claiming that Herrera had a high school diploma only but not a college degree, which he does. The article made no such claim.

Mendoza said he had no opinion about the new city manager's silence and had not discussed the issue with him. When The Independent asked Mendoza if the city manager has a responsibility to let the public in on his reasons for firing a police chief, he declined to comment.

"I'm not going to answer that because no matter what I say you're going to turn it around," Mendoza said.

Paul McCollum, Gallup's city manager from 1971 to 1983, sees nothing wrong with Herrera's silence for now.

Considering the controversy that's surrounded Herrera's appointment, he said, "I think it's best to stay low key at this point."

Mendoza's push to make Herrera Gallup's next city manager had some people wondering if the mayor was repaying a political debt. The Herreras' were strong supporters of Mendoza during this year's mayoral race. Mendoza has denied the charge.

McCollum said he had his own problems with The Independent during his stint as city manager but managed to maintain a professional relationship with its reporters. At some point, he said, Herrera should open up.

Roger Makin, communications coordinator for the New Mexico Municipal League, which assists incorporated communities across the state, said he was not aware of any other city manager who's pulled a complete blackout on the media.

Neither was Bob Rosebrough, who served a term as Gallup mayor before Mendoza.

"I've never heard of a city manager not talking to the press and I don't understand why they would take that position," he said.

While the state's open government laws require public bodies to make certain documents public and conduct certain business during public meetings only, those laws do not require a city manager to talk to the media. As Mendoza correctly noted, it's the city manager's prerogative.

But practically speaking, Rosebrough said, a city manager should expect dealing with the media to come with the job.

During his own administration, the former mayor said, "it was our policy to have as open and as transparent a government as possible."

Although he doesn't think it paid off The Independent's editorial about him, he said, "crossed the line" Rosebrough still believes it was the right thing to do. He also believes the city manager, any city manager, has a duty to give the public his or her reasons for firing a police chief.

"This is not a private enterprise," he said. "It's public government, and the public has a right to know."