Mayor wants Herrera as manager
Council split on searching for a replacement

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — The search for Gallup's next city manager is off to a roaring start.

Just one day after Eric Honeyfield's forced resignation, the City Council cannot even agree on whether or not to advertise the vacancy.

During a public work session preceding the council's regular meeting Tuesday evening, Mayor Harry Mendoza said he had a successor in mind and saw no use in giving anyone false hope by soliciting applications. To save everyone the trouble, he suggested the council take a vote as soon as possible.

"I have someone in mind that I think would be a good city manager," he said, "and if you don't want him, that's fine."

The council continued making oblique references to "someone" until Mendoza finally blurted out the name everyone around City Hall has been whispering about: Gerald Herrera.

Herrera, who's owned the local computer and Internet service company CNET with wife Patti for the past 12 years , was widely rumored to be Mendoza's pick since talk of Honeyfield's pending termination reached a crescendo last week. The Herreras were vocal supporters of Mendoza's during the mayoral race earlier this year. When Mendoza failed to win enough votes to take the election outright, Patti Herrera urged the council not to hold the runoff state law called for.

Mendoza did not go into Herrera's qualifications for the job and told The Independent he had no time for an interview after the regular meeting. During the work session, though, he seemed especially enamored of Herrera's diploma from Gallup High School.

"I for one am tired of importing people in," he said.

Mendoza blames Honeyfield, whom the last administration hired out of Raton, for much of what he considers the "wrong direction" the city has lately taken.

Even those with reservations about hiring Gallup's next city manager without advertising the position had nothing but praise for Herrera's intelligence.

Herrera was a "smart guy," Councilman Allan Landavazo said. "I think Jerry could do the job."

Landavazo just wasn't sure what relevant experience the computer expert had for running a city. More than anything, he worried about what the public would think of the council if it chose not to make the selection process competitive.

Councilman Pat Butler had more than reservations. He insisted that the council advertise the job. All else being equal, he would prefer filling it with a local. But he said there were others in Gallup just as qualified as Herrera and thought they ought to have a chance to prove it.

Besides that, Butler worried that rushing to hire before the council had a chance to discuss the direction it wanted the new city manager to take would place too much power into Mendoza's hands.

"One man's agenda is not the city's agenda," he said.

Councilors John Azua and Bill Nechero raised no objections about bringing Herrera to a quick vote, just so long as it was legal.

As it turned out, the council is not even sure it can hire a city manager without advertising the position. City Attorney George Kozeliski, who would have set the council straight, is out on sick leave until next week. Acting City Manager Stan Henderson said he would try to get an opinion out of Kozeliski before then.

No closer to a consensus, the council left off the debate and agreed to call a special meeting for next Tuesday. At that point, the council could either bring Herrera to a vote or decide to throw the position open to others.

Honeyfield tendered his resignation Monday morning, as soon as Mendoza told him he had the support of enough councilors Azua and Nechero to remove him by a vote if he did not step down voluntarily. The last administration, under Mayor Bob Rosebrough, hired Honeyfield in late 2003.