Feds: City job must be advertised

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Mayor Harry Mendoza can blame the city's last administration and the deal it struck with the U.S. Department of Justice for thwarting his hopes of quickly installing his friend into the city manager's office. But he may still have his way in the end.

The mayor finally came out publicly about his plans to fill the office with CNET co-owner Gerald Herrera during last week's City Council meeting. Loud rumors of Mendoza's wish to replace Eric Honeyfield with a Herrera had been circulating for months, well before the mayoral candidates even declared in January. It was only in the past few weeks, however, that the talk shifted away from Patty, Gerald's wife and CNET co-owner.

The Herreras were vocal supporters of Mendoza's during the campaign. When Mendoza failed to win enough votes to take the general election outright by the slimmest of margins, Patty Herrera urged the council not to follow through with the runoff state law called for. The council held the runoff, and Mendoza won.

Despite the campaign support, Mendoza denies that he's repaying a political debt by trying to push Gerald Herrera into the lucrative position the job pays an annual salary upwards of $100,000 after pushing Honeyfield out.

But when discussion turned to replacing Honeyfield last Tuesday, Mendoza suggested the council vote on Gerald Herrera without considering anyone else. Councilors Pat Butler and Allan Landavazo raised objections. John Azua and Bill Nechero were with Mendoza, so long as it was legal; City Attorney George Kozeliski, out on sick leave, couldn't provide a quick answer.

As it turns out, it's not legal. All state law says about hiring a city manager is that it's up to the city council. But the Gallup City Council also had its 2004 consent decree with the federal Justice Department to consider. Besides paying out $300,000 to settle charges of employment discrimination against Native Americans, the city agreed to advertise every vacancy, including Kozeliski said city manager.

That's good news to Butler, who wanted to advertise the vacancy from the start.

Like Mendoza, Butler said he'd prefer hiring someone local. But he's not willing to sacrifice quality to do it. Butler believes there are others in Gallup at least as qualified as Herrera who has no experience running a city and is at least open to looking beyond city limits.

"There are several viable candidates out there, not just one," he said, "and the city deserves the best candidate it can get."

Mendoza told The Independent Friday he had no time to comment for this article until Tuesday. In the past, he's blamed Honeyfield not a local, the mayor pointed out for what he calls the "wrong direction" Gallup has taken in recent years.

Honeyfield resigned a week ago, as soon as Mendoza told him he had enough support on the council to remove him involuntarily if he didn't. By securing Azua's and Nechero's support individually and outside of a properly called public meeting a practice known as a rolling quorum the mayor violated the state's Open Meetings Act.

Butler and Landavazo also worried about what the public would think of the council if it chose Honeyfield's successor without advertising the vacancy. By trying to hurry Herrera into the seat, Butler said, "it sounds like it was predestined."

Like the rest of the council in 2004, Butler wasn't happy about settling with the Justice Department for $300,000. Its stipulation that the city manager vacancy be advertised, he conceded, is at least a silver lining.

If Azua and Nechero continue to back Mendoza on hiring Herrera, it might not make a difference in the end. But if the Council fails to hire a more qualified candidate, it could set itself up for another lawsuit. At the very least, advertising the position will force to Council to accept other applicants.

The deadline for applications is July 3.