Rosebrough's legacy 'will take care of itself'

Mayor Bob Rosebrough shares a moment with his wife, Brenda, and daughter, Amy, at City Hall on Tuesday night. After spending four years in office, Rosebrough is leaving politics to devote more time to his family and his law practice. [Photo by Brian Leddy/Independent]

By Bill Donovan
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Bob Rosebrough hasn't spent a great deal of time trying to figure our what kind of legacy he will leave behind as he steps down as mayor in the next few days.

"I think that will take care of itself," he said during an interview in his office about two hours before the polls closed to determine whether Harry Mendoza or Ralph Richards would be replacing him.

But he did spend some time looking back at his four years in office, assessing what had been accomplished and what he had not been able to accomplish.

For the most part, he was able to achieve the goals he had placed for himself when he ran for mayor four years ago. And there were a couple of things, he said, that came about outside of his efforts, such as Gallup being selected to host the Wrangler Junior High Rodeo competition and the Navajo Nation settling its water rights claims, which was another step toward approval of the long-proposed Navajo-Gallup Water Pipeline.

"I also never foresaw that we would be able to hire the professional staff we have with their qualifications and experience," he said, referring to the hiring of Eric Honeyfield as city manager, Glen Benefield as economic development director and George Kozeliski as city attorney.

Regrets
But, for the most part, the Rosebrough era of city government will go down as one where the vision of the city was drawn up by the mayor who was able to get others in city government to follow him wholeheartedly; however, he has some regrets.

The city wasn't able to make any inroads into the promotion of renewable energy like solar or wind, but he admits that this is the kind of stuff that is usually left to the state and federal governments or private industry to do.

"I also think we did not go as far with alcohol reform as I would have liked," he said.

Much of the controversy surrounding Rosebrough's four years in office centered on his efforts to cut down on the problems the community and its residents faced from drunks on the street. Rosebrough still feels that more could have been done to deal with problem bars that continue to serve to people who are already intoxicated.

Time vs. money
But the two biggest problems he faced in office were mostly of his own making and caused by his decision to put in six hours or more a day dealing with the problems of the city during his first year in office, forcing him to put his career as an attorney and his family life in second place.

For an attorney, it's all about billable hours and Rosebrough's decision to be almost a full-time mayor probably cost him more than $100,000 in billable hours a year.

He admitted that his decision to spend as much time as mayor forced him to spend too many nights either at his law office or at functions representing the city. So when it came to looking at a second term, he realized early in his administration that "economics and family" would preclude a second administration.

So why did he spend so much of his time on the job?

"It wasn't for the prestige," he said. Instead, he said he came into office with an agenda of things he wanted to accomplish and programs he wanted to implement. To do that, he realized it would take up much of his time.

In fact, he questions now whether it is feasible for anyone who bills by the hour lawyer, accountant, whatever to be mayor. The job is better suited to someone who is retired, like Mendoza, or has his own business, like Richards, where it can go on without the owner being present.

He came into office expecting to be able to work well with others on the city council and for, the most part, he did. There were a few minor quarrels, but they usually ended with Rosebrough and those opposed to his thinking agreeing to disagree.

But observers of his relationship with the council over the years may have noticed some changes.

In the beginning, Rosebrough took the lead on every issue and pushed to get an unanimous vote on everything to the point where he was willing to compromise his own position to a certain degree to get a 5-0 vote. Later in his administration, he said he purposefully decided to take a step back at times and let others on the council take the leading role because he felt this would give the city government a more "healthful dynamic."

The only area of his time in office that Rosebrough just flatly refused to discuss during the interview was his relationship or lack of one with the Gallup Independent and its publisher, Bob Zollinger.

When asked about this relationship or how he felt being referred to as "Baghdad Bob" in the paper's editorials criticizing him, all Rosebrough would say was, "It is what it is."

Family first
He said he looks forward to going back to a life centered around his legal career and his family.

As to whether he will go back into politics, he said, "time will tell."

But although there are plenty of attorneys in the state legislature, he said he has zero interest in pursuing that notion at this time.

He said he also has no desire to take any kind of meaningful role in the next administration, assuming that the winner would want him to.