Gallup files suit against Honeyfield

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Kevin Killough
Staff writer

GALLUP — City officials meant what they said when they warned former City Manager Eric Honeyfield that he’d face a lawsuit if he continued to press a charge of discrimination against the city. The city has now filed a complaint for breach of contract and violation of the anti-donation statute against him.

Honeyfield was forced to resign in June 2007. Mayor Harry Mendoza had asked Honeyfield to fill an assistant city manager position with Councilor Bill Nechero. Honeyfield was concerned that filling the position with a specific person would violate a consent decree the city had signed with the Department of Justice over an unrelated discrimination charge.

David Jordan, who is representing Honeyfield, said last March that since he was asked to resign for refusing to break the law, it was a wrongful termination.

As part of his agreement to resign, Honeyfield received a six-month contractual severance pay, which amounted to approximately $65,000, according to City Manager Gerald Herrera, who replaced Honeyfield. This constituted a fulfillment of the contractual agreements with Honeyfield, Herrera said. And by filing a complaint for wrongful termination, he is violating the separation agreement he has with the city.

According to the complaint filed in the Eleventh Judicial District Court by representatives of the city, the whole point of paying the severance package was to fulfill the city’s end of the agreement. Honeyfield’s lawsuit invalidates any value to the city for the money paid to him.

His complaint, then, violates the state anti-donation clause, which makes receipt of public money for services not rendered a fourth degree felony.

“The city of Gallup was quite baffled by these actions since it had fulfilled its legal contractual obligations and, Mr. Honeyfield submitted a signed letter of resignation relinquishing his position with the city,” Herrera said.