'Welcome to the jungle'
New city councilor questions e-mail from city manager

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — So exactly what was behind the memo that Gallup City Manager Gerald Herrera sent to city employees late last month warning them to watch out for new council members interfering with their department?

That was the question that one of the new council members, E. Bryan Wall, had for Herrera at the end of Tuesday’s special council session.

Wall said the memo didn’t have anything to do with the conversation he had with Kevin Killough, who was the press officer for the city at the time since the memo came out two days before that conversation occurred. Wall had asked for the talk with Killough, who apparently is no longer the press relations officer, because of reports that Killough was being selective to whom he gave press releases.

Wall said it appeared to him to be a “smear tactic,” asking Herrera if it was meant to belittle him “or make us weak in the eyes of department heads.”

Hererra said he meant to do no such thing and that it was sent only to emphasize to city employees about city policy and to maintain stability before “something illegal happened.”

The memo stressed that council members had no authority to direct city employees and that if they felt any pressure to deviate from normal city policy, they should contact the city manager’s office.

Allan Landavazo, who is now on his third year on the council, told Wall not to take the memo personally.

He said that it’s normal for a new council member to come to the job “full of enthusiasm” and with big plans to correct problems overnight.

He felt the same way but over the next two years, he said, he learned that there was a proper way to go about doing that.

Councilor Jay Azua, who is also in his third year, agreed.
“Welcome to the jungle,” he said.

That doesn’t mean, however, he said, that council members cannot talk to department heads because sometimes they are approached by a constituent with a problem and have to go to the department as the representative of that constituent to find out information.

Wall also had another concern and this dealt with the recent lawsuit filed by the city against the Southwest Indian Foundation over their use of the Gallup Cultural Center.

Wall said he wasn’t happy to find out that the city had filed the lawsuit by reading about it in the newspaper. “Why weren’t we informed about this beforehand?” he asked.

City Attorney R. David Pederson said he would have to take the blame for that, explaining that the council had discussed this issue a number of times and he should have been aware that Wall and the other new council member, Mike Enfield, hadn’t been a party to these discussions.

While the council members are not informed about all of the suits that are filed — some were very minor — Pederson said he has a policy of informing them about major suits and this should have happened this time. He said the council members would be better informed in the future.