We shouldn’t have been surprised and yet we are. Everyone involved thinks there’s no malice or inappropriate behavior, but when former Española city manager Gus Cordova ended up on Mercer Group’s payroll we felt a little betrayed. It may not be inappropriate that Cordova took a job with someone to whom he just gave ten thousand of our tax dollars, to perform a non-task, but it feels inappropriate and it looks like it too.
Cordova contracted with the Mercer Group right after he resigned as city manger in June. We paid Mercer $10,000 to provide us with some qualified and vetted city manager applicants. They did that. There is no doubt they fulfilled their end of the bargain. Our city council and mayor then just sat around looking at each other and gave the job to city clerk Veronica (Martinez) Albin, someone who doesn’t meet the minimum requirements.
So shame on us for not executing our end of the deal: hiring a qualified city manager from the applicants provided by Mercer. However, you have to wonder at what point did Cordova strike the deal with Mercer and did our $10,000 have anything to do with it?
Two funny things about the situation. First, the Mercer Group’s web site states the Española City Manager position has been filled. It just doesn’t get into specifics that the applicants Mercer provided were never even interviewed. Second, the city of Española discovered Cordova worked for Mercer when administrators received notice of a city manager job opening in Los Alamos, with Cordova’s business card attached stating he’s a vice president at Mercer.
In Cordova’s defense, city councilor Danielle Duran said her preference would have been for each city councilor to bring a city manager candidate to the table. We can almost name the relatives or friends who would have showed up for an interview.
This dog and pony show is one of the reasons we don’t have a city manager, finance director or community relations director. We’re also looking for an attorney and planning director.
We are in a stormy period that requires all (fully-qualified) hands on deck, with full attention placed on every task. Instead we’re bobbing back and forth with some key positions being filled by people who shouldn’t be there and other slots being left empty so raises can go around city hall. No one is addressing the issue of how the city will pay people once those slots are finally filled.
That’s how this administration has operated: put the band aid on the bullet wound now and we’ll deal with the blood loss later. That’s not proper planning or leadership.