Española City Hall is once again in turmoil.
The city lost its planning director, lobbyist and projects manager in one swoop March 11 when Cyrus Samii resigned.
On the same day, Acting City Manager Veronica Albin’s attempt to fire Finance Director Josie Lujan apparently backfired and ended in compromise.
And Albin found herself in hot water Monday during a debate about a new code of conduct for city councilors. During the debate, Mayor Pro Tem Alice Lucero raised questions about Albin’s fitness for the job.
This last episode exposed friction between Mayor Joseph Maestas and Lucero. Maestas said Tuesday he “absolutely” supports keeping Albin as the city manager, while Lucero’s relationship with her has become openly antagonistic.
Whether this breach will lead to a potential showdown between the one-time allies in the 2010 mayoral election is yet to be determined. Both Maestas and Lucero said they are “keeping options open” for respective election and re-election bids next year.
Musical Chairs
Samii only would say that there were personal reasons for his resignation. His last day is Friday.
Councilors and other employees said the news was not a surprise, because Samii had said before he did not have long-term plans to stay with the city. Samii was hired in 2006 and earned a salary of $65,000.
His departure brings up to five the city’s tally of high-level vacancies, which also include city clerk, city attorney, chief finance officer and library director. Albin has had to pull double duty as city manager and clerk since Lucas Gauthier resigned last month.
Albin said Deputy Planning Director Russell Naranjo will likely head the Planning Department. The city may hire a public works director to take over Samii’s former duties overseeing construction projects. No plans were made to find a new lobbyist, Albin said. The legislative session ends Saturday.
The city is currently re-advertising for a city attorney. Maestas had narrowed candidates for that position to two finalists, former assistant district attorney A.J. Salazar and former state appeals court judge Ira Robinson, and planned to appoint one at the Council’s Feb. 24 meeting.
Four days before the appointment, Salazar withdrew his name from the applicant pool after meeting with Maestas, Albin and District 1 Councilor Danielle Duran to discuss the job.
Maestas said he has decided against nominating Robinson due to a lack of Council support.
“There was perceived support, almost widespread for (Salazar) on the Council,” Maestas said. “I don’t get that sense from (Robinson).”
The city has meanwhile contracted at $180 per hour with Paula Maynes, a Santa Fe lawyer, as a temporary city attorney.
Also on March 11, Albin allegedly contemplated firing Lujan, who had returned from almost six months of medical leave two days earlier.
Lujan said Albin told her she “might have to consider” firing her because Lujan’s doctor only allowed her to work part-time. Albin denied she planned to fire Lujan, but added, “I either need her full time, or not at all.”
The two compromised on a six-hour workday for Lujan.
The city started advertising Monday for a finance manager, who would oversee Lujan and three other finance department employees. Albin said the manager position is essentially equivalent to the vacant chief finance officer position.
Rumors around City Hall contended that what really prompted Lujan’s near-firing was that she had been bad-mouthing Albin to Lucero. Neither Lujan nor Lucero denied speaking.
“I guess (the rumors) would explain it,” Lujan said, adding that she and Lucero are related by marriage and speak often.
Lucero argued there is no harm in employees addressing grievances to city councilors.
“We have every right to talk to staff, and they have every right to come to us,” Lucero said. “They’re our constituents too. (Albin) shouldn’t hold that against them to the point of trying to fire them.”
The city has had trouble keeping a finance manager to oversee Lujan and her colleagues. The last person in this position, Elias Martinez, resigned in June 2008 just weeks after Lujan and another employee filed a grievance against him, and he complained of Council interference.
Code of Conduct
The alleged conversations between Lucero and Lujan are a working example of what a code of conduct for city councilors was meant to address.
District 2 Councilor Alfred Herrera introduced the code Monday. Herrera said the code was meant to bring about a “change in culture” in City Hall, in which the Council focuses on drafting policy and stays out of day-to-day city management and staffing issues.
“Employees in past have aligned themselves with a certain group of councilors,” he said. “That’s totally inappropriate.”
Key passages in the code ban councilors from communicating with or giving directives to employees other than the city manager.
The code also addresses conflicts of interest and using city property or political power for private gain. But several councilors immediately bristled at the ban on talking to employees. Lucero in particular translated her objections to the code into a vote of no-confidence for Albin.
“What I’ve experienced recently is that (employees) have lost confidence in the city manager and that they don’t feel like they can go to her because they’re not comfortable going to her and they don’t want to be retaliated against,” Lucero said.
Albin said she has invited Lucero three times to discuss their differences, but received no response.
Lucero suggested Tuesday that a majority on the Council would like to replace Albin, but declined to comment on rumors that she was trying to gather votes to oust Albin.
“I think the mayor knows what the majority of the Council wants,” Lucero said. “We did say we wanted to continue looking for a city manager.”
Maestas pointed out that, while councilors can oust an appointed employee like Albin, only he could replace her.
“That kind of move would put the city in a destructive stalemate,” he said.
Lucero and a majority of councilors had supported keeping Albin as acting manager last year, in opposition of Maestas’ plan to hire one of two finalists from a batch of applicants recruited by the Mercer Group. Lucero said when Maestas appointed Albin that the Council would “revisit” hiring a new city manager after the city hired a human resources director and a chief financial officer. The city has since hired Jeanie Brito as human resources director.
An ordinance requiring that the city manager have at least a bachelor’s degree kept Albin from being hired permanently for that position. She was named interim city manager last June, and may only keep that job on temporary basis for a maximum of 12 months.
Lucero’s statements at the meeting visibly irritated Maestas, who countered that employees circumventing Albin and taking concerns directly to councilors amounts to insubordination.
“One thing that as mayor I can’t condone is insubordination,” Maestas said. “If employees are contacting any city councilors directly, undermining the authority of any direction of the city manager, that’s insubordination. That needs to stop.”
Duran also backed Herrera’s code, pointing out much of the Council ran three years ago on “cleaning up” the Council’s relationship with city staff but had failed to take a stand on the issue.
“If somebody calls me, I say, ‘Guess what? That’s why there’s a union,” Duran said, at the same time taking a shot at union president Joaquin Maestas for allegedly encouraging Council meddling in staffing issues.
“I spoke to (Joaquin Maestas) today and he said, ‘Let them cover all their bases, let them get political will behind them,’” Duran said. “That to me is not just insubordination. That’s a kind of blackmail that staff members use against (the Council).”
Joaquin Maestas argued employees have the right to speak to whomever they want.
“By limiting the number of people councilors can go to, are you limiting the information they are privy to?” he asked. “Staff doesn’t relinquish its right as constituents to speak to our elected officials. That’s ludicrous.”
District 3 Councilor Chayo Garcia tried to strike a balance between both sides. Garcia said she often hears complaints from employees, but directs them to Albin or to the union rather than interfering with city management. District 3 Councilor Cecilia Lujan also opposed the code, while all other councilors stayed out of the debate.
At Lucero’s behest, the Council tabled further discussion on the code until after seeking advice from the state Municipal League.