The Jemez Mountains Electric Cooperative is back to square one in its search for a new general manager.
The top two candidates for general manager of the Co-op turned down the job during the past week, and Co-op Board of Trustees President Levi Valdez said there’s no plan yet for how to go forward with the hiring.
“I’m going to talk to all the board members and we’ll see where we go from there,” Valdez said.
Two weeks of negotiations dissolved Dec. 9 with the Board’s first choice, Robert Castillo. The second candidate, Richard Lopez, sent an e-mail to the Co-op Tuesday declining a subsequent job offer, Valdez said.
Castillo, who was offered the general manager position after a Board vote Nov. 25, asked for too much money, Board members said last week, although none would say exactly how much he wanted. Castillo, the governmental affairs director at the Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM), was noncommittal in interviews during the negotiations, repeatedly saying no deal had been reached between himself and the Board.
“I hate to say that he’s overqualified for it, but that’s kind of what he’s led me to believe,” Board member Patrick Montoya said.
Board President Levi Valdez said Lopez, engineering and operations manager at the Socorro Electric Cooperative, was offered the spot after a Board meeting Dec. 9. Valdez said Lopez and Castillo were the top two candidates chosen by the Board after interviews Nov. 23 and Nov. 24.
“Each of them had their own strengths,” Valdez said. “I guess each of them had their own weaknesses too.”
Valdez, Montoya and Board member Elias Coriz said Castillo was asking for a higher salary than the Board could justify. A salary range of $120,000 to $140,000 was stated in an online advertisement for the job. The outgoing general manager, Ernesto Gonzales, is paid $115,000 per year, according to his contract.
Castillo spoke only generally about the negotiations, and he declined to explain why he couldn’t reach an agreement with the Co-op.
The e-mail Lopez sent to the Co-op indicated he was turning down the job for reasons he didn’t want to disclose, Valdez said. Lopez, who spent the days prior to his decision elk hunting, said he considered living expenses and other factors when making the decision.
“It was a very exciting process,” he said. “It could have gone either way.”
Montoya said when Lopez was first offered the job, he told the Co-op he would need some time to do “pencil work” before making a decision. Lopez, who said he would move to Española if he took the job, had to consider certain financial issues, including a mortgage on his house in Socorro, Montoya said last week.
There were 67 applicants for the job. Española School Board member and former Rio Arriba County commissioner Andrew Chavez was among the eight finalists.
The fact that Lopez and Castillo were already employed gave them some negotiating power, Montoya said last week. He said it also seemed like the candidates were asking for more money because of the history of the position.
“It’s a high stress, high turnover job,” he said. “And I could see why they would want those high perks because they could look at the history of the job, the longevity.”
Gonzales submitted his letter of resignation Sept. 15, just nine and a half months after accepting the spot. At the time Gonzales said it was simply time for him to retire, but he also expressed frustration with new Board members elected this summer. Montoya, Coriz, Ron Lovato, D. Gertrude McCoy and Kenny Borrego won seats on the Board in June and July.
Before Gonzales, former general manager Jerry Mascareñas held the job for four years before the Board asked him to resign last year.
Lopez said last week he had concerns about the turnover in the general manager position, but he said he was comfortable working for a Board of Trustees. On Tuesday, Lopez insisted there was nothing about the general manager job that scared him off.
“I’d rather not get into any details because that’s my personal business,” he said.
The Board has a regular meeting scheduled for Friday at the Co-op’s headquarters in Hernandez.