An Española City Hall secretary was fired Monday, a month after filing a grievance claiming a city councilor of threatening her.
Former executive assistant Remay Sanchis said she had received no warning that her job was on the line.
“It caught me totally off guard, but I guess when you’re on probation they can let you go,” Sanchis said.
Sanchis was hired as a sec-
retary to former mayor Joseph Maestas and former acting city manager Veronica Albin in November 2009. Her termination letter, dated April 2, did not state a reason for her firing, but referred to a city personnel policy that places all new employees on a six-month probation period. Employees can be fired “with or without cause” during that period, the letter states.
The morning she was fired, Sanchis asked about the status of a grievance she had filed March 8, according to e-mail she sent Mayor Alice Lucero, the City Council and two other city officials.
“I have not heard anything in regards to this grievance and violation against me,” Sanchis wrote. “Now that the city has relieved me of my responsibility, I do expect a response despite the fact that I no longer work here.”
The grievance, which Sanchis sent by e-mail March 8 to Albin and Human Resources Director Jeanie Brito, accuses District 2 Councilor Helen Kain-Salazar of making threats against her.
Sanchis said she had been campaigning during her lunch hour on election day, March 2, when she saw Kain-Salazar’s husband, David J. Salazar, posting signs in opposition of a library bond measure that appeared on the ballot. Sanchis, a bond supporter, said she rolled down her window and told Salazar he was campaigning illegally.
The city’s election ordinance requires all candidates and political action groups to file campaign finance reports. Sanchis said that, to her knowledge, Salazar had failed to file a report. Sanchis drove away after Salazar insisted he had filed a finance report, she said.
A week after the election, Kain-Salazar approached Sanchis’ desk and asked about the incident before making a threat, according to the grievance.
“(Kain-Salazar) pointed her finger in my face and told me to be careful twice,” the grievance states. “I am shaken, and I am finding it hard to function right now. I felt and feel threatened.”
Sanchis said that when she arrived at her Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo home March 9, she saw her pro-library sign had been replaced with one of Salazar’s “Vote No” signs.
“I felt that was her way of telling me, ‘I know where you live,’” Sanchis said. “It scared the (expletive) out of me. This is still the Wild West. People still carry guns.”
Kain-Salazar said she did not know Sanchis had been fired, and denied making any threats. She said Sanchis had asked Salazar on election day whether he had a “campaign permit.”
“I was upset and my husband was upset because we didn’t understand why she asked him instead of any of the other candidates that were campaigning next to him,” Kain-Salazar said. “And what’s a campaign permit?”
Kain-Salazar said she approached Sanchis after the election to clarify the permit question, but Sanchis ignored her.
“I told her, ‘Well, you need to be more careful who you make accusations against, because why did she pinpoint my husband, and why would he need a permit?’” Kain-Salazar said. “Threats? That’s a harsh word. I hardly said two sentences to her.”
Kain-Salazar said she had no influence over whether Sanchis kept her job. Brito said Sanchis was fired by Lucero.
“(The firing) has nothing to do with the grievance, honestly,” Lucero said. “She was a probationary employee and she didn’t work out.”
Despite a policy that requires the city to respond to all grievances within five days, Sanchis said she never heard back from Lucero about her grievance. When the SUN requested last month to review all grievances filed by city employees since December, the city did not provide or mention Sanchis’.
Legal assistant Armando Rodriguez said he did not learn Sanchis had filed a grievance until last week, after the SUN filed the request.
Velasquez, who, as City clerk, oversaw the municipal election, said Sanchis’ complaint was never forwarded to her. Velasquez said Salazar had not filed a campaign finance report as of Tuesday, but argued he was not required to do so.
Velasquez declined to discuss why Sanchis was fired, but said the city plans to leave her position vacant to save money.
Sanchis made an annual salary of $38,000. She said she plans to file a tort claim notice with the city to reserve her rights to sue for wrongful termination.
”I primarily felt my safety (was being threatened), but (Kain-Salazar is) still on the Council, so I felt threatened in more ways than one,” she said.