The motion to appoint the police chief passed 6-2 at the Jan. 12 meeting
Española Police Chief Mizel Garcia is on double duty.
The Española City Council approved his appointment as city manager in a 6-2 vote at the Jan. 12 regular meeting, only four days after they fired Lauren Reichelt.
Garcia is the fifth city manager under Mayor John Ramon Vigil, whose four-year term started in 2022.
During the meeting, Garcia said being city manager will be a challenge and that he plans on relying on council and department director expertise to guide his decision-making,
“I’ve been in office 32 years, I’ve risen through the ranks,” he said. “I was in charge of a division that had close to 140 people. This is nothing new to me. I have the education, my masters is in public administration, so I’m comfortable in being able to address the requirements and needs of a city the size of Española. I look forward to it.”
Garcia retired as a commander after 26 years with the Albuquerque Police Department.
He does not have long-term plans to be city manager. He told the council he plans to stay in the position until the end of Vigil’s current term, which ends on April 1.
Garcia will receive additional pay for taking on the temporary role. Human Resources Director Sally Baxter said Garcia’s annual wages will go up to $123,000 a year. According to the city’s Fiscal Year 2026 salary schedule, Garcia’s annual salary as police chief is $116,656.80.
Although the council approved his appointment, every councilor who spoke during the discussion expressed their concern about Garcia’s ability to handle both positions simultaneously.
“I am concerned at the chief being spread too thin in the sense of running the largest funded department in the city, which is the P.D. (police department) and emergency services and then running the city as a whole,” Mayor Pro Tem Justin Salazar-Torrez, who voted against Garcia’s appointment, said. “I just would never want to put anybody in a position and set them up for failure.”
Garcia plans to stay organized with the help of two executive assistants: one at city hall and one at the police department.
They will do things like help him keep a strict, color-coded calendar to help him make it to meetings and appointments.
He will use email to communicate across different departments and will rely on his sergeants and lieutenants to help in the police department when he is not able to be there.
“I go to community meetings still,” he said. “That’s going to be something good now for me to mentor my lieutenants to start going to some of the meetings I go to, so that they’re able to now expand their experience with the community. I think communication is one of the things that we have the least worry about when it comes to me. I’m an open book and I will say anything that needs to be said, and I will carry the information both ways. Both from the city to you all, and from you all to the city.”
District 3 Councilor Denise Benavidez voted with Salazar-Torrez against the appointment.
“Chief, I have great respect for you, but I cannot in good conscience vote yes,” she said. “My vote tonight is no.”
During the discussion, Benavidez mentioned that Garcia said he is a law enforcement officer and that this is what the city needs and deserves of him.
Splitting up his time will be a problem for the city, she said.
“I really think it’s unfair to even put you in this position,” Benavidez said. “And you also said it best yourself. You have no idea how to run a city, right? And I think that’s really going to be detrimental for us.”
District 4 Councilor Samuel LeDoux voted in favor of Garcia’s appointment, but qualified his vote.
“Chief Garcia, if you ever feel like the situation’s too overwhelming, please let us know and we will make it so that we can find a replacement,” LeDoux said. “It is our duty to find somebody to fill that role, and I feel that we are, we are incredibly burdensome to you with this role and I apologize for that.”
Appointments
The Española municipal election is scheduled for March 3. Vigil is running for a second term against former councilor Dennis Tim Salazar. The winner will be sworn into office on April 1. According to state law, the city manager is one of four positions within municipal government appointed by the mayor and approved by council.
The council fired Vigil’s first appointment, Jordan Yutzy, in September 2023. He went on to sue Vigil and the city, alleging he was fired after blowing the whistle on Vigil’s attempts to circumvent hiring procedures and unfairly give employee raises. According to a previous Rio Grande SUN report, Vigil denied all allegations in the lawsuit.
Vigil then temporarily appointed Baxter before hiring Eric Lujan, who resigned in May.
The council approved a settlement agreement with Lujan that allowed him to stay on as the city’s special projects coordinator until September. During this time, he received the same rate of pay as when he was the city manager.
The council approved the appointment of former Rio Arriba County Health and Human Services director Reichelt in September.
The council fired her at a special meeting on Jan. 8, after they shared their concerns about her communication style, social media use and how she handled personnel issues within the social services department and fire department. She was city manager for 108 days.