One major vacancy filled, five more to go for the city of Española.
The city hired Andrew J. Perkins, a Santa Fe accountant, to be its finance manager Monday, Human Resources Director Jeanie Brito said. Perkins will start work April 20 with a $68,000 salary.
The city is still short five high-level positions: a city attorney, a public works director, a library director, a deputy police chief and either city clerk or a city manager.
Perkins’ position will be equivalent to that of former chief financial officer Elias Martinez, who resigned last June, Acting City Manager Veronica Albin said. That includes overseeing the city’s Finance Department and a $13 million annual budget.
Perkins said he is prepared for the challenge of straightening out the finances of a city whose finance department has had little oversight for close to a year. After Martinez’s departure, accounting specialist Josie Lujan was named de-facto head of the Finance Department and given the title of finance director. She has been out on sick leave 13 weeks and working part time at least since August.
Meanwhile, the city’s gross receipts tax revenue has taken a nosedive and the $2.5 million the city invested with the state Treasurer’s Office has been partially frozen.
Perkins said he applied in order to help Mayor Joseph Maestas
“I have a comfortable relationship with Mayor Maestas,” Perkins said. “He’s done good things for the city, and I want to help make that happen. I wanted a job to give back, with a good pension and good benefits. I got all that.”
Acting City Manager Veronica Albin said Perkins’s experience with municipalities got him the job.
Perkins was the finance officer and deputy treasurer for the city of Gallup between 1998 and 2000, according to his resume.
“And he had the right demeanor,” Albin said. “He interviewed well.”
Perkins was one of two finalists for the job. The other was Preston Cox, the owner of Embudo Station.
Prior to applying with the city, Perkins listed one-or-two-year stints with various state and federal agencies. He has also owned AJ Perkins CPA, a private accounting firm, since 1999 and consulted for the state legislature and state Treasurer’s Office, according to his resume.
Perkins was director of administrative services for the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management from 2007 to 2008, chief financial officer for the state General Services Department from 2003 to 2004 and a loan officer for the federal Office of Cerro Grande Fire Claims from 2001 to 2002, according to his resume.
Homeland Security spokeswoman Beverly Allen declined to comment on the circumstances of Perkins’ departure from that job.
General Services spokesman Alex Cuellar said his department only keeps employment records two years, and no longer has records on Perkins.
“I didn’t find it competitive enough,” Perkins said, explaining why he didn’t stick with those jobs. “Too many people, not enough responsibility. I wanted a job with teeth to it.”
Although his resume doesn’t mention it, the Cerro Grande Fire Claims job landed Perkins a side gig immediately afterward helping businesses file claims related to the Cerro Grande fire.
According to a May 2002 business agreement, Perkins signed up to help consultant Robert Ellenberg write those claims. The two were to receive as payment 10 percent of the claim payments their clients received from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The business relationship ended badly. In 2006, Perkins sued his partner, who had allegedly neglected to give Perkins his share of their fees, in state District Court, according to court documents. Ellenberg in turn accused Perkins of failing to deliver on the cases they worked on together, and of poaching his other clients.
A District judge closed the case in December 2007 citing “lack of activity.” Perkins said he settled with Ellenberg for $8,000 to cover legal fees. He denied Ellenberg’s claims.