The third time was a charm for the Española City Council.
After two unsuccessful attempts in the past two months to remove James Lujan from the city manager post, the Council got its wish Tuesday night.
Mayor Alice Lucero tapped building inspector Joe Duran to replace Lujan on an interim basis. Duran said he served as interim city manager for about a year in 2004 and again early in Lucero’s tenure, prior to when Lujan took the position.
Lucero said Lujan met with Duran several times during the past week and she has “every confidence“ in his ability to run the city.
Mayor Pro Tem Dennis Tim Salazar also said he has “complete faith” that Duran will do a fine job.
Lujan came to work for the city in June 2010 at $90,00 a year, already under the cloud of a Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department investigation into allegations that he, as Santa Fe County’s public works director, had helped paving company Advantage Asphalt defraud the County. The County fired him shortly after that investigation began, prompting his move to the city.
No charges were filed until February, when a grand jury indicted Lujan on 18 felony charges, including bribery and racketeering, stemming from his work for the County in 2009 and 2010. One of Lujan’s former co-workers, along with the husband-and-wife co-owners of Advantage Asphalt, were indicted at the same time.
Days after the indictments, the Council voted 6-2 to allow Lucero to retain Lujan as the city’s top administrator.
But three weeks later, with the support of two new councilors brought into office in the March 6 elections, the Council voted 5-3 to remove Lujan from office. A month of uncertainty followed, as some councilors wanted Lujan out immediately while Lucero insisted he could stay until she said otherwise.
Most recently, District 4 Councilor Robert Seeds pushed Lucero at an April 16 workshop meeting to pick an interim manager immediately.
“Let’s deal with this tonight,” Seeds said.
Lujan did not attend that meeting or the meeting Tuesday night.
Duran can serve as interim city manager for a month with no confirmation required from the Council, according to Roger Makin, community coordinator with the state Municipal League.
Statute dictates that after this month is up, Lucero must pick a permanent replacement. That mayoral appointee could be hired permanently with a majority vote by Council at the May 24 meeting, Makin said.
If the Council does not accept Lucero’s pick for a permanent selection, a vote would then be taken on whether or not to allow the interim city manager to continue, Makin said. If the Council votes against employing the interim manager, the city could be without a manager, Makin said.
“The (interim manager) shall serve only until the next regular meeting of the governing body at which a quorum is present,” the law states. “The temporary employment shall cease and the employee shall not be reappointed unless his appointment is confirmed by the governing body.”
Despite the controversy surrounding his hiring and firing, Lujan received praise from some of the city’s elected officials.
“James Lujan did an excellent job,” Lucero said. “He worked diligently and very effectively with staff. A lot of people will miss him.”
District 1 Councilor Pedro Valdez voted twice to retain Lujan. He said Lujan “did a great job” with the city’s audits and budget.
“There were many other things he did that impressed me,” Valdez said.
Lucero on Tuesday also appointed a selection committee charged with recommending a permanent city manager to the Council. Lucero, Seeds, Valdez, District 3 Councilor Cecilia Lujan and City Clerk Tessa Jo Mascareñas will sit on the committee. No date was set for the committee to meet.
Salazar, District 2 Councilor Greg Ortega, District 3 Councilor Eric Radosevich, Mascareñas and the mayor will serve on another search committee to find a new public safety chief, as outgoing chief Leo Montoya’s retirement is slated to take effect at the end of Friday.
As of Tuesday, nine individuals had applied for the city manager’s position:
• Tyr Loranger, of Española. He works at the Loranger Law Firm in Sante Fe.
• Michael Miller, a four-year Española resident. His application states he worked for 20 years as a city manager.
• Jeff Condrey, an interim city manager for Española in 2007. He now works for the Bigore Charitable Trust in Rio Rancho.
• Shawn Cox, of Houston. Most recently he worked as assistant to the city manager in Tomball, Texas.
• Martin Black, of Venice, Fla. He works for Kimley Horn and Associates as a consultant.
• Eric Strahl, of Menominee, Mich., where he was city manager for about three years.
• Andrea Phillips, of Columbus, Ohio, where she is a budget and management specialist with the city.
• Jay Ruybalid, of Los Lunas. He was a department director for Isleta Pueblo for 18 months.
• Xavier Bishop, of Bowling Green, Miss., where he was the city administrator.
Applicants for the public safety chief position include:
• Former Fowler (Colo.) police chief Anthony Webb
• Bay County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Sgt. Roderick Saint
• Former Española deputy police safety chief Raye Byford
• Former Lilburn (Ga.) police chief John Davidson
• Former Cocopah (Ariz.) Tribal Police operations supervisor Jerry Ramos, currently of Dundee, Fla.