Two recent hires at the city of Española have been a boon to the family of Acting City Manager Veronica Albin.
The city hired former Northern New Mexico College comptroller Joyce Sandoval Jan. 19 as an emergency temporary employee to take over the job of finance specialist Rodrigo Ballon. A month earlier, the Española Jail hired Albin’s nephew Kierston Chavez as a guard.
“She’s my dad’s girlfriend’s sister,” Albin said of Sandoval. “You can put that in your headline. I cleared it with our governing body. There’s no shenanigans here.”
Albin said the city was left in a tight spot when Ballon announced earlier this month he plans to leave Feb. 5 for a job in Albuquerque, and she knew Sandoval was no longer working for Northern.
“So I called her and she agreed to help us out until we could hire someone permanently,” Albin said.
Albin said she disclosed her relationship to Sandoval during a closed-door session at a Jan. 14 Council finance committee meeting, and that the Council agreed to hire Sandoval temporarily. One councilor disputed that account.
“(Albin) did bring it up, and we told her not to,” District 3 Councilor Chayo Garcia said.
Mayor Pro Tem and mayoral candidate Alice Lucero, a long-time Albin opponent, said the Council begrudgingly approved the temporary hire.
“But I’m concerned about it,” Lucero said. “When you have the city manager and a family acquaintance overseeing the city’s finances together, that’s the kind of thing that raises some red flags.”
Albin took over the city’s troubled Finance Department after firing former finance manager Andrew Perkins in September and Ballon has been her right-hand man. Albin drew fire from the Council in early November when she announced she planned to leave Perkins’ position vacant and indefinitely oversee the Finance Department herself.
The city now plans to advertise for an administrative services director, who would oversee the city’s finance, human resources and technology departments, sometimes this week, Human Resources Director Jeanie Brito. The person hired to that position will make about $65,000 a year, Albin said. Until that person is hired, Sandoval will take over most of Ballon’s duties, he said.
“(Sandoval) is free to apply to that job if she wants,” Albin said.
Sandoval was hired at Northern in April 2008 and resigned her position at Northern, where she oversaw the business office’s day-to-day operations, Dec. 31, 2009, according to Northern spokesman Mitch Stanfield and Sandoval. She had previously worked close to 15 years as an auditor for the State Auditor’s Office, she said.
Sandoval said Albin had initially encouraged her to apply last summer for Perkins’ position, but she declined.
“Then I was called in to see if I could help out because Rodrigo was leaving, and I said, ‘Sure, I can come in on a contract basis for a few months,’” Sandoval said.
Sandoval said she saw no controversy in her hiring, and invited councilors to call her if they had any concerns.
“I just like to do work, and not particularly get involved in the politics,” Sandoval said. “And it’s not like I’m getting paid a whole bunch of money.”
She is currently making $20 an hour, Brito said. Sandoval said she may apply for the administrative services director position, but is also considering opening her own accounting firm.
The city’s anti-nepotism policy forbids hiring relatives when the new hire and the related employee would answer to the same supervisor or supervise each other, or when working together for the city would create a conflict of interest. The policy extends to nuclear family members, step relatives, in-laws and first cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews, but not the sister of an employee’s father’s girlfriend.
Chayo Garcia said she would prefer if city officials just obviated the need for a nepotism policy by not hiring relatives.
“When you start hiring relatives, you’re just playing with fire,” she said. “I’ve tried doing that in my own business, and it just creates problems. You either give them leniency or you’re harder on them because you want to be fair to everyone.”
But District 2 Councilor Alfred Herrera, an Albin ally who is running for mayor against Lucero, argued the nepotism policy would not extend to Sandoval.
“First you have to apply that initial test — is the person a relative?” Herrera said. “Joyce I think is not a relative per se. Maybe you could call her a family acquaintance. I think with Joyce we’re covered under that (policy), but I don’t know about the nephew.”
The Española Jail hired Albin’s nephew Kierston Chavez Dec. 22 as a guard, according to payroll records. Albin confirmed Chavez is the son of her sister, North Central Solid Waste Authority Interim Manager Michele Martinez. Albin said Jail Director Ted Garcia called her during the interview process to vouch for Chavez.
“I told him, ‘Don’t hire him because he’s my nephew, but don’t not hire him because he’s my nephew,’” Albin said. “In other words, don’t do him any favors. But don’t reject him if he’s actually the most qualified candidate, either.”
Albin did not know how many other individuals applied for the job. Ted Garcia, who is Chavez’s supervisor, did not return multiple messages on his cell phone and at his office.
Chavez works full time and makes $11.83 an hour, according to payroll records. He could not be reached at the jail.
Illegal Discussion?
City officials did not tell the public they planned to discuss Sandoval’s hiring before they retired behind closed doors — despite a requirement in the state Open Meetings Act to do just that.
“They should have said something like they’re discussing personnel matters, and then specified the employee,” New Mexico Foundation for Open Government Executive Director Sarah Welsh said. “They have to be specific.”
Welsh also pointed out the Council may meet behind closed doors to discuss specific employees, but not to decide whether to fill a vacant position due to budgetary or policy reasons.
“There’s no specific employee there they’re discussing, whose confidentiality they’re trying to protect,” Welsh said.
Acting city attorney Paula Maynes announced only that the Council planned to discuss “the administrative services director position” and possible employee layoffs.
Maynes acknowledged Tuesday the Council mostly talked about whether to fill the director position, but argued the closed meeting was legal because the Council discussed reassigning or terminating specific employees.
“It was all related to the discussion of how to cover that finance job, because Rodrigo’s resignation had been announced,” Maynes said. “Everybody was concerned. The question was, ‘How are we going to run our Finance Department?’ I don’t control the conversation in executive session. It goes all over the map. Overarchingly, though, it was about (layoffs).”