The controversy surrounding the interim promotion of Española Police Officer Greg Esparza to sergeant grew so tense last month that interim city manager Joe Duran drafted an official reprimand with the intent of issuing it to Police Chief Eric Garcia.
But instead of getting into the hands of Garcia, the Jan. 15 reprimand is sitting on Duran’s hard drive, after he put it on hold.
The original conflict arose from a memo Garcia sent to Duran Jan. 13. City emails state Garcia simultaneously requested Esparza’s promotion to sergeant and a new officer for Esparza’s newly-vacated position. Garcia wrote the police union approved and endorsed Esparza’s promotion.
Duran wrote a responding memo the same day, denying Esparza’s promotion.
“It appears you (Garcia) attempted to circumvent the process,” he wrote. “By placing Esparza in the SGT position and filling his full-time position, that would place the City been (sic) forced to allow circumventing the testing process. Nonetheless, it places the City in a liability by not allowing other candidates equal chance of the SGT position.”
A Jan. 14 City Council meeting further escalated the conflict when Garcia mentioned Esparza’s promotion to the Council, prompting Duran to draft an official reprimand and a supplementary letter the next day.
“On Tuesday, January 14, 2014, during a City Council Meeting you publicly mentioned Greg Esparza’s promotion, deliberately and without regard to the City Manager’s direction, you continued with the unauthorized promotion and evidently you demonstrated insubordination,” Duran wrote in the Jan. 15 supplementary letter. “During that meeting, I informed you that we needed to discuss your action the next day, where you responded it was a done deal.”
Duran wrote Garcia violated five rules in the city’s personnel policy, including insubordination, unsatisfactory job performance and violation of lawful duty.
After drafting the reprimand, city emails state Duran sent City Attorney Frank Coppler a copy for review Jan. 15, with the intent to issue the reprimand later that day.
“Please review the proposed reprimand, returning in promptly, since I would like to serve the Chief with it early this afternoon,” Duran wrote.
City emails state Duran never received a response. He sent a Jan. 23 email, again asking Coppler for his input.
In a Feb. 25 interview, Coppler said he intentionally declined response to the email. While he sometimes helps city officials draft disciplinary material, Coppler said he doesn’t directly approve or disapprove reprimands.
“I don’t get involved in administration,” he said.
Also mum on the issue was Mayor Alice Lucero, who received a copy of Duran’s reprimand according to city email. She declined to comment on the issue beyond saying Duran initiated the whole process.
“On personnel matters, I really hesitate to comment, not only for the protection of the employees but for the protection of the city,” Lucero said in a Feb. 20 interview.
The two people at the heart of the matter, Duran and Garcia, remain at odds as to whether the reprimand is appropriate.
Garcia said in a Feb. 25 interview that he made an executive decision when he promoted Esparza and followed city procedure the entire time.
“I had an ability to promote someone who is competent and that’s what I did,” Garcia said.
Duran said he continues to stand by the content of his reprimand, though he decided to put it on hold as he discusses it with other city officials. He said the matter would probably go to the City Council in executive session when he approaches the topic again, and with election season gearing up in January, he thought it was the wrong time to breach the subject.
Duran said he could not comment on the actual content of the reprimand because it was a personnel matter.
He publicly spoke about denying Esparza’s promotion as recent as a Jan. 21 Finance Board meeting. In a subsequent interview, Duran said he approved Esparza’s promotion after receiving written consent from the police union, though he did not mention the reprimand.