Split commission redoes county manager selection process during tense meeting

The process Bernalillo County commissioners used to figure out how to hire a new county manager has now been redone to please state investigators, but two commissioners are still questioning whether it was legal.

The ratification was necessary after the New Mexico Department of Justice sent a letter to the commission saying it had violated the state’s Open Meetings Act when it chose search committee members outside the view of the public.

Commissioners voted 3-2 on Tuesday to approve — once again — the process to replace outgoing County Manager Julie Morgas Baca, but not before members traded barbs and accusations. As part of the process, Chair Barbara Baca ran through a summary of how they had developed the search committee.

‘It’s a joke to them’

In recent months, discussions around the process for choosing the next county manager have devolved as commissioners verbally sparred and one walked out of a meeting, abandoning legislation he had proposed. 

Tuesday night was no different, as Vice Chair Eric Olivas said Walt Benson and Steven Michael Quezada misunderstood the role of a commissioner in the process, and the pair in turn said he was insulting their intelligence. 

Olivas also questioned their behavior during previous meetings.

“During this process, we have commissioners laughing and walking out of meetings,” he said. “That’s how seriously they take the leadership of Bernalillo County. It’s a joke to them.”

Benson blamed Olivas for the tone of dialogue at that and previous meetings.

“(Telling) people that they’re not as smart as he is because they don’t understand everything he does — that tends to offend people,” Benson said. “When Commissioner Quezada and I first called out what appeared to be illegal behavior from three members of this board, we were met with insults. Much like Commissioner Olivas just did. Commissioner Olivas actually compared our calling ‘foul’ to these actions … to the Trump protesters January 6, when they broke into the capital.”

Quezada and Benson said they in fact are taking the task seriously. Both have expressed opposition to the path taken by Baca, who, using the prerogative of her position, wanted to create an ad-hoc committee for the purpose of evaluating applicants.

For her part, Baca called on her colleagues to act with decorum and professionalism.

Who gets to make appointments?

Benson and Quezada wanted to establish a search committee with members appointed by each commissioner. Quezada condemned the process of setting up the committee as “not inclusive and not transparent.”

Benson said he learned the committee had been formed via a call from someone who had accepted a position on it, and took issue with learning that way instead of having a say in choosing the members.

Baca took responsibility for the violation, saying it was a matter of hitting “reply all” in emails sent among commissioners regarding possible members of the search committee. She said the county now has a system in place to protect against a “reply all” response.

“I sent out an email to all of my colleagues on the commission and asked for input on two subjects,” she said. “First, what experiences, skills and abilities do we want in our next county manager? Second, what type of search process do we want to pursue in hiring our top administrator?” 

She said she then spoke to each commissioner separately, and they responded by email, text and phone call about their desires or concerns on how the process should move forward. 

“We have learned in these past few months that a ‘reply all’ on an email can be considered a rolling quorum,” Baca said.

Olivas said that an email from Benson to the rest of the board indicating his opposition to the resolution establishing the search committee and another from Quezada saying he would vote against the resolution also constitute violations of the act.

“So the two of them actually took votes by email, in my opinion,” he said. “There have been errors made across the board.”

Finalists remain in contention

Commissioners voted unanimously last week to select Cindy Chavez, Marcos Gonzales and Joseph Lessard as final candidates for the position. The three appeared at a public forum later in the day.

“Whether you support it or not, the process has worked,” Olivas said. “We have some excellent candidates and we have to move forward. This board has an obligation to move forward. We cannot continue to relitigate the past and wish that we had different members on this commission or a different turn of votes.”