A current county official and two West Coast executives are the last remaining candidates as Bernalillo County seeks its next manager.
Marcos Gonzales, Cindy Chavez and Joseph Lessard will be asked to make their cases for the job at public forums next week.
The Board of Commissioners Tuesday voted to name those three as the top finalists for the job. The board earlier in the day discussed their qualifications and those of two other candidates.
County Manager Julie Morgas Baca is retiring June 30.
The candidates
Gonzales, the county’s executive development officer, has been working in economic development since 2008 and joined the department in 2012, after working in state government. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of New Mexico and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix.
Lessard was city manager of Ashland, Oregon, for almost two years, ending in December, according to his resume. He was previously a senior planning director at Texas planning firm Knudson LP and assistant city manager of Austin, Texas. Lessard holds bachelor’s degrees in business administration and political science from Washington State University and a master’s degree in public affairs from Indiana University Bloomington.
Chavez sits on the Santa Clara County (California) Board of Supervisors and chairs the board of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. Chavez was also director of Caltrain, a commuter rail line in the San Francisco Bay Area. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from San José State University.
Laudatory comments
“The search committee did not give us an easy job,” Commissioner Eric Olivas said. “We got a lot of good people in that list of five.”
Commissioner Steven Michael Quezada said the three final candidates each bring unique abilities that the county will need going forward and that each represents a unique, different type of leadership.
The process to this point has been marked by contention among commissioners about how to find a new manager. Olivas said that was absent toward the end.
“What I think is most exciting to me is we have consensus on this,” he said. “This is something that, in this process, has not been the norm. But everyone that is on this list of five, and absolutely the list of three, brings terrific qualities and qualifications.”
Other actions
Commissioners also voted to contribute $525,000 toward the construction of a new home for the city’s Brillante Early Learning Center. The center is New Mexico’s only museum-based STEM education center.
Commission Chair Barbara Baca said the center is a way to help people across the state learn about innovation. Commissioner Adriann Barboa praised the center’s “thoughtful, innovative approach.”
In other business, a study of possible groundwater contamination in the Carñuel area in the East Mountains is now planned, as commissioners approved an intergovernmental agreement with the U.S. Geological Survey.
Identifying what contaminants are in the area and where will help the county plan for addressing the issues, Olivas said after the meeting.
Also approved was a resolution finalizing the Local Government Coordinating Commission. The commission, formerly the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Government Commission, now includes Albuquerque Public Schools as a voting member. The school district had advisory seats on the prior commission.
Commissioners said that as representatives of the community’s young people, APS should have an equal say in matters that concern it, the county and the city of Albuquerque.
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