GRANTS, NM - The City of Grants, still reeling from the recent termination of its city manager Donald Jaramillo, is in the midst of searching for a replacement. The position, which became vacant just a few months ago, has proven challenging to fill.
Jaramillo’s tenure ended abruptly after complications arose regarding a property purchase. The state declined to reimburse approximately $750,000 of the $1.5 million Pantry property acquisition due to an overlooked tax lien. The oversight, which involved several city officials including the city council, became a focal point of contention leading to Jaramillo's dismissal.
In an open letter addressed to the citizens and the editor, the former city manager acknowledged the mistake, explaining the series of events that led to his termination. Jaramillo emphasized that he had not expected the tax lien to disqualify the reimbursement. While he accepted the managerial responsibility for the oversight, he noted that the council had 'unanimously' approved the final settlement in which the tax lien was mentioned.
Mayor Erik Garcia, in phone interview on Tuesday, revealed that the city began advertising for the position 10 days ago. However, they've received only one application to date, from a candidate with no previous experience in similar roles. Mark Teshma, previously the special projects coordinator and the current director at the sewage plant, has been named interim city manager.
G arcia said that he asked multiple city employees to be interim city manager, and all of them denied the request, allegedly telling the mayor they don’t want to lose their jobs to the politics of the office.
Yet, even with the interim city manager, the mayor’s agenda is 'frozen,' Garcia expressed concern about the loss of momentum in city projects. “We were on a roll and had so much momentum. The city was really doing things, but now we’re stuck,” Mayor Garcia said.
In the conversation with Garcia, a communication gap amongst city officials became evident. Since the incident, the mayor noted that he hasn’t heard from any of the elected officials with the exception of Councilor Zachary Gutierrez. Garcia said that he continues to update the council regularly as mandated in the charter.
Garcia said he will continue to follow the protocols set in the city charter until a consensus is reached on a new city manager that both the council and mayor can agree upon.