Andrew Valencia New City of Grants Manager

GRANTS, NM – At a special city council meeting on November 13 the Grants City Council approved Andrew Valencia to be the new full-time city manager for the City of Grants.

Valencia, who previously was a Lieutenant at the Grants Fire Department and the interim city manager says he’s confident in his experience and he feels that he will do a good job as fulltime city manager.

Valencia said that he was always interested in how the city is operated. He also said that he took notes as an individual watching former City Manager Bob Horacek run the city. Valencia was interested in improving himself “to be on top”. Valencia said, “I obviously have a few years left before retirement, three to be exact. I think moving from the fire service into this gives me that opportunity to maybe just work a little bit longer if necessary. Also, the capability of retirement if I wanted to.”

When asked if he was confident regarding if he would be approved as city manager he replied, “I was [confident], I was. I felt like I was the right person for the job. The confidence not necessarily because of what I do or don’t know for the position. The confidence is that I believe in myself, I believe what my drive, of how I’ve ever approached every job I’ve ever taken is 100 percent. So, I was confident that they were making the right decision.”

Valencia said that he didn’t have any inside knowledge regarding if he would be approved as the full-time city manager. He said that meeting with the councilors as the interim manager, that the councilors expressed interest in him. Valencia also said that he hasn’t seen any disagreements or disapproval for any of his action so far, “I try and keep that avenue of transparency and communication open so we are not running into roadblocks, that’s my drive.”

Mayor Erik Garcia approached Valencia multiple times to see if he would be interest in being the interim manager following the firing of former City Manager Donald Jaramillo. Valencia said, “After discussion with my family, I said ‘yeah, I’ll take interim to help out, because I think it’s a position I could help out with.’” Following this, both Valencia’s wife and dad got sick, which led him to decline the offer from Garcia so he could support them. Valencia said two or three weeks went by and the interim position was back open again. Garcia gave Valencia a call again regarding the position and told Valencia that he liked his background as a business owner, fire service, and his management style. Valencia thought about the offer over the weekend and finally decided to take the position.

Valencia spoke about how his previous employment experiences have aided him in his new position as City Manager. Valencia said, “Managing, you know you have to manage your assets, manage your time. I feel like there is enough work in this office to keep someone busy for the next three years without starting new projects. The main thing that I felt that I brought in is the communication… When you work in the fire service you have to communicate, of course you have to know what your partner is doing, but you also have to communicate with your partners about what you are doing.” Valencia said that one of the questions that he received while speaking to legislature while working in the fire service was, “Are you nervous?” to which Valencia replied, “No, I’m not nervous. Going inside a fire, a burning building, looking for a trapped victim not knowing if you’re going to come out or not, that’s nerve wracking. Talking to someone about allocation of money, that’s not nerve wracking to me.” Overall, Valencia believes that the communication that he learned while working in fire service will be the biggest asset working as the City Manager.

When asked how it has been working in the City of Grants offices and with the staff Valencia said, “I admire the staff here.” Valencia goes further to say, “I believe sometimes when there is disagreement on the government level with the councilors and the mayor, I believe it reflects on the staff. What I would like to reiterate to everybody [is] we have a great staff. We have a staff that shows up for work every day, that works hard every day, provides for their family every day. I want that fact; I want people not to forget about them and the work that they do for the city internally that people don’t necessarily know about.' Valencia says that he feels like he fits in well with the staff and that the staff have welcomed him. He said that he is happy with what he has seen, despite some of the areas that need to be fined tuned. He said, “It has been a pretty good transition, but there is room for improvement.”

Currently some of the projects that the city is working on are: a multiuse arena at the rodeo grounds, as well as multiple infrastructure projects such as the replacement of the sewer and water line down Santa Fe Avenue. The city also has received funding for multiple projects, retention and recruitment for the police department and the infant box at the fire department. The legislative forum held on November 22 was the first formal forum that Valencia attended as City Manager. He said, “I would say [I was] somewhat confident, but I feel like I missed on some areas. I think the reason why I missed on some areas was because I wasn’t familiar of how they went. Now that I have been to my first one, I think that going forward I can improve on it.”

The main thing that Valencia believes that the city should focus on is infrastructure. He said, “The sewer and water line and our streets, we really, really need an improvement on those areas. If we improve our infrastructure, we could maybe improve in attracting bigger businesses to come and open up and shop here. If we could do that then hopefully, we could create more jobs and that.”

When asked if he believes he is doing a good job so far as city manager Valencia said, “I think everybody would want to think they are doing a good job. The feedback I have gotten is positive. So, I feel like I am getting there. I feel like I’ve always been one of those people that want to do better and so far, I think it’s going well, but I do think that there is always room for improvement.”

Valencia spoke about what he wants people to know about the various departments and the work that they do for the community, “I want people to know that our agencies… they are doing a great job, but it’s my job to get them the tools and the knowledge to improve their job and improve their aspects. The city is good shape but we are moving forward to get in better shape. The main part about that is the transparency and the conversation open so the people know and they are not surprised. I want the citizen to know that this position is fully dedicated in making sure that the citizen has the best possible Grants, no matter in what department.”

Valencia also said that it’s important to highlight the hard work that employees in the various departments in Grants do. He says a lot of times that takes a backseat to the controversy surrounding projects being completed and roads being closed, and water being shut off. He also said a lot of times the governing body and the city manager is the ones that receive praise over completed projects and improvement to the city, but it is the staff on the backside that are doing the work. He ended off by saying that hopefully in the future these overlooked employees can be better paid in the future and attract individuals to work for the city.

Valencia said he would like to thank his family for being supportive of his new position of city manager and for being with him through the entire process, “I’d like to thank my family, particularly my wife, for backing me and being my big support through all of this. It’s nice to know that family is right there with you.”