The New City Manager – What Work Culture Will They Step Into?

We have an opportunity to help search for the next Alamogordo city manager.

As part of that process we also have the opportunity to review some of the ways the city of Alamogordo works and engages with the community.

As a concerned citizen, I met with the former city manager several months ago. Why? I wanted to learn more about local government so that I could be a better citizen that contributed more. Right off the bat, the former city manager told me “we do five things in Alamogordo: roads, water, waste water, fire, and police.” 

I have heard the current city manager say the same thing at the start of a presentation. I’ve heard folks that interact regularly with the city manager repeat the exact same thing.

Message received loud and clear. Now I know the key mission areas of the city of Alamogordo.

But if you look at city commission agendas, meeting minutes, the annual report...are those key mission areas clearly stated

What about their status and health?

The municipal water system is in dire need of renovation. Many millions of dollars will be spent to play catch up to many years of deferred maintenance and upkeep. Thousands of citizens are paying significantly higher water bills.

The announcement of this news came as a sudden shock to many.

Go to the city website. Look at recent annual reports. Check out annual water quality reports. Dig through the annual budget.

Where do you find it clearly stated in recent years that the municipal water system was in dire need of renovations?

So much for providing accurate status on a key mission area. That lack of information guaranteed bad decision making...delayed decision making to deal with a “sudden” critical situation.

If it’s a key mission area, then its status, capability, and future plans need to be reported periodically. Those reports should be easily available online to everyone.

If Alamogordo city government needs help setting up a good mission capabilities reporting process, there are many local citizens with a military background that have seen countless commander briefings that cover the status of key mission areas. Ask, and you’ll be flooded with lots of good help.

Alamogordo needs a city manager that will deliver unvarnished news about the health and status of the city’s key mission areas. 

That’s not the challenging part.

The challenge is for the mayor, commissioners, city staff, various community leaders and organizations...to see, hear, and acknowledge the unvarnished news, and then act on it.

If city government fails to improve in that regard, it will not matter whom you hire as city manager.

What I’ve discussed above is very transactional. The city has key mission areas to perform, so the city does them. Money in, infrastructure and services out.

If we want city government to do a better job running the city and informing the public, it always helps to expand the talent pool.

So let’s talk about things aspirational.
Everyone of voting age can run to be a commissioner or the mayor. That’s the theory. And that’s the biggest possible talent pool...everyone in Alamogordo.

That’s a goal to aspire to.

In practice, sadly, it doesn’t work out that way.

The compensation plan for the mayor and commissioners is a tiny fraction of the salary for city manager.

Each commissioner has over 5,000 people in their district...a huge number of different needs, issues and challenges...and we’re only talking about people, not businesses, various rules of government, etc.

When was the last time you saw a business leader, responsible for a company of over 5,000 employees, with an annual salary of less than ten thousand dollars a year?

In reality, who can run for city commission or mayor? Only those few that are financially independent through other means.

The potential talent pool of over 5,000 people in each commission district is cut off at the knees and is much, much smaller. (If you count voting age people in the talent pool, we start with a bit less than 4,000.

You increase that talent pool by properly compensating the mayor and commissioners.

This touches upon the aspirational concepts of diversity and inclusion.

If you’re not inclined to use those two words, then feel free to recite that old truism: you get what you pay for.

As we search for a new city manager, let’s do our best to ensure that they join a work culture and team that are primed for success.

Tom Krajci