Who will be Bernalillo County's next county manager? A first look at the candidates

Bernalillo County commissioners will narrow down the list of county manager candidates during the board’s regular meeting Tuesday.

The county manager is Bernalillo County’s top administrator, responsible for determining how to implement county policies.

County Manager Julie Morgas Baca is retiring June 30. The search for her replacement has been a contentious issue among commissioners and drawn criticism for potential Open Meetings Act violations.

There are 10 applicants for the position, and a hiring search committee has recommended five for consideration.

The Bernalillo County Commission will discuss all of the candidates it has interviewed in a closed meeting Tuesday, then discuss and select three top candidates during the regular meeting later in the day, according to county spokeswoman Melissa Smith.

The applicants recommended by the search committee are:

• Cindy Chavez, a county supervisor in California and the board chair for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority;
• Bernalillo County’s current Executive Development Officer Marcos Gonzales, who has worked on economic development for the county in various roles since 2012;
• Thomas Hutka, who has worked as a town manager in Connecticut, a city manager in Michigan and has experience in other municipal and county leadership roles;
• Redmond Jones, Iowa City, Iowa’s deputy city manager, who has previously been a city administrator for West Branch, Iowa, and a city manager in Groveland, Florida;
• And Joseph Lessard, who has previously worked as a city manager in Oregon, assistant city manager in Austin, Texas, and assistant to the city manager in Dallas.

All 10 applicants’ résumés are available on the Bernalillo County website at bernco.gov/home/county-manager-search.

Correction: This story misstated how long Marcos Gonzales has worked for Bernalillo County.

Cathy Cook is a news reporter for the Albuquerque Journal. Reach her via email at ccook@abqjournal.com