by Mark Craddock
WALSENBURG — In July of 2022, Gaye Davis was named interim city administrator for the City of Walsenburg. In October of that year, the city council made the job permanent. Davis has been on the job for about a year.
To the degree that past is prologue, it is no surprise therefore that Davis’ job security was put in serious doubt at a Monday-evening city council work session.
After all, the average tenure for permanent Walsenburg administrators over the past decade, not counting a sprinkling of short-term interim managers, has been roughly two years.
In a heated work session Monday night, Mayor Gary Vezzani and others grilled Davis over her inability to fill key department-head positions in the city’s water, sewer and building inspection ranks over the course of her tenure with the city.
Of particular issue was the Public Works Director post, left vacant since January with the departure of Monty Morgan.
No fewer than three times, Vezzani alluded to the possible need to fire Davis for inability to get the job done.
“I think our administrator hasn’t done it,” Vezzani said at the beginning of the session. “And so we almost have to start all over with a different administrator; start looking for one in the meantime and possibly fill these (vacant) positions to get going.”
“We need to do something different,” Vezzani continued. “We can’t leave our people hanging out there and we can’t let the customers hang out there. It’s been eight months. We just can’t keep going like that and use aever excuse you an come up with why we’ve done it. We’ve got to make some kind of change.”
“What is your suggestion?” council member Veronica Maes said. “What is your direction?”
“I have a past sewer and water person who would probably take the position if we made some administrative changes,” Vezzani replied.
The mayor confirmed in a Tuesday morning interview that he was referring to conversations he’d had with David Harriman, who resigned from that post in 2020, citing the need to “part ways due to conflicting views with some members of the city council.”
Maes reminded Vezzani that the council does not have the authroity to hire employees other than the administrator.
“But if the administrator doesn’t hire him (Harriman), what are we supposed to do?” Vezzani said.
“You can’t hire somebody for a job if they don’t apply for a job,” Maes said.
“Did that person apply for the job,” audience member Dee Maes Sandoval asked.
“No,” Vezzani responded, “because he will not work for the current administration.”
“So you’re setting a precedent here that people can dictate what and who they work for?” Sandoval asked.
“I’d rather set a precedent that do without having people here. That’s not fair to employees,” Vezzani said.
In some respects, Monday’s work session was the latest chapter in an ongoing dialog – and controversy – over whether and how to tap into Harriman’s legacy expertise, gleaned from years in that job.
An attempt by former Mayor Charles Bryant to bring Harriman on board in some capacity led to a January 17, 2023, executive session to discuss an alleged “contract” with Harriman. The World Journal contends the meeting was illegally convened, and has filed action in district court against the city for release of the recordings of that session.
That court action is still pending.
The agenda for the council’s July 5 meeting listed an executive session “for discussion of personnel metters” with the topic listed as “Sewer and Water Supervisor.”
But at the urging of City Attorney Catherine Vera, councilmembers amended the agenda to remove the executive session and, instead, convened Monday’s work session.
On Tuesday, Vezzani walked back the context of he statements regarding Harriman, saying he meant only to cite an example of someone who would not work for Davis – not a suggestion to fire Davis in order to hire Harriman.
“I didn’t have any intention of hiring him or anything like that,” Vezzani said Tuesday. “This was just an example. Nobody can tell me what the problem is, but somethign’s got to be wrong. Not returning phone calls. Not responding to citizens. We just can’t operate that way.”
When asked directly if he is seeking Davis’ ouster, the mayor responded:
“I dont know. That’s not determined yet,” he said Tuesday. “It’s not up to me anyway. I just tried to get everybody’s attention.”
A move to replace Davis, or force her resignation, would follow a decade-long history of a revolving door on the Walsenburg City Administrator’s office.
That idea left council member Don Martinez bristling.
“If we fire the administrator, where are you going to find another administrator?” Martinez said. “I’ve gone through this over and over and over again. Miss Davis is here. She’s not going anywhere. She may not be the greatest, but she’s here and she’s doing the job. I don’t want to see Miss Davis railroaded out of here because she can’t hire somebody who hasn’t applied for the job.”
In the end, the council directed Davis to refine the Public Works Director job description and present it, along with an expanded list of possible outlets for advertising the position, to the council at its July 17 meeting.
In spite of the Monday-night vitriol, on Tuesday morning Davis put to rest any notion that she might resign.
“I have no intentions of resigning,” Davis said. “My commitment is to the city. I’ll continue to do my job to the best of my ability until they tell me otherwise. I’m not perfect. I never claimed to be.”
