City clerk pick vows to avert conflicts of interest
If approved, Duhigg would leave spots at Common Cause NM, BernCo board
Mayor Tim Keller’s city clerk nominee told the Journal she would resign her voluntary duties with outside boards and councils to accept the job.
Keller recently nominated Albuquerque-native Katy Duhigg to serve as the next city clerk. City councilors are expected to consider the nomination during their meeting today.
Duhigg said that if confirmed, she would call it quits as vice president of Common Cause New Mexico, a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to fair elections, and as a member of the Bernalillo County Code of Conduct Review Board.
“I plan to resign from both of those,” Duhigg said. “At the very least, there could be an appearance of impropriety if I stayed on those.”
According to a letter to the city, Duhigg said she would also resign from positions on the Bernalillo County Valuation Protest Board and as governance council member and executive board secretary with RFK Charter School.
Duhigg said she would ask a deputy clerk to take on any issues where their might be conflict of interest.
“If there’s any situation that I have a conflict of interest on, I will recuse myself from that and let others take the lead,” she said.
As city clerk, Duhigg would serve as the city’s chief records custodian, conduct municipal elections and manage administrative hearings related to vehicle seizures, animal appeals, handicapped parking and personnel matters.
Duhigg said she has always wanted to be involved in public service.
“With my background, this particular position is right up my alley,” she said. “I was very excited (when I found out I was nominated).”
Most of her experience with Common Cause has centered around election protection programs, she said, including legal analysis and interpretation.
Duhigg is a graduate of the University of Oregon and the University of New Mexico School of Law.
She is managing partner of the Duhigg Law Firm, focusing on election law and consumer protection cases.
Her main goal, she said, is to ensure that the city is as transparent “as it should be, that laws are followed, that everyone is treated equally and fairly and that the public and candidates have all the access (to information) they are entitled to.”