Mayor Webber makes his moves
For a guy who founded a magazine called Fast Company, Mayor Alan Webber’s first 100 or so days as head of Santa Fe city government have been conducted at a more moderate pace.
Instead of fast start, we’d call it a thoughtful, methodical and substantive start. And that’s just fine with us, since the type of bosses who take over waving their arms, shouting about immediate change and firing folks generally fizzle out. They haven’t taken the time to understand what is really happening.
Contrast that to our low-key mayor. He is visiting staff in all departments. He is showing up all over the city and, last week, even at the border with Mexico to speak out on the separation of families by the federal government. Webber, even when making a mistake, took the time to examine his actions and reverse course if necessary — that’s why Brian Snyder is no longer city manager.
Most of all, Webber has spent hours going over the city’s finances, halting unsound practices and installing systems — the kind to outlast his tenure as mayor and even staffers in the office — that will ensure our tax dollars are safeguarded. If he does nothing else as mayor, this will be an essential legacy. With the long-awaited city audit now completed — and as the mayor warned, the findings are not pleasant — the city knows what to do to improve such things as internal controls and reporting of capital assets.
With the appointment of Mary McCoy to head the Finance Department, Webber appears to be bringing in someone with both the chops and understanding of New Mexico to be effective. She’s coming to Santa Fe from the East Coast, where she managed $3.3 billion in revenue for the city of Boston. Born and raised in Albuquerque, she also worked for the Legislative Finance Committee, the state Department of Finance and the New Mexico Livestock Board. As one of four senior hires announced last week — all female — McCoy signals the importance of solid financial controls for the city now and going forward. Bringing such an experienced administrator shows the mayor means business.
Other senior staffers announced last week included engineer and solar expert Regina Wheeler at Public Works; Bernadette Salazar at Human Resources, moving from a similar position at Santa Fe County; and as city attorney, Erin McSherry, who had been working as general counsel for the New Mexico Department of Health. That leaves the big positions of city manager, city clerk and chief of police still vacant — and at 100-plus days in, it’s time to finalize the team. Only then can the true work of Webber’s tenure begin.
Earlier this month, his working groups reported in, advising actions — not sweeping policy plans — that could make life better in Santa Fe. We like the approach of gathering citizens, 120 of them, to discuss concrete steps forward in various areas, such things as housing, young people, uniting Santa Fe, sustainability, public safety, finances, support for education and catalyzing jobs.
Key to success will be immediate, identifiable changes. A see-click-fix function that lets people report problems and then actually sees them fixed, is commendable (the link is en.seeclickfix.com/santa-fe). But citizens have to trust that their complaints will be answered and quickly. The roads are being paved, both downtown and in other neighborhoods, but please, can’t the striping follow more quickly so drivers know where the lanes are? And, yes, there is ongoing work on removing weeds on medians and in parks, but the wrong plants already are creeping back. At some point, the city must rethink how it designs its public spaces to stop the problems before they sprout.
That same sort of thinking is needed across the city, changing the culture from reacting to problems to anticipating challenges. In the area of finances, the working group is anxious for the city to prepare a contigency fund so that it can be prepared in another recession. While we would have to be persuaded to support a tax increase of any sort at this point, we do believe that having money in the bank for a rainy day will put the city in better shape. How else could the city create this fund? Maybe spend less of what we bring in and start a savings account? That works for regular folks.
It is exciting to see efforts to bring more services and programs to the south side. The city’s current Southside Summer is great outreach, with this Sunday’s Southside Summer Wheels at Meow Wolf (10 a.m.-5 p.m.) an opportunity to unite different groups from the city with cars, food and fun. Hipsters, lowrider owners and classic car enthusiasts? Now that’s diversity. And it is this diversity that is Santa Fe’s strength, one that Mayor Webber embraces.
With his team — almost — in place, we look forward to the next 100 days. The citizens wanted change. They hired Alan Webber. Now, he needs to pick up the pace and deliver.