City plans ‘strategic review process’
The Santa Fe mayor and city manager on Wednesday announced a “strategic review process” to “create alignment” and “greater clarity in city-wide goals” among city administrators and elected officials.
The review will be led by a consultant who is a former Las Cruces city manager.
Robert Garza will “conduct a high-level review of the entire city’s operations,” the city said in a news release, by interviewing all eight city councilors, 15 department leaders and representatives from each of the three municipal employee unions.
Garza will lead a workshop in the fall and make a final report. His findings will be public, a city spokesman said.
The city will pay Garza no more than $10,248, according to his contract.
Mayor Alan Webber cited Garza’s “experience and objectivity” in a statement.
“Like any well-managed organization, the city needs a vision and a set of agreed-upon priorities to guide our work,” Webber said. “With our new leadership team in place, now is the right time to take a look at these larger issues and create alignment among the council members and department heads. There are critical issues of over-arching goals, strategic directions and managerial priorities.”
Garza “saw Las Cruces through major growth and major change, and he’s bringing expertise and a fresh perspective to our effort to do the same for Santa Fe,” City Manager Erik Litzenberg said.
The review comes after the Webber administration organized the city’s annual budget and hired many senior staff members, and it suggests a pivot to intentional governance.
“It’s a way to be moving toward something rather than responding to the day-to-day,” city spokesman Matt Ross said.