Santa Fe’s asset development director to leave

Official says he is stepping down on good terms after filling roles with city since 2009

Asset Development Director Matt O’Reilly is leaving his post at City Hall.

O’Reilly submitted his resignation last week; his last day at work will be Sept. 5.

Well-regarded for his preparedness and attention to detail by city officials and close City Hall observers, O’Reilly was the city’s land use director for five years beginning in 2009. The Asset Developmen Office was created in 2014 and O’Reilly was chosen to lead it.

O’Reilly said he supports the Webber administration and was stepping down on good terms, simply looking for “something new” after nine years at the city.

“I have worked hard to earn the trust of current and former members of the governing body and have appreciated the confidence they have placed in me over the years,” he wrote in his resignation letter.

The Asset Development Office was a one-man operation under the city manager, responsible for identifying new revenue to be made from city-owned real estate and assets. O’Reilly oversaw the effort to rezone the St. Michael’s Drive corridor and the introduction of the so-called Midtown LINC — an overlay intended to radically redevelop the busy and

parking lot-centric St. Michael’s Drive area cutting across the center of town by offering incentives to property owners who build housing and commercial entities closer to the street.

He also played a key role in the changeover of the former Santa Fe University of Art and Design campus, soliciting short-term leases on the property, managing maintenance of the parcel and fielding longer-term offers from educational and other entities that could someday become tenants after the city has finished its “visioning” and public-input process.

“Matt has long been an important part of the city’s leadership team and a valued friend and we’re grateful for his service to Santa Fe,” Mayor Alan Webber said in a statement, adding city leadership was working with O’Reilly to plan a transition.

His departure makes one more hole for the Webber administration to fill in the ranks of senior staff. Still to be hired are a fire chief and community services director. Former fire Chief Erik Litzenberg was elevated to city manager. The former longtime interim director of community services, Chris Sanchez, left the city to become the chief deputy assessor at Santa Fe County.

Whether the city will move to hire a new asset development director or simply fold the objectives of the office into another department remains to be seen. The results of a citywide “strategic review” conducted by a former Las Cruces city manager are to be delivered next month. Those findings could meld with Webber’s intention to reorganize the top ranks of city management, shuffling some roles and eliminating others, such as the deputy city manager.

Webber said the city would “take advantage of the opportunity to do some strategic thinking about the role.”