Somerton looks to fill finance director position

SOMERTON — The City of Somerton is seeking candidates for finance director following the firing this month of Ralph Villa.

City Administrator Ian McGaughey said he had recommended that the City Council fire Villa for reasons that McGaughey declined to make public.

“Mr. Villa’s employment with the City of Somerton was terminated following a unanimous vote that confirmed my recommendation made in a special session of the council on Oct. 16,” the city administrator said.

Villa, in a telephone interview, said he is consulting an attorney in response to his firing, which he described as an act of reprisal.

“I feel I was fired unjustly,” he said. “I did nothing wrong, I only reported irregularities (at City Hall) I can’t discuss.”

Somerton Vice Mayor Gerardo Anaya, who begins a new term in December, said the city administrator has a plan to carry out Villa’s responsibilities over the short term while the city begins its search for a permanent replacement for Villa.

Anaya said the city expects to have the post filled by the time it begins work on infrastructure projects, which will support a new high school that the Yuma Union High School District plans to build in the city.

“That matter is being finalized,” he said. “We think that we will soon be looking at how we can bring sewer lines to the area where the high school is going to be built. We have part of the funds that are needed, but more will be needed.”

Arranging financing for the infrastructure project will be one of the new finance director’s responsibilities.

Villa joined the city as finance director in 2014, succeeding Doug Bradley, who stepped down to take a job with a city in California.