Rosebrough will not run for a second term

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Four years will be plenty for Bob Rosebrough at least for now. The Gallup mayor put months of rumors and speculation to rest Tuesday evening by announcing his decision not to run for a second term this coming March.

"I thoroughly enjoy public service and I hope to return to public service at some point in my life," Rosebrough wrote in a prepared statement, "but for the immediate future, I am excited about placing my primary focus on my family and my business."

Rosebrough, who has continued working at his law practice while pouring many hours a week into his duties at City Hall, said that public service has hurt his business. But it's nothing he didn't expect or regrets.

"I think that anyone who serves expects that it's a financial sacrifice," he said after Tuesday evening's City Council meeting. "It's a necessary part of serving as mayor."

There were no particular accomplishments of the past three-and-a-half years that stood out, Rosebrough said, adding that the list of goals he set out to achieve but missed was a short one.

"I think we accomplished nearly everything I wanted us to do or that we tried and was not successful," he said.

There were certainly some dashed hopes, the council's decision not to support some of the key alcohol reforms he suggested, for example. But even on that front, Rosebrough claims some success, including the passage and renewal of a glass bottle ordinance and persuading the Legislature to approve three-day-holds at qualified detoxification facilities.

Rosebrough also noted some "missed opportunities" on the council's part, from placing stricter rules on liquor dealers and payday lenders to raising the minimum wage and banning smoking from most public places, all proposals the mayor supported but failed to win a majority of the council's support.

On the capital front, he said the projects the administration started were either completed or on their way there. But it was critical, he added, that future administrations continue to pursue the three major initiatives intended to secure the city's water future: reverse osmosis, the G-22 well, and the Navajo-Gallup water pipeline.

Even so, Rosebrough is content with his choice to leave City Hall.

"It was a very difficult decision that I weighed for many months," he said, "but I'm very much at peace with it."

And despite that choice, Rosebrough has no intention of spending his final months a lame duck.

"I will continue to be an active mayor during the last months of my term," his statement reads. "I was elected by the people to a four year term and I will remain an active mayor through the very last day."