Honeyfield blamed for city's shortfalls

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — City Manager Eric Honeyfield cannot say he didn't see his forced resignation coming.

Rumors of Mayor Harry Mendoza's plans to replace Honeyfield, if elected, started brewing months before the candidates even filed in January. Mendoza admitted to no such plans during the campaign and spoke only of a need to reevaluate all city employees.

But now that he has made his decision, Mendoza says it was clearly time for a change and that Honeyfield, by leaving, would have to be a part of it.

"The people voted me in because they wanted a change," he said, "and that's what we're doing."

Mendoza said he has seen City Hall rack up a long list of faults and shortfalls over the past few years. Heavily bonded, the city has little room to take on major new projects without raising taxes. He said Gallup's statewide ranking for gross receipts revenue was slipping. An article he read in the Albuquerque Journal named Gallup the second worst city in the state to live in. Though not sure where, he has also heard that Gallup now has the highest rate of serious crime in New Mexico. Seniors, he said, were "up in arms" over Honeyfield's management of their senior centers.

"I think we're going in the wrong direction," Mendoza said. "We should never have gotten into this condition."

And while past city councils shared some of the blame, he said, so did the city manager.

Mendoza said Honeyfield also failed to follow through on a few requests, but Mendoza declined to elaborate.

Honeyfield describes himself as more of a messenger, a faithful servant of the mayor and councilors. All major decisions, after all, rest with them. But as City Hall's top administrator, often called on for his advice and with sometimes considerable leeway when it comes to implementing the council's wishes, he understands the attention.

"I make a convenient target," he said. "I'm the guy who influenced their decisions. Are my fingerprints going to be on it? Sure they are."

Some considered the target quite apt. Local businessman Tom Sundaram squarely blames Honeyfield for putting the breaks on local development.

Sundaram got into a recent tangle with Honeyfield over his plans to build an eight story hotel between the Home Depot and Interstate 40. The council had agreed to give Sundaram a 20-year break on property tax if he agreed to build 10,000 square feet of convention space. With time on the city's offer running out, Sundaram kept asking for small changes to the deal. When he started talking about turning some of the convention space into an IMAX theater, Honeyfield finally gave up.

Sundaram accuses Honeyfield of misrepresenting his intentions to the mayor. Honeyfield says he merely passed on Sundaram's e-mails word for word in hard copy.

"He was a very smart man," Sundaram said of Honeyfield. "At the same time, he was very nasty."

Sundaram figures the two cancel each other out, leaving Honeyfield "a big zero."

Others consider the blame unfair.

"Eric's probably the best professional manager we've ever had," said Councilman Pat Butler, who's worked with his share during his 20-odd years in office.

Butler, who voted to hire Honeyfield in 2003, said the city manager always respected the council's decisions. Even after listing the pitfalls, he said, if the council voted to proceed, Honeyfield complied.

But Butler did not consider the city manager a simple yes-man. He praised Honeyfield for taking on tough union negotiations that could have cost the city up to $50,000 each time, had it hired an outside arbitrator.

"He saved a lot of money for the city by negotiating those contracts," agreed former Councilwoman Mary Ann Armijo, who also voted for Honeyfield.

Honeyfield himself considers those negotiations among his proudest achievements in Gallup, not just for the money they saved the city, but for the rapport they helped foster between City Hall and its employees.

Mendoza does not see it that way. He said employee morale was the lowest he's ever seen it.

Still, Honeyfield believes he has done some good. He was also particularly proud of leading citywide beautification projects that fixed up dilapidated business signs, demolished abandoned motels, and helped clear up the city's general appearance. He was also proud of imposing new employee safety incentives that have already saved the city a few hundred thousand dollars.

Still, Honeyfield is not surprised he is being forced out.

"In this job," he said, "you tend to collect a lot of enemies."

After almost four years, he figures they finally caught up with him.