Thoughts on our Emprty County Manager's Office

I was drafting this column to urge the County Commission to terminate County Manager Scott Andrews to comments, but now it thanks them for doing so.

I wish Andrews well. I wish Cari Neill well, too. Briefly the interim or deputy County Attorney, she lacked experience with public law and likely shouldn’t have been hired. But Andrews used her then abused her.

Most recently Andrews, busy seeking his next gig, hadn’t really been very present, and had removed personal items from his office, but hadn’t resigned, leaving staff asking, “Who’s running this place?”

That situation needed resolution, and the County resolved it. So where are we? First, the basic problems exposed by the recent state audit pre-dated Andrews and every current Commissioner; but neither Andrews nor Commissioners had eliminated them, although I gather there were some efforts. I thought Andrews, a friendly, bland, pleasant sort of fellow, wasn’t a great choice, but I didn’t know a lot about the range of choices the Commission had.

I do think he deserves some blame for the hasty, careless, and probably unwise commission approval of whatever the Project Jupiter proponents wanted. He and staff were secretly “negotiating” this thing for months before springing it on the commission so hurriedly that commissioners were told they had to approve everything rapidly, without even getting to see the actual contract. That ain’t right. (Staff also pushed commissioners to violate state transparency laws.) Andrews’s conduct doesn’t excuse the commissioners who took the bait. Commissioner Chaparro saw the approval was way too hasty, as did many community members. So did I.

Andrews, according to the audit, approved the lawsuit against the county sheriff without even a Commission vote. He and Neill also handled some other issues poorly. Notably, as I’ve complained and the audit found, the County hasn’t always followed the Inspection of Public Records law. Further, they trespassed and banned a citizen without even the least due process, which could ultimately cost us all if he sues; and after I pointed it out, they did it again. That was indefensible arrogance.  The state has now required the County to engage an independent fiscal agent to ensure proper use of state funds. That’s no badge of honor for anyone involved.

The audit noted the feeling among employees that they could get wrongly retaliated against. The County lost a couple of lawsuits over that, long before Andrews ever heard of Dona Ana County; but Andrews sure didn’t eliminate that. UnderSheriff Robert Parra publicly called for Andrews to be fired over alleged retaliation against people who cooperated with the state auditor, although they were required by law to do so.

The immediate future is uncertain. Commissioners say they’re working to repair things and impose more “Standard Operating Procedures,” and were doing so even before the audit. They will move slowly on Andrews’s permanent replacement, partly because November’s election will change some commission seats.

Let’s cooperate to fix this. It’s serious, but – as I think the state auditor stated to the Commission – “The County is not broken.” There have been deep-seated and long-term problems. The conflict with the sheriff’s department and now the state audit have shown us some of them. But I hope and trust county commissioners see these things clearly now, and share our concern.

I hope the Commissioners take an honest, if belated, look at whether the Project Jupiter folks’ promises warrant the damage we know they’ll do.

                                              – 30 – 

 

[The above column appeared on the 26^th of July, 2026, in the Las Cruces Sun-News and on the newspaper's website, and will be up soon on KRWG’s website. A shortened and sharpened radio commentary version of this Sunday column will air during the week on KRWG (90.1 FM) and on KTAL-LP (101.5 FM / ]

[I guess I also hope the Commission makes a better choice of its chief executive this time. I never thought Mr. Andrews was a wonderful choice for this county, but I also really didn’t have a clear picture of the commissioners’ alternatives. I’d urge them to appoint a citizens advisory committee, and I volunteer to serve on it – and keep confidential personnel information confidential. (Ain’t likely to happen.)]

[I also hope the county management will stop viewing the county sheriff as The Enemy. She isn’t. Yeah, she sued you folks for bad personnel practices that led to her firing, which a court jury found to be wrongful, after a full and fair trial The Commission apparently relies too much on witnesses the jury didn’t appear to believe. Sheriff Stewart is not perfect, but she sure improved things at DASO. She is not the county’s enemy. That juries 10-12 years ago found against the county, that soon afterward a jury dinged you a bunch of money in an Inspection of Public Record lawsuit, New Mexico Foundation of Open Government asked me to handle, and the state audit criticized county management for some disguised or undisguised attacks on Kim, should carry some weight in your thinking, folks. I know I don’t count, but I wrote some of the same stuff the state has now written. Are we all smoking the wrong substances or trying to make political hay?]

[Bottom line: our county government problems were here before Scott Andrews.  He didn't create them.  But I'm not aware of any he eliminated.  And I'm glad for him he doesn't have to face whatever punishment a majority of county residents would impose, if they had a vote, for his role in the Project Jupiter fiasco.]