Las Cruces City Manager Terrence Moore (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
Las Cruces City Manager Terrence Moore has accepted the job of city manager in Morgantown, West Virginia.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for me both personally and professionally,” Moore said in a news release. “After having spent nearly six wonderful years as Las Cruces city manager, it was time for me to advance my professional career, and Morgantown is the perfect place for me to do that.”
Assistant City Manager Robert Garza will serve as interim city manager while the Las Cruces City Council searches for a replacement for Moore. Garza was quoted by the Las Cruces Sun-News as saying he will apply for the job.
Moore, who has been Las Cruces city manager since 2005, had already announced that he would resign at the end of this year. He’ll remain in his current job through Dec. 31.
Moore’s abrupt resignation announcement in June followed months of scrutiny of his personal and professional actions. Though he didn’t have another job lined up, Moore said at the time that the scrutiny had nothing to do with his decision.
At the time, the city council was meeting behind closed doors to discuss adding “performance objectives” to Moore’s contract. That followed scrutiny by some councilors, NMPolitics.net and other media organizations of two work-related issues:
Earlier this year Moore reimbursed the city for some costs associated with two business trips he took last year – after a complaint was filed over one trip and an attorney requested documentation about the other.
Moore also had his administrative assistant babysit his children on Dec. 21 – while she was on the clock and being paid with public money – so he could attend a city council meeting.
Moore had also been under scrutiny because of a law enforcement investigation into two incidents involving him and his ex-wife – one surrounding injuries Moore’s then-wife suffered in late 2008 and the other involving a police report the city manager filed over a prescription-drug incident in January 2009.
A week after Moore announced his resignation, the district attorney’s office said it had reviewed the law enforcement investigation and Moore wouldn’t be charged.
Morgantown is the county seat of Monongalia County, located in the north central part of West Virginia and approximately one-hour south of Pittsburg. Monongalia and Preston counties comprise Morgantown’s metropolitan statistical area, which has a population of approximately 120,000, including a daytime city population of 70,000 and a 29,000 student population at West Virginia University. The school is the state’s largest and a member of the Big East collegiate athletic conference.
“I love working in a growth-oriented community that boasts a major university,” Moore said. “Las Cruces has New Mexico State University and Morgantown has West Virginia University. So in that regard, it’s a perfect fit for me.”
The Las Cruces news release said Moore was also recently named a finalist for the city administrator position in Hyattsville, Maryland, and for the city manager position in Amarillo, Texas. Moore has withdrawn himself from consideration in both Hyattsville and Amarillo.