{"id":398505,"date":"2017-07-31T09:56:19","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T15:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=398505"},"modified":"2017-07-31T09:56:19","modified_gmt":"2017-07-31T15:56:19","slug":"its-time-to-let-the-hobbs-city-manager-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2017\/07\/its-time-to-let-the-hobbs-city-manager-go\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s time to let the Hobbs city manager go"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMMENTARY:<\/strong> Hobbs city commissioners must vote against any transition, any modified severance, any consulting agreement or any employment extension for City Manager John J. \u201cJ.J.\u201d Murphy before his contract\u2019s end date, which is presumed to be\u00a0Aug. 23<\/a>. I urge them to let the contract expire, and you should urge them, too.<\/p>\n

\"Jeanie

Courtesy photo<\/p>

Jeanie Coates<\/p><\/div>\n

I wrote in an April 20, 2016, opinion editorial that appeared on NMPolitics.net<\/a>, \u201cFor all the free-wheeled spending Murphy has either gotten away with or attempted, why not just terminate Murphy\u2019s employment and pay him his severance now?\u201d<\/p>\n

If the commission had listened to me and terminated his contract that next month, Murphy would only be a memory, because the year\u2019s worth of salary and benefits that are listed in the severance of his current contract would all be paid off by now. But no.<\/p>\n

Last October, the commission considered a \u201ctransition\u201d contract for Murphy. Mayor Sam Cobb made a hard sell for the proposed contract, which would transition Murphy to a \u201cspecial consultant to the Mayor and City Commission through\u00a0July 2nd, 2018,\u201d he wrote in the Oct. 2, 2016, edition<\/a> of the Hobbs News-Sun. He said the agreement would \u201cbenefit all stakeholders, including the residents of Hobbs.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than once, I\u2019ve read the News-Sun\u2019s claim that there would have been about $100,000 in cost savings<\/a> if the city commission had agreed to the proposed transition contract last October. Be that as it may, I thank the commission for rejecting the proposal, and I implore commissioners to reject any new proposal. No amount of \u201csavings\u201d is worth Murphy being involved with Hobbs city government another year.<\/p>\n

If a new proposal to make him a \u201cspecial consultant\u201d is in the works, the public will not learn the details until one business day before the\u00a0Aug. 7\u00a0commission meeting. That leaves no time for the public to debate in a public forum what the commission should do. In case a one-year \u201cspecial consultant\u201d proposal is what\u2019s coming, I think it\u2019s at least valuable to review last October\u2019s proposal<\/a> for clues:<\/p>\n