{"id":952,"date":"2006-12-05T07:51:00","date_gmt":"2006-12-05T13:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/12\/county-agrees-to-pay-former-worker-115000\/"},"modified":"2006-12-05T07:51:00","modified_gmt":"2006-12-05T13:51:00","slug":"county-agrees-to-pay-former-worker-115000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/12\/county-agrees-to-pay-former-worker-115000\/","title":{"rendered":"County agrees to pay former worker $115,000"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> has agreed to pay $115,000 to a former worker who claimed he was fired because he was at odds with former Commissioner Gilbert Apodaca. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

As part of the settlement<\/a>, which was finalized last month, former Transportation and Public Works Director George Avalos will also have \u201call negative information\u201d relating to his firing expunged from his personnel file and is eligible for rehire, should he choose to apply.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The county agreed to settle with Avalos after U.S. District Judge William P. Johnson found<\/a> that Apodaca made clear to former County Manager David King several times that he wanted his third cousin Dickie Apodaca, not Avalos, to be the county\u2019s roads superintendent, and threatened King with his own job if he didn\u2019t get rid of Avalos.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\n

After firing Avalos, King hired Dickie Apodaca as roads superintendent \u2013 a job he still holds.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

King made the decision to end Avalos\u2019 employment in August 2002 after a road crew that worked under Avalos improperly chip-sealed a hangar road at the county airport in Santa Teresa. A request to award the bid for paving had been denied by commissioners, on a 3-2 vote, in April 2002.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In his lawsuit<\/a>, filed in July 2005, Avalos claimed that he had already laid base course on the road before the commission voted against asphalt paving on top, so he chip-sealed the road to protect the base course. He claimed it was standard for individual commissioners, not the full body, to approve paving in their own districts after funds had been divided.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The road was chip-sealed in the district of former Commissioner Arturo Terrazas, a political enemy of Gilbert Apodaca. The judge found that, after the chip-sealing took place, \u201cApodaca made it clear that Mr. King\u2019s position as county manager would end if he did not terminate\u201d Avalos.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

King contended Avalos was justifiably fired because of the chip-sealing and other issues, but acknowledged the threats by Apodaca.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But the judges\u2019 findings agreed with allegations that have plagued Apodaca for years \u2013 that he was a tyrant who punished his enemies with harsh revenge \u2013 and damaged the county\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The settlement of $115,000 includes about $9,000 in vacation and sick leave benefits Avalos claimed he was wrongly denied when he was fired. Apodaca, who was sued both in his official and individual capacities, did not have to pay anything as part of the settlement.<\/p>\n

\n

A confidentiality clause prohibits Avalos from talking about the settlement, but state law requires that the details be public.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Apodaca has repeatedly denied directing any staff members, including Avalos, to do anything and has said he had no power to do so because he did not have the authority of either the manager or the full commission. He has denied pressuring King to fire Avalos, but said he was glad to see him go.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Avalos\u2019 firing came at a time when the commission was severely polarized, with Terrazas and then-Commissioner Carlos Garza in the minority and Apodaca aligned with Kent Evans and Paul Curry. At the time, public allegations of wrongdoing and criminal activity were frequent.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Terrazas was even charged with punching Apodaca during a closed session in 2002, but was found innocent.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

A 2004 special audit and resulting probes of county government found a myriad of problems with the way the county was operating but no criminal activity. Since Apodaca\u2019s departure, most agree the county has corrected many problems and is operating much more efficiently and ethically.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Apodaca had a reputation as one who ruled the county with fear and intimidation \u2013 except in the cases of the few with whom he aligned himself, who were loyal to him until term limits forced him to leave the commission at the end of 2004. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do\u00f1a Ana County has agreed to pay $115,000 to a former worker who claimed he was fired because he was at odds with former Commissioner Gilbert Apodaca. As part of the settlement, which was finalized last month, former Transportation and Public Works Director George Avalos will also have \u201call negative information\u201d relating to his firing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}