In a July 23 press release, the Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) announced that it selected Jack M. Harper II and Richard Bellis as finalists for the county manager position.
Harper currently serves as the interim county manager for Archuleta County.
The press release states that final interviews of both candidates will occur on July 29.
County Attorney Todd Weaver explained that these interviews will involve each candidate being interviewed by the BoCC, county department heads and other county elected officials.
He added that the BoCC will likely make a decision on selecting a county manager at its Aug. 6 regular meeting.
Archuleta County Human Resources Director Mitzi Bowman explained that the opening for county manager was posted on May 23 and was open until June 22.
She indicated that the position was advertised on the county website, governmentjobs.com and 24 other online job boards, including Indeed and ZipRecruiter.
Bowman stated that the county received 13 applications for the position.
In special meetings on July 17 and 18, the BoCC interviewed three applicants — including Harper and Bellis — before arriving at its two finalists.
Harper
According to his resume, Harper has previously served as the city manager of Stamford, Texas; Hillsboro, Texas; and Fulshear, Texas and as assistant city manager of Waco, Texas, in addition to other positions.
His resume indicates that he has a total of 22 years experience as a city manager or assistant city manager.
It states that Harper holds a Master of Public Administration degree from Texas Tech as well as a B.A. in political science, also from Texas Tech.
Harper’s resume also indicates that he holds certifications from a wide variety of national, international and Texas management associations, including being certified as a credentialed manager by the International City/County Management Association, being a certified public manager by the National Certified Public Managers Consortium and being certified as a Texas emergency manager by Emergency Management Association of Texas.
He is also a member of a variety of associations, including the Texas City Management Association and the International Association of Emergency Managers, his resume relates.
According to a city of Fulshear press release, Harper’s most recent position as city manager ended on Feb. 12 when the Fulshear City Council voted unanimously to terminate Harper for “good cause.”
Harper had been the Fulshear city manager for six years.
Another press release indicates that this action was preceded by a Feb. 6 meeting where the Fulshear City Council heard a “complaint or charge” against Harper in executive session and afterward voted to immediately place him on paid administrative leave.
In response to a public records request filed by a citizen and obtained by The SUN, Olson and Olson LLP, a law firm based in Houston, Texas, replies that the city of Fulshear contends that some of information solicited in the request is excepted from disclosure under Texas Government Code.
It adds that, as required under Texas law, it had submitted a request for a decision on whether the information is protected from disclosure to the Texas Attorney General.
In this request for a decision, Olson and Olson states that it believes that portions of the information about Harper’s termination requested is excepted from disclosure under three sections of Texas Government (GOV’T) Code 552.
The first section cited in the request (Section 552.101) prevents the disclosure of information that is “highly intimate or embarrassing, the publication of which would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person,” among other information.
The request continues that the Texas Supreme Court found in a previous case that information relating sexual assault or harassment in the workplace is protected from disclosure.
It adds that the records the city claims are excepted from disclosure “include reports of sexual harassment in the workplace.”
The second rationale for not disclosing information cited in the request concerns “informer’s privilege,” which is covered by GOV’T Section 552.101.
“The informer’s privilege protects from disclosure of the identities of persons who report activities over which the governmental body has a criminal or quasi-criminal law- enforcement authority, provided the subject of the information does not already know the informer’s identity,” the request states. “The informer’s privilege protects the identities of individuals who report violations of statutes to the police or similar law-enforcement agencies, as well as those who report violations of statutes with civil or criminal penalties to ‘administrative officials having a duty of inspection or of law enforcement within their particular spheres.’”
The request continues that the information the city claims should be excepted contains information about an alleged violation of state law that carries criminal penalties and reveals the identity of the informant.
The request concludes by stating that some information that Fulshear claims should be excepted is covered by attorney-client privilege (GOV’T Section 552.107).
It adds that some of the excepted information includes communications between city officials “in their roles as clients” and the city attorney and that these communications were intended to further the attorney providing professional legal services to the city and were thus not intended to be viewed by third parties.
For these reasons, the request states that the information should be excepted.
In a communication with The SUN, Harper stated that, to his knowledge, there are no ongoing investigations or actions related to his departure from Fulshear and “the matter is closed.”
Bellis
According to his resume, Bellis served as the town manager of Taos, N.M., between 2014 and 2022, which was preceded by working as deputy town manager for Taos from 2010 to 2014.
During his tenure in both positions, Bellis served concurrently in a range of other positions within the Taos town government, including as the director of planning, community and economic development; as the tourism and marketing director; and as the emergency management director.
Prior to working for Taos, Bellis served as the director of development services at Archuleta County from 2008 to 2010 while concurrently holding a variety of other positions in the county, including working as the county planning director.
Before working for Archuleta County, Bellis’ resume indicates that he held a wide range of positions in a career stretching back to the late 1970s, mostly in planning or economic development.
According to his resume, Bellis has 12 years of experience working as a town manager or deputy town manager over his career, with all this experience coming from his work in Taos.
His resume states that Bellis has a B.A. in economics and a graduate degree in community and regional planning, both from North Dakota State University.
According to his resume, Bellis is a member of the International County Managers Association and the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Professionals, among other organizations.
It also states that Bellis holds a New Mexico Certified Chief Procurement Officer certification from New Mexico State University and the New Mexico General Services Department in addition to a variety of certifications primarily related to housing, community development and emergency management.
According to reporting in the Taos News, Bellis’ tenure at the Town of Taos was contentious, with members of the town council attempting to fire him multiple times.
In January 2022, the Taos News reported that Bellis stated that he would not seek reappointment to the town manager position no matter the results of an upcoming mayoral election where then mayor Dan Barrone, who was a supporter of Bellis, was being challenged by Pascual Maestas.
Maestas won the election and, shortly after taking office, Mestas asked the state auditor’s office to investigate severance payments paid to Bellis and another staff member, which the town claimed may have been improper, the Taos News reports.
This investigation did not find that the payments were improper, the Taos News states, although Bellis and Taos ended up in litigation about a year later when Bellis sued Taos over an alleged failure to pay him unused personal and administrative leave on his departure as required in his contract.
Taos then countersued Bellis, the Taos News indicates, claiming that Bellis had been overpaid on a portion of his post-employment benefits package.
According to an April 11 article in the Taos News, minimal activity or progress on this lawsuit has occurred since it was filed in 2023.
In a communication to The SUN, Bellis explains that the case is still pending and will likely be sent into mediation given the judicial procedures in New Mexico.
He comments that Maestas is attempting to “drag this out” and compel him to withdraw.
Bellis states that the core issues at stake in terms of the interpretation of his contract and town personnel policy will likely be settled through a judge issuing a ruling on how these terms apply to Bellis’ circumstances.
He also comments that the case “has nothing to do with my performance as an employee or Town Manager” and that the town agrees with him that he is owed money, with the disagreement being over how much money.
josh@pagosasun.com
