Sunland Park trying to turn over a new leaf

More than six city employees arrested, $1 million dollar budget deficit and a bickering city council — these are just some of the issues that have plagued the city of Sunland Park this year.

Now a newly appointed mayor is trying to turn it all around.

Just a few weeks after the city had to cut jobs and programs to start repaying its debt, the city is hiring six employees, including three top positions.

Several of these jobs need to be filled because the previous employees were fired.

The city is searching for a city attorney, city manager, city clerk, city planner, librarian and police officer.

Mayor Javier Perea told ABC-7 it’s crucial the new hires are closely examined to keep corruption out of City Hall.

“Once we get these people in place, I can start focusing and thecounsel can start focusing on the big picture for Sunland Park,” Perea said.

The city is currently running on a bare-bones crew: no city manager, city clerk or even city planner.

Earlier this year, Daniel Salinas, the mayor pro-tem, and Jaime Aguilera, the city manager, were both arrested in connection to a case of extortion. Several more city employees were arrested in the months following.

Luz Vargas, the current librarian, was arrested recently in connection with voter fraud. She is currently on administrative leave without pay.

Perea is on a mission to get the city up and running again with people the city can trust.

“When the city manager comes in, I’d like to work on those HR policies, so we canhave a better system in which we can get people who are qualified andget rid of that nepotism that has existed for many years,” Perea said.

Perea is making the hiring process open to the public. When the city council interviews the candidates for city manager, he invites the community to come watch.

“They can come in, see the questions that are being asked, who’s comingin and all that,” Perea said.

As for what makes an ideal candidate?

“I personally want somebody who has some knowledge about how thegovernment works. It wouldn’t be wise for me to get somebody straightout of college with no municipal knowledge or without any supervisoryexperience,” Perea said.

The lack of experience he mentions is something many questioned in the appointing of the young mayor who was a jewelry salesman. Perea said neither his youth nor his lack of experience in politics are a big concern.

“It’s not something that I can’t learn. I’m not going into thissaying I know everything as to how a city government works, absolutelynot. I have a very steep learning curve ahead of me and I knew thatfrom the very beginning. I have the capability of learning these newprocesses and moving forward,” Perea said.

To reduce corruption, Perea is looking into outsourcing financial positions to limit city officials’ access to funds.

He expects the city council to start interviewing candidates within the next few weeks.