Doña Ana County sheriff, county manager clash over decision to send workers home due to Covid
UPDATE #3: Twenty-four hours later, it is still not clear whether the Doña Ana County sheriff or county manager has the ultimate authority in deciding when employees can work from home.
By Thursday, ABC-7 had reached to state lawmakers, the governor's office and the secretary of state. No one could give a clear answer as to who had the ultimate authority. The director of the New Mexico Association of Counties had not returned calls by time of deadline.
However, county commissioners did admit that the public feud didn't look favorably for the county.
"Obviously, it doesn’t reflect well on any of us," admitted Commissioner Shannon Reynolds. "It’s the board’s responsibility to manage the manager and support the other elected officials and to try to ensure this runs smoothly."
"The biggest thing is for us to continue to communicate and try to find a common ground," said Commissioner Manuel Sanchez, the chairman of the board.
Confused by the power dynamic in Doña Ana County? Here is a visual explanation: https://t.co/0PYNvFtu0A pic.twitter.com/XDci7OKbKp
— Kate Bieri KVIA ABC-7 (@KateBieri) December 24, 2021
UPDATE #2: County Manager Fernando Macias on Wednesday evening cut VPN access for support staff employees instructed to work remotely, according to an email obtained by ABC-7.
"Now that employees have been notified that telework is not approved, any further work done via telework can be considered insubordination under HR Policies & Procedures 6-4," Manager Fernando Macias wrote in an email to employees with the sheriff's office. "Standards of Conduct and appropriate discipline can be administered."
"He's basically taken my power from me to deploy and to operate my office," Sheriff Steward said over the phone. "The public should feel very concerned because this is a fairly bold step."
“The bold step is to tell staff to ignore the directive that was given," Manager Macias said over the phone. "We don’t involve ourselves with law enforcement decisions... The county manager hires and fires all employees, including the classified employees in the sheriff's office."
Macias told ABC-7 that law enforcement will still have VPN access in the field.
COUNTY MANAGER VS. SHERIFF: Sheriff Kim Stewart wants only eight people in the sheriff's office as she cites rising Covid-19 cases in the office. Manager Fernando Macias says she can't instruct employees to work remotely. MORE: https://t.co/0PYNvFtu0A pic.twitter.com/SnMeBKUj7l
— Kate Bieri KVIA ABC-7 (@KateBieri) December 23, 2021
UPDATE #1: The Doña Ana County manager is threatening to withhold pay for employees that the sheriff has instructed to work from home while she says the office is experiencing an outbreak.
“This is about health and safety," Sheriff Stewart told members of the media. "And I’m going to say this… keeping my people safe. Not their people. My people.”
"That’s the wrong attitude to have," Manager Macias said. "We are all county employees. We are all under one umbrella.”
Macias argues that only he has the authority to allow employees to work from home. He said he wants the county departments to make united decisions on whether to send employees home.
"You can’t send people home unilaterally," Manager Macias said. "We have to do this as a team. It’s not applicable just to one department."
Manager Macias said he finds it "very suspicious" that the sheriff instructed employees to work remotely ahead of the Christmas holiday. Sheriff Stewart said she suspects Covid-19 to only worsen over the holidays, putting employees at risk.
The sheriff also argued that taxpayers elected her to lead the sheriff's department. She said she doesn't want a Covid-19 outbreak crippling her office.
"I never asked permission to do this," Sheriff Stewart said. "It was presumed as the sheriff that I have operational control of this staff right here.”
ORIGINAL REPORT: Doña Ana County Sheriff Kim Stewart will start limiting the number of employees who physically work in her office to eight at a time after witnessing multiple breakthrough Covid-19 cases, she told ABC-7 on Wednesday.
She addressed the "pandemic protocol" in a news conference that you can view in the video player atop this article.
She said she originally implemented the "pandemic protocol" in March 2020 for six weeks. It will apply primarily to administrative staff, however it also includes uniformed detectives who work in the building.
"This is how you mitigate the spread," she said on Wednesday. "Our number of people who work in the building with breakthrough cases has risen dramatically since November."
She said as many as ten employees this month have had breakthrough Covid-19 cases, despite being vaccinated and in some cases, boosted.
The sheriff also plans to have three staggered shifts of employees working in the building at a time. Those who do not report to the office must telework.
"I'm not going to let this get worse," she said.
