Santa Fe County names chair, sets rapid timeline to recommend elected-official pay

Santa Fe — The Santa Fe County Compensation Commission convened its first public meeting and moved quickly to organize work that county leaders say must be completed within weeks.

The panel, appointed under a county resolution that implements a 2024 state constitutional change, elected Cliff Reese as chair and Chris Grazer as vice chair, adopted an internal rules-of-order resolution and directed staff to compile comparative salary data for the five Class A counties. Valerie Agahi Park, the county’s human resources and risk management director, told the commission the mission is to "transfer[] authority to set salaries for county officials from the state legislature to the local boards of county commissioners," reflecting the constitutional amendment that shifted salary-setting to local control.

The commission faces a tight schedule. "We have 3 weeks to make our written recommendation to the board per the current resolution that we're operating under," Chair Cliff Reese said, urging the panel to focus on a concise, defensible recommendation rather than exhaustive research that cannot be completed…