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Vice-Chair: County manager authorized to negotiate with Fire Chief candidates; decision deferred
Summary
After closed interviews for Torrance County’s Fire Chief, commissioners told the county manager to negotiate with candidates and run background checks; the commission postponed a final hiring decision.
Torrance County Vice-Chair Kevin McCall said March 19 that the county manager was authorized to negotiate with finalists for the county Fire Chief post and to run background checks, while the commission postponed a final hiring decision.
The action followed an executive session held under NMSA 1978 10-15-1(H)(2) for limited personnel matters. McCall told the public after the meeting returned to open session at 1:18 PM: "In Executive Session, we have given the County Manager the ability to negotiate and do background checks on the candidates. The decision will be made at a later date." The session began after a motion by McCall and a second from Commissioner Linda Jaramillo; the roll-call vote carried with McCall and Jaramillo voting yes and Chairman Ryan Schwebach recorded as absent.
The transcript and meeting record do not show a final vote or formal hiring action; the commission returned to open session and announced that the manager had direction to continue negotiations and vetting. The board also set the next regular meeting for March 26, 2025, at 9:00 AM and completed signing of official documents before adjourning at 1:20 PM.
The record lists J. Jordan Barela as County Manager and Genell Morris as Administrative Assistant III among others present; the transcript does not include direct, on-the-record remarks from Barela in this meeting text. The commission did not announce a timeline for a hiring vote or name any finalist in the open record.
