Jan. 6—The deputy city manager of the city of Santa Fe will step down at the end of the week, a departure that comes amid several high-level vacancies, including the city manager’s job.
Layla Archuletta-Maestas, who started in spring 2022, is leaving for a new opportunity in Albuquerque, where she lives. Her last day with the city is Friday, city spokesperson Regina Ruiz confirmed.
“I found her assistance so valuable, and she’s definitely going to be missed,” interim city manager Randy Randall said Monday.
A job posting for Archuletta-Maestas’ successor is on the city’s online hiring portal, Ruiz said in a recent interview, but a selection will not be made until a new city manager is hired.
“We are going to wait until the city manager is in place to select a deputy city manager, so there will not be an interim,” she said.
Randall, executive director of Tourism Santa Fe, has been serving as interim city manager since early November, following the departure of former city manager John Blair, who accepted a position as director of intergovernmental affairs at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Archuletta-Maestas was not eligible to serve as interim city manager because she lacked the eight years of managerial experience required for the role, Ruiz wrote in a November email.
Along with city manager, the positions of community development director and affordable housing director remain unfilled. The tourism director position is filled on an interim basis while Randall serves as city manager, and Water Division Director Jesse Roach is serving as interim public utilities director during an internal investigation into Director John Dupuis, who was arrested on a larceny charge in late December.
Dupuis is accused of stealing another passenger’s checked luggage at the Santa Fe Regional Airport. He is on administrative leave without pay.
Ruiz said in an interview Nov. 1 the city hoped to have a new city manager within “30 to 60 days.” However, a successor to Blair has not been named, and a job posting for the position is still live on the city’s job portal. City councilors are scheduled to discuss the city manager selection process in a closed session during a special meeting Thursday.
Randall said he is not involved in the search for a new city manager but believes the city is “pretty close” to making a selection.
Since no one will be named interim deputy manager, Ruiz said Archuletta-Maestas’ responsibilities will be picked up by other staff members until the position is filled.
According to the city’s organizational chart, the deputy city manager is responsible for directly overseeing the risk management and safety division. Ruiz said responsibility for that agency had been shifted to the city manager.
“The deputy city manager role is really important to the operation of the City Manager’s Office and we’ve got a void to fill,” Randall said.
He acknowledged Archuletta-Maestas’ departure will put a strain on the office but said staff will be able to put on hold some longer-term projects she was responsible for and reallocated her other tasks until a new deputy is hired.
“We will certainly find other ways to get them accomplished,” he said of her responsibilities.
Archuletta-Maestas previously worked as an account executive at an Albuquerque-based management company and as an operations manager for U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich and helped direct the New Mexico Democrat’s 2018 reelection campaign. She was raised in Española and has a master’s degree in public administration from the University of New Mexico.
The deputy city manager position, which had been vacant between 2018 and 2022, was brought back at the request of Blair shortly after his hiring in January 2022. Renée Martínez had served in the position between its creation in 2016 and her departure in 2018, and had a salary of $135,000. During the 2018 mayoral election, some candidates questioned whether the role was necessary with the shift that year to a full-time mayor from a part-time mayor, according to prior reporting in The New Mexican.
The deputy city manager’s job requires a bachelor’s degree in business management, public administration “or related field,” according to the job posting.
Job duties are wide-ranging but focus on providing day-to-day assistance to the city manager. The salary range listed is the equivalent of about $98,280 to $142,500 annually.
Archuletta-Maestas was hired at a salary of $110,000 and now earns over $116,000.