Las Cruces' new city manager settles in

Ikani Taumoepeau is not Ifo Pili.

The new city manager of Las Cruces wanted to make that point. But it'd be a step too far to say that Taumoepeau didn't owe Pili something.

Taumoepeau acknowledged he had big shoes to fill, saying Pili's work created a culture of confidence and collaboration among city departments. "To come in and do what Ifo did, I'll be the first to say I can't do that. But I can continue the momentum," Taumoepeau said.

The Las Cruces City Council confirmed Taumoepeau as city manager on April 1.

The job is a big one. Unlike Albuquerque or Santa Fe, Las Cruces has a "council-manager" system that empowers an unelected city manager as the executive officer. Taumoepeau will oversee a workforce of 1,700 and a budget of more than $500 million.

In a joint interview with the Las Cruces Bulletin and Las Cruces Sun-News on April 2, Taumoepeau said he was still formulating goals and had few to share. He wanted to speak with councilors individually to garner priorities. Still, he said public safety and infrastructure improvements – including a plan he intended to propose at an upcoming work session – were vital.

"My job is to give our departments and our department heads the resources that they need. And that's what I'll work to do," Taumoepeau said.

Taumoepeau grew up in San Fransisco, Calif. He holds a master's in public administration from Brigham Young University. He began his career in Eagle Mountain, Utah under Pili before serving as city manager of Clayton, Calif. from Dec. 2019 to Dec. 2020. He became an assistant city manager in Las Cruces in January 2021.

At 42, Taumoepeau's career advanced rapidly during the past decade. But in Las Cruces, he said he had found a home. 

"If we're gonna serve the community, we have to grow roots," Taumoepeau said. "And we have to be here for the long haul to see things to see things through."

City managers think in three-year increments, Taumoepeau said. That's the length of the average contract. 

"My goal in the next three years is to kick butt and do as much as we can without breaking the bank and execute the city council's vision and continue on the path and trajectory that (Las Cruces) is on," he said.

An empowered administrator 

The system of government in Las Cruces is called a council-manager system. 

Councilors set priorities via resolution, ordinance and vision. They also represent residents to state and national entities. The mayor is merely one of these figures. They hold no veto power and represent all residents instead of limited districts. 

In this system, the mayor and council have no administrative authority. The city manager's office handles all day-to-day operations. 

The system arose in the early 20th century as a reform to Gilded Age problems of patronage over merit, according to passages published in the Encyclopedia of American Urban History. Vast networks of clients and patrons dictated elections to maintain power and use the government to enrich themselves. This system was bolstered by a "weak council system," which left municipal governments suitable for patronage networks. 

Today, most cities in the U.S. follow the council-manager system: 59 percent, according to the International City-County Management Association. Still, it's not well understood.

"I've had to explain this to my family before because they still think I'm the mayor," Taumoepeau joked. "And I tell them that I have seven bosses. I work at the behest of them."

Taumoepeau said he sees little room for his values. Administrative operations are all about the elected council and the mayor's appetite.

"I follow their vision. It is whatever they come back with, and they tell me to do. I am their sole employee," he said.

One councilor votes no 

Taumoepeau agreed to a three-year contract. The contract is worth $216,000 annually and includes a $500 monthly vehicle allowance, health benefits, two weeks of vacation, 16 hours of personal leave, 160 hours of annual leave and 96 hours of sick leave.

"Folks might look at that and say, 'Wow, that salary,' or 'Wow, those benefits'," Councilor Johana Bencomo said before affirming the contract. "But honestly, it's because this job is incredibly difficult."

The contract also included controversy. Cassie McClure, who represents District 1, was the only councilor to vote against it. 

"I also have faith in (Taumoepeau) 's ability to do his job and have had nothing but good interactions with him even before I was a councilor," McClure said during the meeting. "As a writer, I place a huge premium on communication, and this is still a very uncomfortable forum for me to speak in public. But I think communication builds trust, and I think we failed in that for this round."

McClure declined an interview with three media outlets, including the Las Cruces Bulletin, who were at the meeting. Instead, she published a statement on Facebook. There, she wrote that picking a city manager was among the council's most important jobs. But the process was rushed and skipped over the public, she said.

"I – speaking for myself as I won't speak for the rest of council – would have wished there had been more ways to create confidence, and build trust, for the voters by explaining why an internal hire was preferred," McClure wrote.

Taumoepeau said he appreciated McClure's opposition.

"I appreciated her following her gut on that, and being transparent in communicating with me because I told all of them, I will give each of them 120 percent," he said.

In medias res 

Taumoepeau starts the job with three years of experience in Las Cruces. He has already acclimated and said he knows where the landmines are. 

"Normally, in the first 90 days, you're doing site tours, you're getting a lay of the land, and honestly, you waste a year and a half," Taumoepeau said.

But Taumoepeau arrives in Las Cruces amid ongoing efforts. 

The city nears its deadline to draft and approve a $500 million budget. The budget includes request to hire more firefighters, money for road improvements and much more. 

Public safety initiatives – including a myriad of policy ideas from poverty alleviation to criminalizing panhandling to bolstering police recruitment and technology – will also be a major effort in the first three months, Taumoepeau said.

But for now, he needs more information.

"Stay tuned. I'm going to continue to get new priorities from them," Taumoepeau said.

Reducing poverty, which Pili regretted not having a greater effect on, would also be a goal.  

"It's going to continue to build on top of the legacy and the foundation that's already been set here," he said.