ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – In three months, the Bernalillo County Commission will have to select a new county manager. But deciding on how that will happen has turned into a big debate. 

Unlike a city mayor, voters don’t elect a county manager. County commissioners make that decision.

On Tuesday night, Bernalillo County Commissioner Steven Michael Quezada introduced a resolution to make that process more transparent to the public, but it isn’t going anywhere, for now. 

This is all happening because current county manager, Julie Morgas Baca, is retiring in three months. 

Quezada’s resolution would offer a series of town halls and information sessions in every district, along with a question and answer session with finalists. 

He says he’s worried about the repercussions if the selection process isn’t open up more to the people of Bernalillo County. 

“I just have a bad feeling that they’re just going to put somebody in that kind of follows whatever political stance that they do, and a county manager can not do that. A county manager has to be neutral, he or she has to represent both sides and do the right thing for as many people as they possibly can. Which is the hard job, the hard thing to do,” said Quezada. 

However, the commission put Quezada’s proposal on hold until early April. 

Commission Chair Barbara Baca says she wants every county commissioner to have input on the selection process for the next county manager. 

Commissioner Eric Olivas added the thousands of people who work for the county manager should also have a say. 

“This is bringing everyone together on this commission it is the obligation of the county commission to appoint and approve the county manager, and I reached out for input from all the commissioners, and I have that input. We are moving forward to create a process where I believe we can use some of your comments,” said Baca. 

“Our county manager supervises a staff of over 2,500 people, those folks certainly have needs and desires that need to be incorporated into this process,” said Olivas. 

Quezada had a lot of objections to tonight’s decision to defer his resolution for a few weeks. It’s clear there’s some disagreement about where the commission goes from here in this important process. 

There are some critical issues facing a new county manager on day one of the job. For example, an understaffed and completely full juvenile detention center. 

County officials and law enforcement say that’s what led to the Christmas Day standoff with a handful of juveniles. 

The situation is even on Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s radar. In a sit down interview with KOB 4 she questioned why Bernalillo County has never asked the state for more resources at the center. 

Meanwhile, we have seen some improvement at the Bernalillo County jail with staffing and health care resources. But warden Jason Jones resigned weeks after being placed on leave for undisclosed reasons. 

Quezada says there are also significant infrastructure issues in the South Valley and behavioral health initiatives that will need some overnight from whomever becomes the next county manager.