Tom Phelps selected as interim city manager

CLOVIS - The Clovis city commission was so impressed with two-plus hours it spent talking to Tom Phelps last Thursday, it needed no discussion to hire him as interim city manager this Thursday.

Effective April 18, the former Plateau chief executive officer will join the city with pay prorated to $119,000 and four weeks leave per year.

After thanking current City Manager Larry Fry for his two years of service, Commissioner Sandra Taylor-Sawyer made the motion that was approved 8-0.

"It would be 9-0 if I could vote," said Clovis Mayor David Lansford, who only votes to break ties among commissioners. "Mr. Phelps has been an excellent community servant for a number of years. He led a very respected and very dynamic company."

Lansford said the commission met with Phelps the previous Thursday going over expectations and needs of the commission and its citizens, along with the expectations of Phelps. Lansford said Phelps had an "extensive skill set" and "character of the highest order."

Phelps said he was honored to receive the offer, and even moreso that it came via unanimous vote.

"I look forward to working with the excellent city employees and the commission," Phelps said, "and (we will) work hard to make this community better than it is today."

Bringing Phelps aboard gives commissioners an extended period to search for a more permanent city manager, but the commissioners will also have the option to remove the interim tag at any point.

"I don't want to share things discussed during the executive session," Phelps said, "but the mayor told me, 'Don't screw things up.' Not an exact quote, but that's what he meant."

In other business at Thursday's meeting:

• The commission accepted reports from Quality Liquid Feed, Gavilon Grain, Cummins Clovis and Cherney Microbiological Services, as required under respective project agreements with the Clovis Industrial Development Corporation.

A planned summary report from Western Interconnect, a project of Pattern Energy and Tres Amigas, was removed from the agenda prior to the meeting.

• Commissioners opened the meeting with a moment of silence for the three Cannon Air Force Base personnel killed during a training mission Tuesday night.

• City Finance Director LeighAnn Melancon reported House Bill 174 - which would require all elections to be handled through county clerk's offices - will now include an opt-out clause.

If the bill passes, Melancon said, an ordinance to opt out will go before the commission.

Many municipalities have criticized the bill because while they would pay multiple times what they do now for elections to the Secretary of State's Office, and the office could keep money off the top with sole discretion over reimbursement of county clerk's offices.

"Thank you for all of your calls and letters," Melancon said. "We made our voices heard."

• The commission will meet 5:15 p.m. Wednesday for final approval of an additional "one-eighth" gross receipts tax to help stave off losses from the elimination of hold harmless.

Hold harmless was money paid to municipalities for lost revenues when the state made food and prescription drugs tax-exempt.

Taylor-Sawyer asked if the money would be spread out throughout the city's funds, and was told the money would all go into the general fund and transferred elsewhere as needed.