Governor appoints District 1 commissioner

CLOVIS — Curry County’s newest district 1 commissioner will be a familiar face. Robert Sandoval was appointed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to fill the vacancy on Monday.

Sandoval was a county commissioner for eight years, from 2006 to 2014, when he was term-limited from running again. He was also appointed to the Clovis city commission in 2003 following the death of Robert Moreno and served until his retirement in 2016, winning three re-election bids.

“The Governor believes Robert O. Sandoval had the best credentials out of the two applicants and has faith in his leadership and capabilities to take on the new role and serve the people of Curry County,” Claudia Tristán, bilingual press secretary for the governor’s office, wrote in a message to The News on Monday.

Sandoval is scheduled to be sworn in 4 p.m. Friday at the commission chambers, and his first meeting will be Tuesday.

“He is currently a county commissioner and will start receiving the same material that the other four commissioners receive,” County Manager Lance Pyle said.

The District 1 commission seat was vacated after former commissioner Angelina Baca failed to file a financial disclosure form with the secretary of state’s office, resulting in her removal from the November ballot.

Baca had won the June Democratic primary and there were no Republican candidates for the commission seat, leaving no candidates on the November ballot and a vacancy to be filled by the incoming governor.

Tristán wrote in a message to The News that Sandoval and Baca were the only applicants for the position.

“Well I’m humbled by the fact that the governor has put her faith in me and I’m sure that I will give the governor 110 percent and I will give the county 110 percent,” Sandoval said.

Sandoval told The News that he left the world of local politics a few years ago due to personal and family health problems, but now those have been addressed and he’s ready to get back to work.

“I’ve been retired now for two or three years and I’m back in good health and I’m just ready to do something,” Sandoval said, noting that several of his former constituents asked him to seek the appointment.

“I don’t feel that I can just sit there and watch TV for the rest of my life. I know the job very well and I think I can do the county a good job. It was a great pleasure in serving the county for eight years and I’m just ready to do it again.”

Sandoval said the issues facing the county now are much the same as when he left at the end of 2014: water and roads.

“They’re basically the same issues that have been there for a while, water, the contamination of water with the problem we’re having with Cannon Air Force Base, and roads — roads have always been a big issue with Curry County. No matter what we do we just can’t seem to get enough money to get all of our roads fixed,” Sandoval said.

Commission Chairman Chet Spear, who along with Commissioner Ben McDaniel previously served with Sandoval on the commission, said he thinks it will be a benefit adding someone who already has experience as an elected official.

“I learned that there’s a learning curve to becoming a commissioner. It took me a while to kind of learn the ropes. Bobby comes in and we don’t have to worry about having someone brand new. I think we’ve got a really good team and having Bobby join us is only going to make it better,” Spear said.

“I’ve known Bobby for quite some time and Bobby is always interested in doing what’s best for the community. I think we’ll have a great working relationship and with this appointment we can move on and get things done.”