This week, City Finance Director David Millican announced his resignation. Since Millican says an article in the New Mexican on his resignation “didn’t quite get the quote right,” we thought we’d let him offer some parting thoughts in his own words (edited a little, for clarity).

Without further ado, here’s David Millican on Santa Fe, the economy and the city’s plans to restructure itself:

When I got here in 2008, the real important issues then were getting oriented to the city, installing a new financial system and starting to work on finance department strategic planning, teamwork and customer service issues.

That shortly gave way to three big projects: dealing with the downturn and trying to come up with budget solutions that would minimize the impact on services, the community and on employees. The second one was the preservation of the College of Santa Fe, and the third one was getting a set of water rates passed that resulted in the city getting its first-ever AAA bond rating. Those all took a lot of time. Continue reading »

David Millican

Farewell: David Millican, whom SFR interviewed just last month, is reportedly stepping down from his post as Finance Director for the city of Santa Fe. From today’s New Mexican*:

[Millican] said his decision to leave is partly based on results of a peer review by top administrators preparing to restructure the city organization.

Not sure what that means, exactly, but SFR put a call in to Millican this morning.

Free Stuff: Santa Fe County reported last night that it has received “336 recycle bins from the Aluminum Company of America Recycle bin grant through the New Mexico Recycling Coalition.” Complicated syntax aside, YOU, yes you, can get a free bin! More after the jump. Continue reading »

On March 10, the Santa Fe City Council will adopt the official results of last week’s municipal elections. We’ve pasted those results below the jump for all the local political junkies to pore over, and the new issue of SFR that hits the streets this week day will contain a mini-analysis of voter turnout—which was piss-poor as expected.

Actually, turnout was slightly worse than expected—which perhaps should be no surprise, considering the leading daily’s Eeyore treatment of the race.

The consequence of such low participation figures is easy to understand: People don’t feel invested in their government.

Continue reading »

This week the Eyedropper is doing things a little differently. I tried to get an image of this car’s “Jesus Is Lord Over Santa Fe” bumper sticker but, due to complications—driving—my plan was foiled. So using Blingee, I’ve crafted the spoiled image to be more…um…readable. The slogan is one I’ve seen before in different cities, but one by which I’m still bewildered. My dismay: Why just Santa Fe? and Why not Vishnu?

Show us what has left the back of your eyelids burning. Send pictures of visual trespass and peculiarities to copyeditor [at] sfreporter.com, subject “eyedropper.”

Personalized Glitter Graphics

“It’s hard to tell how many people are voting and how many are working out,” City Councilor and District 1 candidate Chris Calvert says.

SFR found Calvert outside the Fort Marcy Complex, the largest polling location on the city’s north side. Inside, election volunteers told SFR that approximately 1,000 people had voted as of 1:30 pm. The table reporting the highest turnout so far today was reserved for voters from precincts 8 and 10, an area covering the hills roughly between North St. Francis Drive and Hyde Park Road.