Vigil, Rios top candidates to replace Hays
County commission expected to decide on new manager tonight
By Eric Maddy
The SCORE
Two current Sandoval County employees have emerged as the top candidates to replace retiring Debbie Hays as county manager.
Phil Rios, currently the county’s public works director, and Juan Vigil, an assistant to Hays, garnered the most points during interviews with a seven-person screening committee, according to a reliable source close to the situation. Bernalillo town manager Stephen Jerge was a distant third, according to the source.
Candidates were asked the same 15 questions during the one-hour interviews, and the panel was asked to score the response on a scale of one to 10. With each candidate earning a possible 150 points from each member of the committee, a candidate could score a maximum of 1050 points.
Rios and Vigil were separated by only five points when the evaluations were totaled, the source said.
The county commission meets tonight and is expected to go into private session to pick the replacement for Hays, who is retiring at the end of the year after almost 20 years working for the county.
Vigil was hired as a special assistant to Hays earlier this year. His resume includes three -years as the administrator for the village of Los Ranchos (2005-07), Bernalillo County manager for 15 years (1991-2003 and 1976-79), deputy director of the University of New Mexico Mental Health Center (1986-91) and secretary of the state’s human services department from 1984-86 under Gov. Toney Anaya. His resume of government and/or educational management service dates back to 1971l
Rios’ resume includes 17 years in municipal and government administrative positions. He was appointed to his current position in 2004 after joining the county five years earlier as the director of community services. Before that he worked eight years as the administrator for the Village of Corrales and was the treasurer and financial officer for the village for a year.
Rios spent 12 years as an officer in the U.S. Air Force, working as a director of weapons and training for eight years and three as the chief transportation management officer for three years.