Apr. 17—When County Attorney Gregory Shaffer learned he was being discussed to succeed Katherine Miller as county manager, he asked himself two questions: Could he make a difference, and would he be a good fit?
To colleagues on and off the Santa Fe county commission, the answer is an emphatic yes.
"I'm fortunate that I am succeeding someone who was good at what she did and she's leaving this organization in a good place," Shaffer said. "I'm also not coming in cold from the outside, not knowing where the bathrooms are."
He added, "I've been working with the county for years and am very aware of each department."
Miller announced her retirement during a tear-filled speech in front of the county commission Tuesday. Less than an hour later, commissioners exited an executive session to announce the 49-year-old Shaffer would step into the position.
While a contract is still in the works — the prospective salary being discussed is around $175,000 — the pick raised questions about why a larger national search was not completed.
Commissioner Anna Hansen said a national search was considered but the board thought against "wasting" taxpayer dollars on a national search when hiring Shaffer, who has experience working with the various county departments, was an option.
"We can spend taxpayer money and do a nationwide search and spend thousands and end up hiring from within anyhow," Hansen said. "Because, as I said, [hiring Shaffer] creates certainty for staff; it is something they know and someone who wants the job and is committed to the county and knows our issues and how and what we want to work on."
Shaffer was born the youngest of five children in Somerset, Pa., a town of about 6,000, and attended Pennsylvania State University.
He would go on to earn a law degree from New York University before taking a job at a law firm in New York handling general litigation and some criminal defense cases.
But the bang-bang pace of New York didn't suit Shaffer, and he and his wife started looking for other locations, ultimately falling in love with Northern New Mexico.
"It was a leap of faith, as any such decision would be," he said. "We moved here in 2004 and didn't know anyone, but from the research we did and looking at it from the distance, there was a lot that attracted us — the history, the diversity, the four seasons, abundant sunshine, just on and on and on."
"Eighteen years on and this is our home," Shaffer added.
He landed a job with with Santa Fe County as an assistant county attorney in 2004, then left nearly two years later to work for the state as a general counsel in the Department of Finance and Administration. He also would serve as deputy chief counsel for the state Taxation and Revenue Department.