Jan. 1—Gregory Shaffer acknowledges he stepped into a good situation as the new Santa Fe County manager.
His predecessor, Katherine Miller, had been on the job for more than a decade. County officials say she navigated ably through the coronavirus pandemic and a variety of controversies, as the county acquired a AAA bond rating under her leadership and recovered from a series of scandals.
When Miller unexpectedly retired last year, the Board of County Commissioners didn't look far — or long — to find her successor. He was in a nearby office.
"He knows everybody in the county, and he knows where the problems are. So you know, that's made it easy for him just step right into the role," Commissioner Hank Hughes said.
The transition, Shaffer said, has been smooth.
"It's a great job; it's a challenging job," he said. "It's a job that I find very exciting to come to work every day because you have the chance to make an impact in the community in which you live and work. You know, all of the issues that we confront, are important to someone."
Shaffer, who has held numerous jobs with the state and county over the years and was county attorney before being named to the manager position in the spring, said he went into the job with the desire to make a difference and a philosophy on how the county should run.
"I think in terms of setting the tone for how the county operates, it's imperative that we continue with the foundation of ethical government service, carried out by professionals who are truly public servants, and that we approach what we do from the perspective of fiscal responsibility," Shaffer said. "Everything that we do needs to be sustainable."
Shaffer was born and raised in Somerset, Pa., southeast of Pittsburgh, as the youngest of five siblings. He earned his bachelor's degree at Penn State University and went on to get a law degree from New York University. After graduating, he worked in private practice at a law firm in New York handling general litigation and criminal defense cases.
Eventually, Shaffer decided he wanted a change of pace and made the decision to head west to New Mexico in 2004.
"Long story short, my wife and I were interested in, you know, living somewhere other than the New York metropolitan region," Shaffer said. "At the same time that my wife and I decided to make Northern New Mexico our home, I decided to pursue a career in public service."
After moving, Shaffer started working for Santa Fe County as assistant county attorney. Over the years, he has worked for the state Department of Finance and Administration as assistant general counsel and general counsel. He then had a brief stint at the Taxation and Revenue Department as its deputy chief counsel.
In 2014, Shaffer began working as county attorney, until former Gov. Susana Martinez appointed him as a judge for the First Judicial District Court in 2017 following Sarah Singleton's retirement. He lost the Democratic primary for the position in 2018 to Maria Sanchez-Gagne.
After the election, Shaffer returned to the county and took on various positions, including human resources director, risk management director, interim deputy county manager and, most recently, county attorney.
"I've really been fortunate in my public service career in New Mexico to have had the opportunity to serve our community in a lot of different capacities," Shaffer said. "I'm excited to now be the county manager and find a different way to serve our community."
Throughout many of those years, Shaffer worked under Miller, first at the Department of Finance and Administration, then at the county.
"In terms of my working with her, you know, she was a great boss. And I think one of the state's best public administrators, and you know, I certainly learned a lot from her relative to county operations and management that helped prepare me for this job," Shaffer said.
Shaffer was appointed to his new position the same day Miller announced her retirement. County Commissioner Anna Hansen said the board already knew Shaffer was interested in the position.
"We interviewed him; he came to the table with ideas with a lot of work that he wanted to do for the county. He was familiar with the county," Hansen said. "It makes a huge difference having somebody who's already up to speed, especially in a pandemic, when there aren't a lot of quality candidates around. ... From my point of view, we had somebody in house, who wanted the job, was willing to take over a difficult job and was supported by the commission."
As county manager, Shaffer has the duty of leading county staff while implementing the commission's policies and priorities. Shaffer noted that though most of what the county does eventually rolls up to him, he said the credit for all the work that's been done in these last few months goes to others.
"It goes to the Board of County Commissioners, first and foremost, for having the foresight to fund and implement programs, and to the individuals that have worked tirelessly to stand them up," Shaffer said.
Since taking the position, Hughes said Shaffer helped support the county's Transfer of Development Rights Program, meant to promote the preservation of agricultural, rural and scenic areas, and is setting up a committee to develop an ordinance meant to reduce the use of single-use plastics in the county. This includes plastic bags, straws, plastic stirrers and containers, according to the resolution county commissioners passed in May.
To do this, the committee is required to provide an analysis report that highlight impacts of plastic and polystyrene waste in county landfills, recycling centers and communities by 2023.
It must also develop an educational program on discouraging the use of single-use plastics and informing the public of its risks to human and environmental health.
Shaffer and his staff also helped draft a short-term rental ordinance, which was introduced by the commission in hopes of easing housing shortages. The ordinance now requires short-term rental owners — who usually work with companies like Airbnb or Vrbo — to register with the county.
"I think it was a challenging process, both for the commission, who was the ones who made the changes, and the staff. I think that the county manager worked with us," Hansen said. "I mean, nobody likes a moratorium on short-term rentals ... but at the same time, they understood that that's what the commission wanted to do. So they worked with the land-use staff to make that happen."
Shaffer said one of the greatest challenges the county is facing, even before he took the position, are low staffing levels in essential areas such as law enforcement and the county's 911 dispatch center.
"It is really critical that we're able to fill those positions because it directly impacts the level of service that we may be able to provide," Shaffer said.
To help address this, Shaffer oversaw a classification and compensation study for the county's nonunion employees, which he said significantly changed the county's compensation system. The new system was simplified, reducing the number of pay ranges from 69 to 20. When it was implemented in November, some employees received pay raises of up to $9.28 an hour, with the average employee receiving an additional $2.13 an hour.
It is estimated the new pay system will cost the county an additional $1.67 million during the first year of its initial implementation. It also provides scheduled increases for eligible employees in future years.
"I believe it has made us much more competitive to the surrounding markets in which we compete for talent," Shaffer said.
Shaffer officially started working as county manager in May and is on a three-year contract. He said he plans to stay on board as long the commission will have him.
Hughes said the commission hopes to oblige him.
"I think our hope would be that we'll all want him to stick around, even after the contract ends," Hughes said.
