Santa Fe’s top managers have another two weeks before a deadline to reapply for their jobs, but the director of the Finance Department has already decided to leave his position.
Adam Johnson's last day is April 20, just four days after the April 16 deadline by which Mayor Alan Webber asked for applications from more than 70 exempt workers in the city hierarchy. Johnson, who says he won't be in the office after April 13, has been finance director since November of 2016. A UNM graduate, he had formerly served as the city budget director, budget administrator at Santa Fe County, and at the New Mexico Finance Authority among other jobs. Johnson says he is returning to the private sector to take a job at an educational nonprofit.
"This gives me an opportunity to do work that will afford me better quality of life for a young family," he tells SFR, noting he and his wife have one daughter and another on the way.
Webber tells SFR through a city spokesman Monday that he informed councilors of Johnson's resignation.
"I only had a brief period of time to work with Adam, but I quickly learned to appreciate his hard work, his bright mind, and his strong commitment to the city," says Webber. "I told him when we started to work together that I considered him a 'growth stock' and today I'm sure that's true. His next employer is lucky to get him and we all wish him well."
Johnson reportedly sent up the red flag that resulted in the city hiring the McHard firm to examine the potential for fraud in Santa Fe's internal financial controls.
Stability is something the city Finance Department has not known in recent years—no one has held the job for three years in a row since Kathryn Raveling left after 20 years in 2008. David Millican took over from Raveling, but he resigned after just two years. Oscar Rodriguez held the job from November 2014 to September 2016. Before that, Marcos Tapia was in the post from April 2013 to July 2014. He replaced Mel Morgan, who had the job from mid-2011 to March 2013.
City budget hearings for the fiscal year that begins on July 1 are set to start this month, so Johnson's departure leaves a gap on that front.
"There's never a good time to leave," he says. "What is in my power to wrap up, I will work hard to wrap up before I leave."
Kent DeYoung is set to serve as interim director until June 15 or until an applicant is hired, whichever is sooner.
The abrupt departure of leadership in an important department like finance might not be the only sudden shift in senior staff. Some employees tell SFR the mayor's "talent review" has created an uncertain and opaque process that doesn't tell them much about what Webber plans going forward, a characterization Johnson did not take issue with during an interview before Monday's scheduled Finance Committee meeting.
Matt Grubs contributed reporting to this story.
