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on February 14, 2024
Silver City Town Manager Alex Brown speaks at Tuesday’s Town Council meeting about his decision to stay on the job another two years. Brown was scheduled to retire at the end of his contract in November, but has agreed to stay to help guide large projects the town is involved in, such as the new recreation center and the Grant County Regional Water Project.
By JUNO OGLE
Daily Press Staff
Longtime Silver City Town Manager Alex Brown will put off his retirement for two years to help the town get through several large projects.
Brown said he agreed to putting in the extra time at Tuesday’s meeting of the Town Council, during which the council unanimously approved a resolution authorizing Mayor Ken Ladner to negotiate and execute a new contract with Brown.
In the Jan. 9 council meeting, Ladner made a public appeal to Brown to reconsider his retirement, which has been slated for the end of his current contract on Nov. 20. Ladner cited ongoing and pending projects by the town that would benefit from Brown’s knowledge.
“My contract is up in November of this year, and I was talking with the council,” Brown said. “We thought it might be best to stick around for a little while to keep the cohesion of all the projects that we’re working on right now.”
Among those projects are a new recreation center, which will have a groundbreaking soon, the Grant County Regional Water Project — of which Brown is chair — and the Vistas de Plata subdivision.
“The regional water project has made a tremendous amount of progress over the last year, and I can really see that project getting moving very quickly,” Brown said.
The Vistas de Plata development has had a lot of progress as well, he said, and he will be meeting with an engineer this week on a contract to fix drainage issues and to finish the design of the rest of the subdivision.
“With that, I would be willing to stay around a couple more years, to the end of 2026,” Brown said.
District 4 Councilor Guadalupe Cano acknowledged that she has had some issues with Brown during her time in office, but supported the move.
“In the past couple of years, I have very much come to realize exactly how important it is to have Mr. Brown in the position he’s in so that we can finish these projects,” she said. “I look at what other towns are going through when they’re trying to get a new town manager, and even if you get one that has some kind of experience before, they don’t necessarily know the community. So I’m thankful that he’s going to stay longer.”
Ladner recommended that the town plan for Brown’s eventual retirement, delayed though it may be.
“I think it’s really important that you finish up your term in November, then there’ll be a new, two-year contract — but at some point in your last year, we bring in somebody who you can mentor as you go about your day-to-day business, and then that way we can have a seamless transition when you do retire,” Ladner said.
Juno Ogle may be reached at [email protected].