The Doña Ana County Commission unanimously voted to terminate County Manager Scott Andrews — who had signed nondisclosure agreements with developers behind the massive and controversial Project Jupiter data center — without cause July 21.
While Andrews came under fire, some people suggested to The New Mexican he wasn’t let go due to his handling of the data center — as many assumed — but because he was in search of another job and wanted to negotiate a better settlement for his departure.
He was included on a list of candidates for city manager in Lake Worth Beach, Fla., on June 2.
Public records on Andrews’ departure might have shed some light on residents’ questions; however, the county closed The New Mexican’s request for records on his ouster after 30 days without producing any records. The county said there were no documents to produce.
Andrews suggested his departure was due to how he and his family had been treated in the community. He wrote in a LinkedIn post Aug. 3: “Over the last few months, someone egged our home after we returned from vacation. I was cursed out at the store w/my son and followed home from work twice. The final straw came on July 11, when my pregnant wife, our two-year-old son, and I were asked to leave a local coffee shop. … I turned in my separation agreement 2 days later. Leadership has taught me that titles are temporary. Character isn’t. Jobs come and go. Family is forever.”
Interim County Attorney Alonzo Maestas shared slightly more information at an Aug. 25 meeting on the signed separation agreement — the most that has been presented publicly — saying Andrews was entitled to six months of salary in the negotiated contract.
But Maestas did not explain why commissioners had terminated Andrews in the first place.
To get a better sense of Andrews’ departure, The New Mexican asked Doña Ana County on Aug. 24 for all communication (emails, memorandums, messages, etc.) between county commissioners and county staff regarding the process of ending Andrews’ tenure, as well as Andrews’ signed separation agreement.
The county acknowledged receiving the request three days later, Aug. 27. Officials said they would need additional time to respond, but would do so before Sept. 8.
That day the county deemed the request “excessively burdensome” and said it would respond before Sept. 22.
The county on Sept. 22 again said it would need extra time, with a new deadline to produce the records set for Oct. 6.
The county closed the IPRA the following day, however, saying it had “no responsive documents to produce” — despite multiple references by the interim county attorney and commissioners to a separation agreement.
Julia Gentin is a reporter for The Las Cruces New Mexican, The Santa Fe New Mexican and Searchlight New Mexico through a partnership with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. She covers the Southern New Mexico region. Learn more about Report for America at reportforamerica.org.
