The Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) could hire a new executive director by the end of the month.
The deadline for the RCLC’s request for proposals was June 6, and the executive committee of the group’s Board of Directors’ could make a recommendation at a board meeting tentatively set for June 29, Los Alamos County Manager Harry Burgess said by email last week.
Given the pending selection of a candidate and negotiations, the coalition will not release details until a new executive director is chosen, Burgess said. Los Alamos County is providing administrative support for the RCLC until a new director is in place.
The community group is a coalition of local governments near the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in northern New Mexico. Part of the group’s mission is to push for maximum federal funding for DOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and Office of Environmental Management operations at Los Alamos. It also seeks to ensure local residents share in the economic benefits of the government lab.
The group has been without an executive director since the end of February, when the board did not renew Andrea Romero’s contract after a public dispute over expense reimbursements. The controversy did not prevent Romero from defeating Carl Trujillo earlier this month in a Democratic primary election for the 46th State District in the New Mexico House of Representatives.
Like Romero, the new executive director would not be an RCLC employee, but rather an independent contractor. The contract for Andrea Romero Consulting was reportedly $140,000 per year and included web hosting services. The RFP proposed an initial two-year term, with the potential for two single-year renewals, for the new executive director.
