The Board of Directors for the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC) voted April 27 to advertise for a new executive director to succeed Andrea Romero, whose contract was not renewed at the end of February following a public dispute over expense reimbursements.
Los Alamos County, N.M., is preparing the necessary advertisement, County Manager Harry Burgess said by email Thursday. The county is handling administrative work on a temporary basis for the coalition of local governments near the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in northern New Mexico.
The draft advertisement describes it as a “Request for Proposals (RFP) for Executive Director Services.” Like Romero, the new executive director would be an independent contractor for the RCLC, not an employee. The closing date for the solicitation will be June 7, Burgess said.
The draft RFP language proposes an initial two-year term with the potential for two single-year renewals. A salary and potential start date for a new executive director have not been determined, Burgess said. The RCLC executive director contract has been worth $140,000 annually, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican. Romero has said the contract covered staff work by Andrea Romero Consulting for services, including web hosting, for the organization.
The executive director would run the organization devoted, in part, to seeking maximum federal funding for DOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and Office of Environmental Management operations at Los Alamos. In addition to promoting environmental cleanup, RCLC also advocates jobs and economic development opportunities for locals around the nuclear-weapon lab.
Founded in 2011, RCLC represents seven municipalities and two pueblos surrounding the lab. RCLC does receive some Energy Department funding. The Regional Coalition of LANL Communities has received $370,000 in allocations from DOE since its inception, Burgess said by email: “Typically, the funding is in annual $100k amounts however such was not granted in the first two years of its life.”
The contract between Romero’s consulting firm and RCLC was not renewed Feb. 28 after articles in local newspapers raised questions about more than $2,100 in expense reimbursements she had claimed. The expenses included large meals with drinks for a group of lab stakeholders and tickets to a Major League Baseball game in Washington D.C.
Romero, who is campaigning in a Democratic Party primary for a state legislature seat, said in March the package of expenses had been approved in advance by the RCLC board. In April she repaid certain disputed fees and submitted additional information on others. Burgess said the reimbursement issue is largely resolved, save for questions about one outstanding invoice from this year.
When the issue of the disputed expenses came to a head in February, Romero’s firm was still owed payment for the final two months of the contract, according to RCLC board minutes. Some regional board members suggested the disputed expenses could be deducted from her pay.
The reimbursements initially in dispute had been spread across 14 expense reports. “Some of the reimbursements were overpayments and some were underpayments,” according to the board minutes. The board and Los Alamos County are looking to revise and clarify the organization’s travel policy.
