County manager responds to termination

Letter to the editor

Message from Former County Manager

The Socorro County Manager’s contract was unanimously terminated at a special meeting last week.

Andrew “Andy” Lotrich began his tenure as manager on July 10, 2024.

“I move to terminate the county manager contract pursuant to section six of the contract. Additionally, I move to offer Mr. Lotrich a severance agreement discussed in the executive session and delegate the board’s authority to the chairman,” County Commissioner Danny Monette said.

All county commissioners were present and voted in favor of the termination. Lotrich was not present for the vote.

In a text sent to the editor on Tuesday, Lorich wrote “I take solace in knowing that any attempt to impugn my integrity, honesty and dedication will be merely pretextual as there aren’t any written reasons for the Board’s action.”

See Lotrich’s full message on page 5 under “Letters to the editor”

“For those of you that are listening, at this point, the chairman will be acting as the county manager,” Monette said.

Commissioner Joe Gonzales is the county chairman and on Tuesday unofficially secured a seat on Socorro City Council.

“It’s normal practice in New Mexico for the county chair to serve as acting manager until one is hired,” said Gonzales after the meeting.

He said there is no compensation as the acting manager and the hiring process will begin on Monday.

“I might be the one signing things but at the end of the day we are going to get through this together as a board,” Gonzales said.

The next commission meeting is scheduled for Monday Nov. 10 at 5 p.m. at the County Annex I building.