Lotrich takes over county reins July 10

Andrew Lotrich will start his new position as county manager on July 10.

“The one thing that everybody just really needs to know is, I’m so excited to be back,” Lotrich said.

Lotrich moved to Socorro with his family as a child. After graduating from Socorro High School, he moved to Colorado and graduated from college in 1993. He worked as a language arts teacher and football and basketball coach in New Mexico and Colorado for 10 years.

He eventually became involved in teacher labor relations and worked as a public and private sector labor representative/lobbyist from 2004 to 2018, after which he started his consulting services.

“The school system here, when I was a kid, helped create the individual that you see now; if it wasn’t for those teachers that assisted me in giving me the direction and guided me. That’s what I want to do now come back and share that guidance, that same foundation and give back to the next generation,” Lotrich said.

When he read the news about the opening, Lotrich felt that he was in a mamager’s position to use his experience working with small rural counties to help Socorro County.

“When you’re younger, you always want to leave. Hopefully, with me coming back, I can show the younger generation. It’s okay to leave. It’s okay to go get an education elsewhere. But always remember where your roots are and come back home and share something with us,” Lotrich said, “I can bring a fresh perspective but not a new perspective”.

Lotrich said he feels it’s important to be accessible and approachable to the public.

“As the county leader, it’s important that you’re out there so people can ask the questions, right, because the last thing you want to do is have your county commissioners, all of a sudden, be bombarded with complaints you don’t know about,” Lotrich said. “Anytime you’re dealing with the government, whether municipal, county or state, there are always issues, and there are always people that have complaints. The whole thing is not to allow the complaints to overwhelm you but rather to look at where they’re coming from. And is there a solution? Sometimes, there’s not a solution right away, right? But it’s an ability to join a partnership with that individual to now address issues.”

His goals include supporting the commissioners in their vision for the county and collaborating with other local entities.

“My goal is to work with them to make sure that their vision is attainable and to make sure that it’s the same as the citizens of the county. That’s what we all need, to be brought together into the same lane to move into the future,” Lotrich said. “Everybody has to start figuring out how do we bring the resources together and work cooperatively.”