Four years ago, Joyce Wilson was selected as El Paso’s first city manager from a long list of applicants that included a few El Pasoans and others from around the country. For a century before that, El Paso was a strong mayor city where the mayor was the chief executive and the one calling the shots day in and day out at City Hall.

To some on City Council and in the community, Wilson has performed far better than expected and has overhauled city government while bringing a $316 million general fund budget and $689 million overall budget under control – with no tax increase this year. To others, Wilson is too strong and has moved too fast in consolidating power under the city manager that once belonged to City Council.

But no one disputes the fact that Wilson has made a difference.

This October marks the four-year anniversary of El Paso transitioning to a city manager style of government. What has been the reception of the public? And what has been the reception of elected officials?

Generally, the transition has been very successful, given how significant of a change this was for the community and organization. Overall, the public seems very satisfied with the changes and I get a great deal of positive feedback in both formal and informal settings. The elected officials, current and former, for the most part are supportive and see the benefit of a professional management that is accountable to the entire Council versus one individual. There are times when there have been tensions surrounding policy versus management, but that is natural in a shared-power setting regardless of the newness of this experiment. This was an extraordinary change and that point shouldn’t be under-emphasized. That fact that it has evolved in the types of major organizational and cultural shifts as quickly and uneventfully over the past four years is a testament to the commitment by everyone to embrace the changes needed to ensure success. Also I think the form of government has helped to insulate the City from some of the public corruption issues that have been ongoing over the past several years.

El Paso will experience tremendous growth with the Fort Bliss and Medical Center both in the private and public sector. How prepared is your office to handle the demands of this growth?

City staff has been intimately involved with key community and business leaders, affected institutions, and elected officials to insure that we are prepared to support the growth and economic development opportunities associate with both the Ft. Bliss expansion and the Medical Center development. We have a growth management coordinator funded by the federal government solely for the purpose of ensuring that all critical stakeholders are aware and involved with the impacts of Ft. Bliss. The MCA Foundation is the lead agency in terms of coordinating the economic development and master planning aspects of the Medical Center, but our Planning, Economic Development and elected officials are key players on the work group. Communication and coordination have and continue to be key to these two economic development initiatives – and we have resources devoted specifically to ensure their success.

According to the city website, "The City's over 6,200 employee workforce, 25-department operation works daily to ensure excellence in customer service while meeting the needs of El Paso's citizens and visitors." How have you trained the city staff in excellence in customer service? Do you send people to seminars or bring in trainers?

We have instituted customer service standards for the entire organization and by department so that we can routinely measure our performance. We have various informal and formal customer feedback loops so we can monitor areas where we need to pay more attention to. We have instituted a variety of internal training opportunities – using local resources primarily. This investment is across-the-board for all employees, including senior management. Some training is more targeted to the specific service, but by and large it is local and provided internally. Overall we look at responsiveness, quality of service, feedback on service priorities as ways to gauge our performance and make appropriate adjustments.

There is a perception in the private sector that once you are employed in a government job, you are safe from job termination, as bureaucracy does not lend to quick human resource decisions. Is this true and if yes, has this been a challenge for you?

The public sector generally operates under a civil service system, which historically was designed to ensure a professional work force and protect against cronyism and negative politics affecting delivery of public services. Basically, it provides for a due process to ensure an employee’s rights were not violated in the course of an employment action. El Paso’s civil service was by far a more cumbersome system than most primarily because it was described very proscriptively in the City’s Charter – which is unusual and limits any flexibility. The recent Charter amendments, I believe, have helped a lot to modernize many of our personnel policies and procedures, while also assuring that employee’s retain their due process rights. What I have found here, and elsewhere, is that if you set specific expectations and are clear about those performance expectations, then it is not difficult to terminate non-performing employees. The key is to demonstrate and document good and less than acceptable performance, give the employee an opportunity to improve, and be consistent as it relates to standards of performance. I’ve worked closely with the City’s Civil Service Commission on both the charter amendments and rule changes, and have found the Commission to be reasonable in terms of understanding the business issues from management’s perspective as well as concern about the employee. I would say that management prevails in 80%+ of the cases brought before the Commission, which is good because the burden is on management to defend its personnel actions when challenged.

While there will always be some employees who are marginal in a large organization like the City of El Paso, by and large, they are the minority. Most employees are very dedicated and committed and take great pride in public service.

How did your experience in Yuma prepare you for El Paso?

Yuma was a microcosm of El Paso in that it has a lot of similarities – near the Mexican border with similar demographics and social/economic issues; bounded by another state; and geographically isolated from the major state urban centers. So I had already experienced some of the issues that exist here and was not unprepared or surprised by them. Also, having lived in a desert environment, I did not have to make any major adjustments to the contrast of desert living versus other areas.

Did you choose El Paso or did El Paso choose you?

Probably both. I wasn’t particularly interested in relocating again or taking on another major challenge, but the El Paso opportunity was very unique in that it’s not every day that someone in my profession has the chance to be the first city manager and shape the culture and organization, as I’ve been able to do here. Also, I have a personal affinity to the types of issues relevant to this part of the country, so the City itself struck a personal chord. It’s been very special and quite rewarding, even though at times it’s been overwhelmingly difficult. I don’t know that I could ever make my mark personally or professionally as I have here. I’m fortunate that those involved in the selection process – the elected officials at the time, the community board who participated in the interviews, and others – decided to take a chance on me. Hopefully, they’ve never regretted that choice.

Your office consists of yourself and four deputies. Was it easy to hire the team you needed? Overall, in hiring top management, what are the pros and cons in bringing people from outside of El Paso?

I was fortunate that two of the deputies (Pat Adauto and Debbie Hamlyn) were already here and they’ve proven to be very loyal, competent and effective in helping me to implement the changes necessary. The third, Bill Studer, is an El Pasoan who returned here after a successful city management tenure in the Dallas/Arlington area. He was a finalist for the City Manager position and was open to joining my team. Jane Shang, who was recently hired to fill a vacancy that had been held for a while, was brought in specifically because of her expertise in mobility services. Hiring locally or from outside of El Paso really depends on the skills needed for the job. Some of our areas require expertise that isn’t readily available in one community. Or, if you are looking to make major changes, you sometimes need to hire someone who has actually been there before, and has a demonstrated track record of success. Overall, there has been a good balance among my senior management of internal promotions, local hires, repatriating El Pasoans back to the community with great expertise gained elsewhere, and key hires from outside the community in areas of importance to our growth and future. It’s also a very diverse group of which I’m equally proud.

How do you separate your job as administrator of the city from involvement in policy issues? For example, budgets often dictate the ability to carry out policy.

I respect that city staff does not dictate policy. We take that direction from the City Council. We do have a responsibility though to provide recommendations and good research/information in areas of policy that are important to the Council and community so that informed decisions can be made. When the new council took office in 2005, they changed the legislative review committee process to be more policy-oriented in functional area and that has helped us in terms of vetting issues requiring policy direction. Also, City Council since 2005 has set policy goals and objectives and updated them regularly, so we have a clear sense of the policy direction. That helps us shape our budget recommendations and resource prioritization. There may be questions or tensions from time to time because these areas aren’t always black and white, but by and large I believe those situations are rare.

What is the most difficult issue you've had to deal with?

There have been several that come to mind but the most complex was the resolution of the unfunded liability for the police/fireman’s pension fund. Considerable negotiation, analysis and a large financial commitment were required prior to a solution. It was a several year process and one that took a lot of courage on the part of the Council because it was obligating the organization to a $200M pension obligation bond issuance in return for a number of major changes to the pension fund.

What's the best call you made as city manager? The worst?

The Neighborhood Services Program is one of the changes and new service initiatives I’m most proud of, as it’s been highly effective and very popular citywide. Successful passage of the 2007 charter amendments is another, along with the process involved to reach consensus about those changes. In terms of the worst call, I don’t know that there are too many things I would say I regret or want to do differently, but if I had to pick one -- I probably should have just presented an effective tax rate budget for FY 2009 – instead of coming in just above it. We took a lot of heat from the media about a tax increase when we in fact presented a budget that was within .3% of a penny at the effective tax rate, and closest to the effective tax rate than we’d been in many, many years. That got lost in the negative PR that ensued after the release of the proposed preliminary budget.

The position of city manager, and your role in helping develop and carry out policies, is/are likely to become a campaign issues in the spring elections. How prepared are you for that, and is it something you anticipated when you first came to El Paso?

That’s the nature of the beast for my position. City Managers as a profession understand that job security doesn’t come with the job. I serve at the pleasure of the Mayor and Council. My goal is to do the very best I can for whatever time I have the privilege of serving this position and this city. The El Paso position was probably more volatile than most given the newness of the job and government change, so that fact that I’ve been here four years and still not too controversial says a lot, I think -- particularly given the major changes that have been implemented during the past four years.

What are some of your biggest goals for the city in 2009?

The most urgent and significant priority is the execution of the $1B mobility plan including the focus on expanding mass transit services to introduce the bus rapid transit program. This requires a lot of coordination among several federal, state and city agencies and we are on a fast track to get this moving forward. Also, while separate from the mobility plan – the international bridges are another significant item in terms of moving people and goods and expanding our economic development focus relative to collateral investments and infrastructure improvements. The environmental sustainability, an initiative that I describe in the next question, is another area of focus for 2009. This includes an enhanced focus on code enforcement relative to keeping the community clean and attractive.

What kind of priority have you placed on promoting a more environmentally aware city government?

During the 2008 fiscal year, we reprogrammed funds and a vacant position to create a formal Sustainability Program with a person dedicated to develop a comprehensive environmental sustainability initiative for the City. We presently have an energy program, a water conservation effort via the PSB, a new LEED building program for city facilities, and some other environmental initiatives such a recycling. But we’ve not integrated it into a holistic approach with goals relative to air, green space and general preservation and conservation. This approach mirrors those now occurring in other communities around the nation. Council has made this a priority and the Environmental Legislative Review Committee is one of the most active policy efforts in the organization. So in short … it is a major priority and one of the major goals for 2009.

What plans are currently in order to brand El Paso? Who is the city working with?

The City’s Economic Dept has been working with other business stakeholders on this initiative; however, City funding was reduced in the budget. At this point some of the other agencies may take on a broader leadership and funding role. The thrust of this effort has always been to market and promote the City by defining our image as we want to present it – not at others may perceive it.

One would assume the role of City Manager to be very demanding; how many hours a week do you work?

On average 55-60, but in reality I’m always on call. Some weeks are more demanding with evening and weekend meetings or events. Others less so. For the most part, the job is always with me.

You are an avid golfer. What is your favorite course?

I play at all of the courses off and on here and each is really great in its own unique way. Butterfield Trail certainly is one I’m partial to. Sonoma Ranch in Las Cruces is another. What I find interesting and compelling is the lack of progress in utilizing these assets to develop golf resorts for tourism purposes or for a retirement destination. Hopefully plans underway will yield some positive benefit in that regard soon. El Paso has better weather and other assets that make it on par with Tucson and other New Mexico and Arizona communities. Unfortunately we haven’t taken advantage of them as these other Southwest areas have.

I can’t imagine living anywhere where I wouldn’t be able to golf 80% of the year. Here there is seldom a bad golf day, and I play those days too!

What do you want to be remembered for as the first City Manager? Or what do you see as your legacy?

I would like to have successfully affirmed the wisdom of the elected leaders and community who voted to change the form of government through my efforts to transform the organization to one that is truly customer-focused and service-oriented – and one that is accountable to the entire Council and community as a whole. I also want to have institutionalized major changes so that we have in place ongoing mechanisms to invest in the community’s infrastructure, mechanisms to continually invest in and renew neighborhoods, and ensure a vibrant thriving economy due to good governance and fiduciary oversight. The City Council wants El Paso to be a world-class city. I hope that my legacy will have contributed to that goal.