Kampfer heading to New Mexico

Colorado City Manager Pete Kampfer was in Raton, New Mexico Tuesday, expected to sign a contract to become the city’s new city manager.

Kampfer was in negotiations with the city of Raton four months ago, but pulled out when certain details could not be worked out. Raton hired another man for the position, but has since relieved him of his duties and refocused their attention on Kampfer, calling him last Wednesday, Jan. 25.

In a unanimous decision, the Raton City Commissioners approved the hiring of Kampfer with a 4-0 vote, along with the changes he had originally wanted in the contract.

Kampfer has been the city manager of Colorado City since October of 2009.

Raton City Commissioner Charles Starkovich said the factors which weighed heavily in Kampfer’s favor were his current position as a city manager, his experience with the FBI, working on “white-collar” crimes and his efforts in Tucumcari, New Mexico, where he was crucial in obtaining a horse racing license and casino.

This information was provided by the Raton Range. Kampfer could not be reached Tuesday night for comment.

However, Colorado City Councilman Keith Hiser was available for comment after learning of the offer from Raton.

“I am saddened to hear that Mr. Kampfer is leaving Colorado City,” Kiser said. “He has strived over the last two years to create a very productive team within our city and has worked with this council to unify the goal sand objectives of each of the individual council members.”

“More importantly, he has also put them into action,” Kiser added. “The city has never made such vast improvements in such a short time as what he has done with the city’s finances to the beautification efforts of the entire community.”

Councilman Kiser added, “It is unfortunate that he felt it better to prematurely depart from our city than to see these projects to completion. I am confident that the team that we have assembled will continue to lead our city in a positive direction until the council can find another manager to carry out our mission to continue to make Colorado City a great place to live.”