Logan hires new city manager

Scott Parnell, the village of Logan's new manager who began his first day of work Oct. 9, hailed from Los Lunas, near Albuquerque.

But he has roots in the Quay County region, which was why he applied for the Logan position earlier this year. Connie Harrison, assistant finance director for the city of Clovis, also was interviewed for the post.

“My wife's family is from here,” said Parnell, referring to his spouse, Kandi, during a phone interview from Logan Village Hall. “We've got ties to Quay and Harding counties. It seemed like a fantastic opportunity for a homecoming of sorts.”

Parnell, 49, was a field manager for the Pulte Group, a home-construction company, in Los Lunas. Before that, he served on the parks and recreation commission in the Albuquerque suburb of Rio Rancho from 2006 to 2011. He and his wife have four grown children and two grandchildren.

Parnell will make $75,000 a year at Logan. He said he will study the methods of Larry Wallin, a former longtime Logan manager who came out of retirement again after the village council fired manager Trevor Thompson in January. Wallin had retired in 2016 but was rehired in 2017 after his successor, Jim Neece, resigned.

“I want to learn as much as I can from the gentleman who sat in this chair for 26 years,” Parnell said of Wallin. “You don't sit in that chair for that long without a good reason."

When asked about challenges in Logan facing him, Parnell replied: “I see a very tight-knit community. I don't believe we have any challenges.”