City manager to retire at end of 2024

Tucumcari’s city manager will retire at the end of this year after almost 2 1/2 years at the helm.

Paula Chacon said she informed her department heads on Friday about her retirement. She called the Quay County Sun on Monday to inform it about her choice.

“This was my decision,” Chacon said. “I’m tired of working all the time.”

Chacon noted an assistant city manager position was added to the city’s budget, which would allow that person to be trained and then elevated to city manager after she leaves on Dec. 31.

“I’d like to get somebody in so I can train them,” Chacon said. “I want the city to continue moving forward. I don’t want it to fall back.”

The city commission has scheduled a special meeting at 8 a.m. Wednesday to discuss its options for the position.

Chacon was hired as city manager in August 2022.

Mayor Mike Cherry said Chacon’s many duties “were wearing her out. She wants to give us time to give somebody else a shot.”

“We got a lot of problems in Tucumcari – it’s not her fault – that need to be ironed out,” he added.

Before her current position, she served as a business specialist in the 10th Judicial District in Tucumcari and was a magistrate court manager before that.

She also was a manager for Quay and Union counties.