City searching for new environmental services director following former lead's departure to NMED

Carina Julig, The Santa Fe New Mexican
·2 min read

Apr. 19—The city of Santa Fe is seeking a new Environmental Services Divison director following the departure of Shirlene Sitton, who left last month to work for the New Mexico Environment Department.

Sitton is now the state agency's Solid Waste Bureau chief, acting Environmental Services Director Deborah Trujillo said. Sitton's last day with the city was March 29.

Trujillo, a utility billing manager, is leading the division until a permanent director is hired. She delivered the division's presentation to the City Council Finance Committee at Wednesday's budget hearing.

Public Utilities Director John Dupuis said at the hearing Sitton had "moved on to greener pastures" at the state and he looked forward to working with her in her new role.

The Environmental Services Division is part of the Public Utilities Department and is responsible for the city's trash and recycling services as well as its sustainability work. It has about 70 employees; though, like other city divisions, it has struggled recently with staff shortages.

Sitton had been with the city since 2015 and in October was named "recycler of the year" at last year's New Mexico Recycling & Solid Waste Conference.

During her tenure the division shifted to automated collection in 2017, built a compressed natural gas station to fuel its trucks and implemented a cloud-based GPS tracking software for all truck drivers to use on their routes.

It also shifted in 2022 to a four-day-a-week trash collection schedule Sitton said in a previous interview was more efficient for the city.

A job listing for the director position was posted on the city's online job portal March 21 and is open through Sunday. The hourly pay rate is listed as $35.09 to $52.64.

At Wednesday's hearing, City Manager John Blair thanked Trujillo for her leadership in the interim.

"It is hard any time to step up to be an acting department director, much less plop in the middle of your budget season," he said. "Deborah didn't blink before she stepped up to help lead."