CITY OF ALBUQUERQUE
CITY COUNCIL
OFFICIAL COMMUNICATION MEMORANDUM
TO: City Councilors
FROM: Isaac Padilla, Director of City Council Services
SUBJECT:
title
Appointment of Member to the Open Space Advisory Board
body
This Official Communication submits two candidates for the Open Space Advisory Board. There is a vacancy on the Board due to a member’s term expiring. The term of the position shall be until September 1st, 2028. Pursuant to the provision of Section 2-6-16 ROA 1994, a Councilor has nominated the following two individuals as potential appointees.
Thérèse d’Auria Ryley (Submitted by Councilor Fiebelkorn)
Clay Campbell (Submitted by Councilor Fiebelkorn)
Since more than one individual has been nominated, the City Council rules dictate that the following procedures are used:
“A ballot shall be prepared containing the names of each candidate. The balloting shall be by preferential balloting wherein each Councilor indicates the order of his or her preferences with the numeral “1” for his or her first preference, the numeral “2” for his or her second preference, and so on for every possible choice. After the ballots are marked, the total numerals shall be added for each candidate and the candidate whose total is the lowest shall be declared the winner.
If more than one similar position is to be filled on any particular body, the necessary number of candidates with the lowest number of votes shall be declared winners.
In the event of a tie, there shall be a runoff among those candidates having the lowest totals. The runoff shall be conducted by preferential balloting in the manner described herein.”
The current makeup of the board is as follows,
|
Position |
Name |
Term Expiration |
|
At Large |
Robert Kiser |
09/01/2028 |
|
At Large |
Vacant (Administration Intends to Introduce an EC with a nomination at the January 19th Council Meeting) |
09/01/2027 |
|
At Large |
Robert E. Cornish |
09/01/2026 |
|
At Large |
Vacant (Position to be Filled by successful candidate from OC-25-60) |
09/01/2028 |
|
At Large |
Christine Kiser (Term Expired. A Reappointment EC Has Been Submitted by the Administration) |
09/01/2025 |
|
At Large |
Mr. Anthony Fleg |
09/01/2026 |
|
At Large |
Diane E. Souder |
09/01/2026 |
Biographies of each candidate are as follows.
Clay Campbell
Mr. Campbell is a resident of Albuquerque who recently retired from 25 years of service with Bernalillo County. Mr. Campbell’s goal of serving on the Open Space Advisory Board is to bring solid experience on discussions about future acquisitions, their recreational values and programming potential of open space, and their impact on operational budgets. He believes he can accomplish this through applying his professional experience background, values, lessons, talents, time, and energies into causes, initiatives, and organizations that add value to the community.
At Bernalillo County he guided the establishment of the Bernalillo County Open Space program. He implemented a 1998 voter-approved open space mill levy to create the County’s Open Space program which involved resource assessments, property acquisitions, remediation and planning for acquired properties, community and agency stakeholder engagement, developing site plans, and creating resource- based programming for public enjoyment. He was involved in all aspects of acquiring the first round of properties, stabilizing and assessing the land, coordinating with relevant state and local government agencies on an array of unique issues affecting each property, securing professional design assistance, managing the design improvement contracts, and involving the public in the planning for each property. His responsibilities included strategic planning, process management, and impact of properties on maintenance operations and funding.
Mr. Campbell also served as the Bernalillo County Chief of Staff and as the Capital Improvement Program Manager. As the Chief of Staff his responsibilities included developing a leadership development process and creating a grant “hub” to assist departments in organizing, preparing, and submitting grant applications. He also managed the County’s state and federal legislative affairs program; and catalyzed an overhaul of the Human Resources Department. As the County CIP Manager, he revamped the CIP process to integrate and leverage different revenue local, state, and federal funding streams into a cohesive and strategic planning effort that stacks funds for project implementation. He also updated the CIP ordinance, designed an annual project update process, implemented technical evaluation of projects by type, aligned funding cycles to leverage and obtain total funding for projects that were already partially funded.
Thérèse d’Auria Ryley
Ms. d’Auria Ryley is a resident of Albuquerque, who frequents the city’s open space areas on a regular basis to hike, trail run and enjoy nature with loved ones. She considers serving on the Open Space Advisory Board as a way to return a service to the spaces that are such an integral part of her life. In her professional capacity, she supports several organizations in their work to ensure Open Space areas have resilient ecosystems, including The Semilla Project, Nature Ninos, and Ciudad Soil & Water Conservation District. She believes serving on the Open Space Advisory Board will enable her to elevate the work of these organizations.
Ms. d’Auria Ryley holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Global Studies from Susquehanna University and master’s in environmental anthropology from the University of Florida. She is an experienced professional with a demonstrated history of 15+ years working in community capacity building in climate resiliency. As an applied social scientist, she uses her skills to design, develop, and modify environmental-based programming, and climate adaptive responses for communities on a local and global scale. She also has expertise in facilitation, qualitative research, and applied social science to inform programmatic design to ensure all parties' needs are met.
Thérèse has extensive experience in the fields of climate resilience and conservation. She is currently the Director of Community Navigator Initiative with Coalitions and Collaboratives, a project that serves frontline communities to advance community resiliency efforts and build relationships between communities and the US Forest Service. She is also the corporate sponsorship consultant for Trees, Water, and People’s Indigenous Land Program where she raises funds to restore the Capulin Canyon Watershed in the eastern Jemez Mountains. Thérèse worked as program director for the Southwest Conservation Corps, and Student Conservation Association. She has also been a crew leader and safety coordinator for Power Corps PHL which is a non-profit providing environmental stewardship for the Philadelphia Pennsylvania Park System, and as research project manager of Climate Change impacts on food security in Dakar Region of Senegal.