Rio Communities names police chief finalists

RIO COMMUNITIES — After combing through nearly 30 applications for its first police chief, the Rio Communities City Council narrowed their search to two finalists.

The council approved Mayor Joshua Ramsell’s recommendation to interview William Cutshall and Felix Nunez Jr., as well as $2,000 for travel expenses for at least one applicant to come to Valencia County for an in-person interview.

Rio Communities City Manager Martin Moore said interviews will be scheduled, and hopes the mayor and council will be able to appoint someone soon.

The city is in the middle of renovating city hall, including a separate space for the police department. The city has also already paid for and is waiting to receive the police vehicles they’ve ordered.

Cutshall has more than 32 years of experience in law enforcement roles, according to his resume. His last position was as chief of police of the Liberal Police Department in Kansas from August 2016 to October 2022. He was a detective with the Richmond Police Department in Virginia from January 2004 to August 2016.

Cutshall has a bachelor’s degree from George Fox University in Newberg, Ore.

In a recommendation letter from Connie Seigrist, former mayor of Liberal, Kan., she said she promoted Cutshall and “asked him to reorganize the police department so there were less ‘chiefs at the top.’ He did this and afterwards went on to ‘humanizing’ the police department.”

Seigrist said the chief and officers would attend community events, visit neighborhoods, and Cutshall would personally visit every business in town.

Seward County, Kan., Attorney Russell W. Hasenbank also wrote a letter of recommendation for Cutshall, saying he “showed an excellent understanding of all … areas of any police department” and wrote that “he is always concerned with the welfare of his employees — especially officers …”

Felix Nunez Jr., of Albuquerque, is the chief of police in the village of Jemez Springs, a position he’s held since 2016.

He previously worked as a detective and criminal investigation supervisor with the New Mexico Department of Transportation IG Office from 2015-2016.

From 2012 to 2015, Nunez was an officer and DEA task force officer for the Corrales Police Department, and was a senior criminal investigator with the 13th Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Bernalillo from 2003 to 2012.

Nunez has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice administration from the University of Phoenix, and is working on attaining a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Lewis University.

In his letter of interest for the chief of police position in Rio Communities, Nunez wrote he will “provide a strong policy by putting ‘public safety first’ and providing our communities, family and friends the opportunity to voice their needs and concerns to the police department with an open door.”

He wrote he would bring supervisory experience and working with “several diverse aspects in law enforcement, I will be a police chief who will strive for and demonstrate the ability to bring a non-biased management approach, along side of your administration.”

He said he would being working with the community to establish a “positive and open-door relationship” with citizens.

During it’s first 10 years of incorporation, Rio Communities has contracted with the Valencia County Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement services.

When Valencia County Sheriff Denise Vigil told Rio Communities city officials last year her office would no longer be able to continue the contract after this current fiscal year, beginning in July, Moore and the council began researching how to budget for and form its own police department.

The complete list of police chief applicants include: Scott Conner, Robert Cordova, Gregg Glasel, Rudolph Johnson III, Donald Raley, Richard Simmons, Derrick Turner. Michael Zuber, Michael Morton, Tanya Sandoval, Bruce Halliburton, Kevin M. Davis, Daniel P. Horan, Leonard Hicks, Cody Gideon, Kannesha Nept, Felix Nunez Jr., Ruben Ortiz Jr., Conny Clay, James L. Fox, Matthew Gurule, Kevin Napoleone, Alton R. Adams Jr., Tom Close, Seth O’Neill and William Cutshall.