Roseann Peralta appointed as Belen city manager

BELEN— When Roseann Peralta first began as a part-time finance clerk in 2008 with the city of Belen, she never thought one day she’d become city manager.

That day came last week when Mayor Robert Noblin appointed her to the position — a job she’s held on an interim basis twice.

After an hour and a half executive session, Noblin announced his appointment prior to the council giving her its unanimous approval.

“I appreciate Roseann’s efforts and the many hats she’s worn in the city of Belen for the many years that she’s worn them,” Noblin said.

Peralta was named interim city manager in September when Andrew Salas resigned.

Peralta, of Bosque, is grateful for the mayor and council’s confidence in her abilities to move the city forward. She’s thrilled for the opportunity.

“I’m excited,” Peralta said of the appointment. “I have a lot of support from the employees, the mayor and the council. There are a lot of issues and projects and I’ll be here to make sure it gets done.”

In her 14 years with the city, Peralta has worked under four mayors and six city managers.

“I was tired of all the change,” Peralta said. “I was tired of every time we got a new city manager, I would have go through the process of how the city runs. It’s tough when you bring in a manager that doesn’t know government. I know I can do this.”

Being in the finance department for so long as well as other city departments, Peralta said she knows how a city is supposed to operate.

“I feel we should remember why we are here,” Peralta said. “The city is here to provide public safety to the residents, and to make sure we have police and fire to support the city, and make sure they have water and good roads to drive on.

“There is, of course, the quality of life aspect to it, the library and events and parks and recreation that we provide.”

For the majority of her 14 years with the city, Peralta worked in the finance department, having been promoted to finance director in 2014. She was then promoted once again to operations administrator in August 2021, running several city departments, including finance, water, wastewater, solid waste, airport, human resources and development services.

Earlier this year, Peralta left that position and began a stint as the human resources director, a task she said was different but rewarding.

Some of the most challenging times Peralta remembers is when the city was forced to lay off 22 employees, having to write the letters herself.

“It was very tough,” she remembers. “It was a very busy time, trying to back track a lot of things. Everybody was in a bad spot and we owed a lot of money on projects.”

Peralta remembers the city receiving shutoff notices from PNM, and having to hold off on projects just so they could have enough money to pay for utilities.

With strict finance practices enacted by Peralta and others, the city eventually recovered.

“Our main focus was doing what we needed to do as a city — providing public safety, water and wastewater,” she said. “We did our own custodial work … and a lot of departments did the same thing.”

As the economy rebounded and the city’s gross receipts taxes began to increase year by year, Peralta said the city was able to hire employees and offer more services.

As the finance director at the time, Peralta had to make hard decisions — some that weren’t very popular.

“I had be the one to say no, and a lot of people didn’t like that,” she said. “It was hard. It was nothing personal, but I had to make sure the money was used properly.”

With her vast institutional knowledge of the city of Belen, Peralta is ready for the challenge the position carries.

“You need the consistency and a person who knows why things are the way they are,” she said. “I’ve gone through a lot — the layoffs, the recession, the flooding and all the water main breaks.”

While a lot of negative things have hurt the city, Peralta has also been a part of the city’s growth and increased GRT revenue.

“We have new businesses coming in, we have a lot of new employees and new departments,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of good things happening in Belen.”

Peralta says she has a lot of goals as city manager, including finding funding for a new waste water treatment plant and expanding the north interchange just to name a few.

The 1992 Belen High School graduate has an associate degree in business from CNM, and numerous certifications, including in procurement and as a city clerk.