Staff Reports
After two years of service, Gallup City Manager Frank Chiapetti won a contract renewal from the Gallup City Council during a special meeting Sept. 2.
While other city employees received annual 5% raises in both 2024 and 2025, Chiapetti has not received a single raise since starting his role. To correct the discrepancy, Executive Assistant Natasha Hayes appeared before the city council during its regular Sept. 8 meeting. She requested a budget adjustment of just over $21,000 from the General Fund reserves to cover updated compensation and benefit allocations under the renewed contract.
The adjustment equals about 10% of Chiapetti’s salary, making up for the raises he missed over the last two years after the council failed to conduct his performance reviews.
Before the council voted on the budget adjustment, Councilor Sierra Yazzie Asamoa-Tutu, Dist. 2, suggested postponing the raise until after Chiapetti’s upcoming October performance review. Under the terms of his new contract, the council will evaluate Chiapetti quarterly, starting in October.
Hayes voiced concern that delaying Chiapetti’s cost-of-living raise would trigger a budget shortfall around January or February, though she could not pin down the exact timing.
Councilor Sarah Piano, Dist. 3, suggested doing the cost-of-living raise now, and then doing a raise based on performance at a later date.
In an interview with the Sun, Yazzie explained her stance for a postponement. She acknowledged that the council receives numerous budget adjustments for approval throughout the year and emphasized her desire to analyze them more critically.
“I want the council to be really responsible and fiscally conservative,” she said. “Our responsibility to the taxpayers is to be as responsible as possible.”
Because the council has not yet evaluated Chiapetti’s performance, Yazzie noted that “too much [remained] up in the air” regarding his contract to justify voting yes.
The council ultimately passed the resolution, with Yazzie casting the sole dissenting vote.
