The Nogales Mayor and City Council have until February 2010 to find a new city manager, as Jaime Fontes is expected to head west to California.

Fontes, whose contract with Nogales was scheduled to end in April, was offered the top administrative job in Santa Paula, Calif., in Ventura County.

Headhunters from Santa Paula were here late last month interviewing several persons including Mayor Octavio Garcia-Von Borstel and Councilman Nubar Hanessian.

In a press release on Monday, Santa Paula Mayor Jim Tovias announced “an agreement” with Fontes for the job of city manager.

“We are very excited to welcome Mr. Fontes to Santa Paula,” Tovias said. “Mr. Fontes has done an outstanding job for the city of Nogales and we expect him to do great things here in Santa Paula.”

Fontes, 52, will be the fourth permanent city manager since Santa Paula changed from a city administrator form of government. He was the third city manager in Nogales since this city changed from a strong-mayor form of government to a city manager government in 2002.

Before being hired in Nogales under the administration of Mayor Albert Kramer, Fontes was CEO for the Economic Development Authority on the Tohono O’Odham Nation. He also served as real estate manager and assistant planning chief for Maricopa County.

As well, Fontes worked for the County of San Diego, Department of Public Works in a variety of positions including real estate program coordinator, supervising real property agent and senior real property agent.

A Nogales High School graduate, Fontes has a bachelor’s from Arizona State University and his Juris Doctorate from Western State University College of Law.

The press release sites among his “many accomplishments �- construction of a wastewater treatment facility and creation of a 48-arce $200 million port authority.”

Fontes was city manager for Nogales during the expansion of the Nogales International Wastewater Treatment Plant funded by $62 million in federal money. Nogales officials worked with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, the Environmental Protection Agency, North American Development Bank, the U.S. Section of the International Water and Boundary Commission and the Border Environment Cooperation Commission to work out political hang-ups and red tape that had delayed the project since planning started in 1996.

Fontes was also city manager when the federal government allocated $199.4 million for the expansion of the Mariposa Port of Entry after about three years of efforts by the Greater Nogales Santa Cruz County Port Authority of which Fontes was a member; former Gov. Janet Napolitano, now Homeland Security secretary; the Arizona congressional delegation; and others.

Under Fontes, the City of Nogales received a Double-A bond rating from Standard and Poors, a feat unprecedented in recent memory among Arizona municipalities and county governments. Nogales is one of the fiscally healthiest cities in the state despite the recession and economic crisis confronting Mexico directly across the border. Nogales’ economy is largely dependent on a daily influx of Mexican visitors.

Fontes was selected from among 78 candidates who applied for the position in Santa Paula since the departure of his predecessor City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz.

He will begin his duties on February 15, 2010 with an annual salary of $155,000, or $2,980 per week. His pay in Nogales is $130,000 per year, or $2,500 weekly. He also currently receives a $5,000 vehicle allowance.

The Santa Paula City Council was scheduled to meet on Tuesday, Dec. 15, to ratify Fontes’ contract. If ratified, Fontes will oversee a budget of $45 million, compared to Nogales’ $59.3 million.