According to recently released statistics, the city isn't hiring enough women and minorities in target job fields. And that concerns City Commissioner Jack Donovan.

"I'm pleased with our efforts and I'm not totally uncomfortable with the outcomes if the market is such that people are getting good jobs elsewhere," said Donovan. "That's good. But, the market isn't really that way."

The recently released numbers show that in the first and second quarter of the year, in targeted job fields, the city is hiring women and minorities less than 25 percent of the time. City Manager Russ Blackburn sees that as progress, but says there's still work to be done

"Not a lot of young girls dream about being a motor grader operator," said Blackburn. "At the same time, it's a good job, anybody can do it, and we need to make sure that people know that so that they'll consider applying for those positions."

Another area where the city is really struggling to hire women and minorities are in some of the technical, skill-specific jobs at GRU, so he suggests the city work closer with high schools and Santa Fe College to specifically prepare people for those types of jobs.

"Maybe the city needs to start talking with the people who are doing that training more, and say this is what we're looking for," said Blackburn. "This is what would really help the students get prepared."

City leaders hope suggestions like this will lead to better results next quarter and in years to come.