By ANGIE HAFLICH

ahaflich@gctelegram.com

Reynaldo Mesa has resigned his position as Garden City Area Chamber of Commerce president, according to a press release issued Monday by the Chamber.

Mesa's resignation, which was effective Monday, comes almost exactly one year after he took over the president's role on Jan. 1, 2012.

Upon receiving Mesa's resignation, Chamber Board of Directors Chairwoman Debbie Reynolds made the following statement:

"Reynaldo has worked very hard to help move the Garden City Area Chamber of Commerce forward," Reynolds said. "We are very grateful for all his efforts and wish him well in his future endeavors."

In a separate interview, when asked what led to Mesa's decision, Reynolds said, "That was a decision he made. You would need to talk to him about that."

Mesa was unavailable for comment Monday night.

Reynolds said that Mesa announced his resignation to the board on Monday.

Mesa came to the Chamber after having served two years as a state representative and 12 years as a city commissioner. He was a three-time mayor of Garden City. He also was a public affairs officer with Cox Communications for more than 10 years.

"He's a hometown person. He's native to Garden City, so he grew up here, he knows a lot of people here. He's also been in city government and statewide government, and he's been the mayor for a number of years and also he was a state representative," Reynolds said about what Mesa brought to the Chamber president position. "He has a lot of contacts locally and statewide."

Reynolds said that the search for Mesa's replacement would begin immediately.

"We haven't even put a search committee together or anything, so we will put a search committee together to start that process," she said. "What will happen is, the search committee will offer so many candidates to the board, or maybe a couple of candidates, and then they will be interviewed and the board will take a vote on the hiring of that person."

In the interim period, Chamber Vice President Myca Bunch will serve as interim president.

"I'm humbled by the opportunity that the board of directors has given me, and I look forward to continuing to do great things for the Chamber and our membership," Bunch said.