A fire chief who was hired last month for the city of Socorro will no longer be chief.

City officials told KFOX14 that final negotiations with Patrick Kelly failed.

“Unfortunately these contract negotiations are confidential, but I will say it’s our responsibility to work out an agreement that is best for City of Socorro Citizens and during our dialogues with Mr. Kelly it became apparent we were not going to hammer out a good deal,” said city manager Willie Norfleet, Jr.

Kelly's first day on the job would have been Nov. 12. 

Kelly came to Socorro after serving as fire chief in Tucson, Ariz.

Kelly was hired after more than three dozen applicants in a nationwide search.

If served, Kelly would have earned $88,000 a year, according to his contract.

At this time the City of Socorro depends on a volunteer fire department. City officials are trying to build its own fire department.

A spokesman for Socorro told KFOX14 they will pick another applicant from the list they've already reviewed for the postition. 

“Fortunately because of the way we accomplished our nationwide search our selection will be much easier now. We have other candidates as qualified that we feel can negotiate a deal that will benefit our community for years to come,” said Norfleet.

Among the list are four applicants that were approved by city council members early in October.