An Española School District bus contractor has filed a lawsuit alleging the District cut one of his routes in retaliation for a letter he wrote accusing another bus contractor of having improper ties to School Board member Andrew Chavez.
Lloyd Trujillo, owner of Trujillo Bus Services, filed the lawsuit March 6 in state District Court. The lawsuit names the District and the Board and it accuses the District of retaliation and violation of free speech rights. Former Board member Joe Romero was named in the lawsuit instead of current member Coco Archuleta because the series of events took place last year.
The lawsuit stems from a May 22, 2008, meeting of the District’s transportation committee, at which a decision was made to cut one of Trujillo’s two routes. Trujillo had already lost one route in 2007.
According to the lawsuit, even though Trujillo’s remaining bus routes were not on a list of potential cuts, Trujillo passed out a letter during the meeting raising concerns about the members of the elimination committee.
On May 27, the District announced that it cut three bus routes. Trujillo’s oldest bus route was among the three cut. The lawsuit claims that the elimination of two of Trujillo’s three routes left him with “substantial economic harm.” Trujillo declined to comment referring all questions to his Santa Fe-based attorney Lee Hunt.
“The basis of the lawsuit is that Lloyd Trujillo’s contract was cancelled because he spoke out at the board meeting that was designed to decide which contracts were going to be cancelled,” Hunt said. “Mr. Trujillo’s contract was not one of the (routes) that was proposed to be cancelled until after he raised concerns to the board.”
Board President Leonard Valerio chaired the committee and Transportation Director Sennie Quintana said they were at all the meetings concerning cuts in bus routes. Valerio said he never received a letter from Trujillo. Quintana said she saw Trujillo passing out a letter to people leaving the meeting after it adjourned.
Valerio said a special committee was formed to decide the bus route cuts. Valerio and Quintana both said the special committee consisted of themselves, former Transportation director Leroy Ortiz and three bus drivers selected by their peers: Olga Martinez represented single-bus owners; Antonio Garcia represented the fleet contractor;, and Mya Salazar represented District-paid drivers. The three drivers were the only ones in the committee with the voting power to cut.
Trujillo’s letter attempted to connect Ortiz with Board member Andrew Chavez. Ortiz serves as a trustee of the Jemez Mountains Electric Cooperative where Chavez works. Trujillo also claimed that Ortiz’ wife, Lucile, was receiving a favored pay rate over the other bus routes. The letter also questioned what the criteria was behind the District’s cuts.
Chavez denied Trujillo’s allegations.
“There’s no back room deals here,” Chavez said. “Furthermore, I’m not part of the transportation committee and never have been.”
Ortiz did not return a call for comment.
Valerio said the cuts were made fairly. According to the documents kept by the Transportation Department, the criteria used to determine the cuts was based on three aspects. The bus and the owner had to show compliance with state and District policies. The committee also took into consideration the number of students carried in the route and the “dead” mileage or the mileage from the bus’ starting point to the bus’ first pick up.
According to the documents, the three voting committee members eliminated Trujillo’s route last. Both Valerio and Quintana said Trujillo’s route was cut because he failed to follow state and District policy.
The lawsuit also said Valerio falsely told the SUN in June 2008 that Trujillo “consistently violated state policies.” The comment was based on Trujillo’s refusal to sign a state-required evaluation and a letter from a District parent claiming that he denied service to a student in his route.
Trujillo also raised favoritism behind the mileage paid to Lucile Ortiz. The letter states that Lucile Ortiz was getting paid $3.43 per mile while all other contractors were getting $2.29 per mile.
Upon inspecting District contracts from 2007-08, Trujillo was correct in that other contractors got paid $2.29 per mile. However, the documents show that Lucile Ortiz’s contract received only $2 per mile. Quintana said Ortiz received a lower rate because she was the only contractor that also received a paycheck as a driver from the District.
“Our position is even if he was wrong about the dollar amount, that doesn’t change the fact that his contract was cancelled because he spoke out,” Hunt said. “People are free, that’s the idea of free speech, to speak out and say things that aren’t true.”
No trial date for the case has been set. Trujillo is looking to recover the lost contract from the District or back pay and punitive and compensatory damages.