Published Oct 16, 2008
When Chama Village Councilor Billy Elbrock asked Rio Arriba County for more assistance Sept. 25, County commissioners said Chama should take responsibility for its own services.
Elbrock went before the Commission to ask for the County’s financial help in a number of areas, including the village’s senior center and summer youth program, which offer lunches and activities to participants.
Elbrock thanked the Commission for the County’s help during last winter’s snow emergency and said his goal is to form a more solid “partnership” between Chama and the County to care for village residents.
“We really want to take care of our seniors,” he said.
Elbrock said the County also failed to support the village’s summer youth program after the County had organized it. He said he even spent $200 of his own money on the program and asked for further County help. The County provided meals to the program, but Assistant County Manager Tomas Campos said former assistant recreation director Paula Lopez had led the village to believe more County assistance would be on the way. Campos said Lopez made commitments to the village that she did not communicate to the County, and they failed to make it into the budget.
Chama Mayor Archie Vigil said Lopez was responsible for organizing the program, and after her death in May the County only offered minimal support.
“This was part of the County,” Vigil said. “I don’t know what we’re gonna do next year.”
Village Treasurer Barbara Daggett said the summer program ended up costing the village $3,540 in staff salaries. She said the County supplied food and some supplies, but other supplies were bought using private donations. The Chama School District housed the program at the Chama middle school.
The senior center, located next to the Village Hall, has been a point of contention for months. Elbrock described it as a County program and said the cost of its rent and utilities have fallen on the village since the County started operating it in September 2006.
“They’re in charge,” Vigil said. “We just provide the facility for them.”
Vigil said the County should at least pay for the electricity the program uses.
Campos said Elbrock was sent to “mediate” between the County and the Village Council. He said a series of misunderstandings between Chama and the County have led to friction, with Chama officials attacking the County for what they see as the County’s failure to support the village.
County Comptroller Mary Louise Martinez said the spread of misinformation is driving a wedge between residents of Chama and the County.
“This whole issue comes from the other side,” she said. “People get upset. People don’t understand the issue because they’ve been misled.”
Martinez said since the village is incorporated and has its own revenue sources, like property and gross receipts taxes, it is responsible for its own programs. She said the County took responsibility for the senior program — including buying food and equipment and staffing the center — in 2006 for the good of Chama residents, not because it falls on the County to provide the service.
“We’re in there to help the village,” she said. “Everybody wants to serve those seniors. Nobody has ever questioned it.”
She said the village tried to bill the County $400 a month for rent for the program, which the County has refused to pay. Vigil threatened to evict the senior program unless the rent was paid, she said.
Vigil said there is no contract between Chama and the County regarding the senior center. Daggett estimated the senior center’s cost to the village at approximately $750 a month: about $250 each in utilities, janitorial services and building upkeep.
“That is one of the services they should be providing,” Martinez said. “We basically don’t have any business in the municipality.”
Martinez said the County does provide staff and equipment to the program, but it should not have to pay rent on the village-owned facility.
“That is the least that the village could do for their seniors,” she said.
Vigil stood by his contention that the program belongs solely to the County.
“Either we take it over all the way, or we don’t take it over at all,” he said.
But Vigil said one major obstacle is preventing Chama from operating the program by itself.
“We just don’t have that kind of funding,” he said.
Vigil said the taxes the village collects are insufficient. He said the County should help the village pay for its programs and projects, like its roads and wastewater system, with revenues from oil and gas taxes. The oil and gas industry provided the County with approximately 60 percent of its budget last year, and despite the fact that the industry is operating in the western part of the County rather than anywhere near Chama, Vigil said the village deserves some of the tax revenues.
“We need to look into that,” he said. “I think we should be entitled to it.”
Though Vigil wasn’t present at the Sept. 25 meeting, the Commissioners blamed him for not communicating better with the County.
“Never has he brought a plan,” Commissioner Elias Coriz said.
Commissioner Felipe Martinez, who represents Chama and who faced a challenge in the June primary from Vigil for his seat on the Commission, said he has offered to come to council meetings and see how the County can help, but Vigil has not responded.
“I haven’t been asked, and I can’t invite myself,” Martinez said.
Martinez said dealings between the County and municipalities like Española or Chama frequently become “territorial,” but he said he is willing to offer what County help he can.
“I believe that the village has some responsibility, as well,” Commission Chairman Alfredo Montoya said.
Although County officials did not commit to helping Chama further, Elbrock said the County has generally been generous with Chama. He attributed 90 percent of the friction to a lack of dialogue and said he would take the Commissioners’ comments back to the village for further discussion at the next council meeting Oct. 22 (he said he would invite Martinez).
He said he is trying to arrange a meeting with Campos to further discuss the issues.
“I think they responded the way they needed to,” Elbrock said. “I think we can come up with something that will benefit both entities.”