It’s been about one year since the most recently elected members of the Española governing body took office, including Mayor Alice Lucero, District 1 Councilor Pedro Valdez, District 2 Councilor Greg Ortega District 3 Councilor Cecilia Lujan and District 4 Councilors Robert Seeds and Cory Lewis.
In an effort to evaluate each of the above officials on the first year of their current terms, the Rio Grande SUN used three criteria: campaign promises compared with the record, voting independence and meeting attendance. Each elected official was also asked to take part in a self- and peer-evaluation using the same criteria. Participants were allowed to assign themselves or their peers five extra bonus points for whatever they pleased. Only one of the six officials responded, with Lewis awarding everyone, including himself, four bonus points for “doing a good job.”
Mayor Lucero was only graded on campaign promises and attendance because, as mayor, she only votes when there are not enough councilors to vote, according to parliamentary procedure which guides how public meetings are operated.
Except where noted, all of the following information was compiled from 2010 campaign materials or advertisements, previous SUN reports, voting records and attendance records. Council meeting minutes from March 2010 through January 2011 were also consulted, with the exception of minutes from June 2010, which Interim City Clerk Jessica Martinez said could not be located.
Lujan and Ortega were the only two subjects of this story who did not return calls for comment.
Campaign Promises
The following lists detail the mayor’s and councilors’ campaign promises, followed by reporting on what the city has done in the past year to address each of those promises and, where available, the politician’s response.
Lucero’s Goals
• Clean and beautify the city; build trails for bicycling, walking, running and dog-walking.
• Hire qualified, competent and professional staff; hire a good finance director to balance the budget.
• Ensure accountability and submit timely budget and audits.
• Strive for economic development policies.
• Provide prompt and courteous service to the public.
• Promote public safety.
• Extend water and sewer lines to areas within the city without utilities.
Seeds’ Goals
• Committed to having a full staff of certified law enforcement officers.
• Clean the city of old debris and graffiti.
• Proper checks and balances; ensure budgets and audit are submitted on time.
• Facilities for area youth and senior citizens.
Lujan’s Goals
• Hiring more police officers and purchasing more police vehicles.
• Submit timely budgets and audits.
• Complete water and sewer line projects.
Lewis’s Goals
• Increase public safety.
• End late audit reports.
Ortega’s Goals
• Promote public safety.
• Beautify the city.
• Adequate fire and police staffing.
• Balance the budget and get “financial house” in order to make sound fiscal decisions.
• Smart growth and business development.
Valdez’s Goals
• Straighten out the city’s finances.
• Clean up the city’s streets.
• Get water service to those still using septic tanks within the city.
The Record
Mayor’s Hires: As of last week, Lucero had hired a new city manager, administrative services director, city clerk and prosecuting attorney.
City Manager James Lujan worked as the Santa Fe County public works director until July 2010, his resumé states. He was fired from the County about a month before that on the heels of a Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department fraud investigation into Lujan and paving company Advantage Asphalt. The case remained open as of last week, Sheriff Robert Garcia said.
Lucero hired Archuleta as a contractor last April and eventually hired him on as staff in October. Archuleta previously worked as an auditor for Los Alamos National Laboratory. He was convicted of driving while intoxicated last April, court records state.
Seeds has previously publicly questioned whether giving Archuleta more responsibilities was in the best interest of the city. Seeds declined to comment for this story, saying he did not want to start a “pissing contest.”
New City Clerk Tessa Jo Mascareñas, the daughter of former Rio Arriba County sheriff and Lucero ally Joe Mascareñas, was sworn into office March 29.
The city’s prosecuting attorney A.J. Salazar has more than 10 years of experience as an attorney and has worked for the District Attorney’s Office and the Secretary of State’s Office.
Public Safety: Española Public Safety Chief Leo Montoya said he has 23 police officers, two public safety aides and two animal control officers. Montoya said he’d like to have at least 30 police officers, including one domestic violence officer, one narcotics officer and two traffic officers. He said the city’s budget has left three positions unfunded for the past year.
“It makes it a little hard for us to be effective,” he said.
Montoya told councilors that when he served with the Department from 1985 to 2000, his badge number was 30, meaning there were at least 30 police officers then.
In August, the city brought back a neighborhood watch program. Montoya said Ranchitos and Valley Estates neighborhoods have the program in place. Lucero also said the program has helped increase public safety.
The Council approved a measure prohibiting loitering and pan handling in public places in October 2010. The next month then-public safety chief Joe Martinez said he had seen a decrease in loitering. Martinez left less than year later, at which time Lucero hired Montoya, the former Santa Clara Police chief.
Española Police Lt. Christian Lopez said the department has a vehicle for each officer and public safety aide, and two animal control trucks.
Lewis, a rookie councilor, said he wanted to increase public safety and help clean up the water in town and said he felt that he had helped contribute to some improvements.
“I’m not perfect though,” he said.
Lewis lost to Seeds in their District 4 race, but Lucero appointed him to fill her vacant seat. Lewis said the mayor is a friend of the family.
Finances: The city submitted its fiscal year 2011 budget on time to the state Department of Finance and Administration, Archuleta has said. The State Auditor’s Office has said the city’s fiscal year 2009 audit was nearly a year late and now the city’s 2010 audit is also past due.
The Council has approved street improvement projects along Industrial Park Road and purchased the old Corley Ford property for a new library for more than $300,000 with a loan, while also looking to acquire other assets, despite concerns that the city isn’t receiving as much revenue from taxes.
James Lujan said the city’s current $2.8 million budget is going to remain flat, he said.
The city has also paid more then $113,000 in penalties and back-taxes to the IRS missing information on employee’s and contract’s tax forms and incorrect labeling of employees, letters from the IRS state.
Valdez said he did not make any promises during his campaign.
“I didn’t promise anything,” he said.
Valdez said the only thing he ever talked about was the budget, which he said he hopes to get a good look at with the upcoming fiscal year 2012 budget hearings. Dates for those meetings had not been set as of Monday.
A March meeting to prepare the city’s fiscal year 2012 budget had to be cancelled because Archuleta didn’t provide updated budgets to councilors.
Water Issues: Councilors approved a plan to purchase additional water rights from Michale Dondelinger for $17,640 for 5.04 acre feet last March. The city already owned 3,000 square feet of water rights and used half of that, according to then-Public Works director Ben Ortega. Seeds voted against the measure because of the $17,000 price tag.
The Council also made an agreement with the Española School District and Cuatro Villas Domestic Water Users Association provide water for the communities that lie to the east and southeast of Española in Santa Fe County — Arroyo Seco, Sombrillo, Cuarteles and La Puebla.
The Cuatro Villas project was approved by the previous administration in 2009. The project consisted of connecting a 12,000-foot water line from the city’s water system to users in La Puebla, Cuatro Villas President Martha Quintana said.
The Council also agreed to mix water from two wells to dilute the contaminant in one of them. Seeds voted against the plan because he wanted to see the city build a water treatment facility instead.
Road Projects: The city had made plans to acquire Fairview Lane from the state Highway Department in exchange for the Department’s work installing city utility lines along the road. The Council declined to make the swap over concerns that the bridge would be too costly to maintain. The city now owes the Department more then $300,000 for the work.
Economic Development: Lucero and the Council appointed last April community representatives to a Business Advisory Committee. The intent of the group was to make the city more business-friendly, meeting minutes state. State Taxation and Revenue Department records show the city received $592,925 in gross receipts tax in March, up $26,904 from last March, but down from 2009.
Public Facilities: Councilors agreed to hire lifeguards for a Community Services Department initiative that taught children how to swim.
City Beautification: Española Municipal Court Graffiti Officer Jaime Martinez said even though councilors passed an ordinance prohibiting sales of graffiti supplies, he doesn’t think anyone has ended up in trouble as result of the measure. He said it’s hard to keep an eye on people doing graffiti because there aren’t enough officers to patrol the streets.
The governing body agreed to allow North Central Solid Waste Authority to borrow $50,000 from the state Department of Finance and Administration. Councilors voiced concerns about drug use around the skate park and asked that the parking lot be sectioned off.
Lucero also said Public Works Department employees and those serving community service sentences through Española Municipal Court pick up trash around the city weekly.
Ortega said during a July meeting that he wanted curbs within the city to be repainted. Public Works Director Marvin Martinez said his department has repainted several curbs, particularly on the west side of town. He said it’s an ongoing process.
Miscellaneous: Councilors unanimously approved a measure to convert City Hall to geothermal heating. The switch allowed City Hall to be one of the few buildings in Española to have heat during the February natural gas outages, according to Lucero.
Voting Independence
All but 10 of the Council’s 122 votes cast between March 2010 and January 2011 — or 91.8 percent — were unanimous.
Seeds voted differently than his peers five times, or 4 percent of the time. Valdez voted differently six times, or 5 percent of the time. Of those votes, Seeds and Valdez voted similarly only once. Lewis, Ortega and Cecilia Lujan never voted differently than their peers.
Attendance
Seeds and Valdez each missed two Council meetings, or 20 percent of the meetings. Lewis, Ortega and Cecilia Lujan each missed one meeting, or 10 percent. Lucero missed none.