Municipal Court Judge Stephen Salazar received approval from the Española City Council Nov. 26 to contract Santa Fe-based attorney Dan Cron for $5,000 to serve as a mentor to help Salazar transition to his position on the bench as he completes the terms of his suspension.
The state Supreme Court in July suspended Salazar for 90 days without pay and placed him on probation for the remainder of his term, which runs until 2014. Cron served as Salazar’s attorney at Salazar’s state Supreme Court hearings.
The city’s professional services contract with Cron is for $5,000 through June 30, 2013, drawn from the municipal court budget. Cron will bill the city at $250 an hour.
Randall Roybal, Executive Director of the Judicial Standards Review, in an interview last week, said the city cannot appoint Cron to serve as a mentor to Salazar. Mentors can only be appointed by the state Supreme Court, Roybal said. Roybal added that while it’s not typical that a city pays attorney fees for its judge, he has seen it happen when a city judge returns from suspension.
City attorney Frank Coppler outlined the scope of Cron’s professional services contract in a Nov. 16 memo Coppler sent to Salazar.
Coppler states, “(The) attorney, as requested by the municipal judge, shall provide advise and counsel to the municipal judge with respect to exercise of his jurisdiction as municipal judge, decorum, conduct of courtroom proceedings, interactions with lawyers, peace officers, citizens, defendants and their families, and court staff.”
Coppler’s memo states Cron will help manage Salazar’s judgeship by overseeing nearly all of Salazar’s regular, day-to-day duties as judge.
“The attorney shall advise the judge with regard to rules of conduct applicable to judges and rules of procedure applicable to the municipal court,” the memo states.
Cron’s duties will stop short of Cron advising Salazar on matters pertaining to specific cases over which Salazar presides and Salazar will not ask for Cron’s counsel on cases that appear before the municipal judge, the memo states.
At the Nov. 26 Española City Council meeting, Coppler informed the Council that Cron’s professional services contract would not have to go out to bid as the $5,000 total is less than is required for advertising.
Cron’s professional services contract was originally to begin Dec. 1. However, Councilor Peggy Sue Martinez was hesitant to approve a one-year professional services contract that would extend beyond the city’s fiscal year, which ends June 30. Salazar said it would not be a problem changing the parameters of the contract to run from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013.
Lorenzo Atencio, a licensed attorney, served as municipal court judge while Salazar completed his 90-day unpaid suspension.