Before the Nov. 19 Española City Council meeting, Española residents looking for a physical copy of the city’s code of ordinances would be directed to a book published in 1979 and boxes of documents containing revisions and repeals.
In an effort to make the process easier, the Council adopted an ordinance that will put the code online for anyone to access — and will also provide an updated book.
During the meeting, the Council chambers briefly resembled a courtroom, when lawyers both supporting and opposing the move, made their cases.
Coppler Law Firm attorney Josh Boltrek said he had spent considerable time working with department heads to revise the code of ordinances to reflect the repeals and changes that had been made in the past 34 years.
Boltrek said the updated code of ordinances would not only empower the Council, but also Española residents, who would now have a copy of city laws within a couple clicks of the mouse.
During the public comment portion, Española attorney Yvonne Quintana said more time was needed for the public to review the revised code before the ordinance could be passed.
She said the booklet the city provided her, contained minuscule font and had every other page missing, barring her from knowing how the code had been changed.
Quintana was successful in swaying part of the council with her argument. Councilor Cory Lewis motioned to table the ordinance. Lewis was joined by Mayor Pro Tem Dennis Salazar and Councilors Peggy Martinez and Robert Seeds. However, councilors Pedro Valdez, John Hernandez, Eric Radosevich and Elaine Herrera voted against the tabling. Mayor Alice Lucero broke the tie and voted to continue the discussion.
After Martinez said she, too, had trouble reading the code because of the small type, City Clerk Tessa Jo Mascareñas shouldered the blame for the poor quality of the booklet. Mascareñas said in an effort to save paper, she tried to print the code in booklet form. But the code misprinted, causing the errors.
City Attorney Frank Coppler said a digital version of the updated code had been sent to the Council’s email addresses on Nov. 10, giving them time to study it before the meeting.
Seeds took issue with the financial impact of the updated code.
Mascareñas said former Mayor Joseph Maestas’s administration approved contracting with the General Code Corporation to update the code. Lucero said the payments to the corporation had been approved in the budgetary process each year since then.
Seeds said the financial burden should fall on Maestas, since he originally approved the expenditure.
As criticism mounted, Lucero’s allies began to push back. Valdez used one of Seeds’s pet projects to voice his support for the updated code.
“I’ll be voting for (the updated code) because its a working tool,” Valdez said. “If you want to change the water rates, then we’ll bring it up and change that ordinance and put it in the book.”
The usually-quiet Herrera also took a shot at the opposition, directing her attention toward Martinez and her complaints about the booklet.
“Tessa Jo asked me if I wanted a hard copy and I said, ‘In order to save paper and not kill trees, I will read it on my computer where I can zoom in to larger fonts,’ ” she said.
Despite their complaints, Seeds and Martinez voted with the majority to pass the ordinance 7-1, with Lewis voting against it.
In a later interview, Lewis qualified his vote. He said he only received the incomplete physical copy of the code and didn’t recall receiving the email with the digital copy.
“It was just something I felt uncomfortable passing so I voted against it,” he said.
Public Safety Director Eric Garcia was happy with the updated code of ordinances and said it would be a boon for the police department, fire department and animal control.
“It provides us with a more informed (enforcement) method for our boots-on-the-ground officers,” he said.
Garcia said the outdated code of ordinances had plagued his department in the past. Laws like an ordinance that bans the sale of dogs without a permit were going unenforced, while officers continued to write citations for a 10:30 p.m. curfew that was no longer in effect.
Garcia said he and Mascareñas are currently working on a “cheat sheet” for officers that would further simplify the code for all public safety officers. Garcia said the code should be reviewed every year to make sure it complies with Rio Arriba County and state law.
Mascareñas said the code would be posted online 30 days after it was advertised in the Nov. 28 edition of the Rio Grande SUN.