To be fair….
As you can tell from the editorial above this one, we are disappointed with Rio Arriba County Commission Chairman Alex Naranjo’s decision to fire former County Manager Lucia Sanchez. That’s a huge negative for him in his new role.
But on the positive side, he is right on regarding the problems with the North Central Solid Waste Authority.
In his first meeting as a member of the authority’s Board of Directors he was bold and decisive about what needs to happen and happen soon.
Naranjo said the authority needs a forensic audit of its finances “to see where the money is at, and to see what you’re doing.”
The authority lost money the fiscal year 2022 with revenues of $5,383,834 versus expenses of $5,655,480. Currently the authority shows $1.3 million in the bank, but Naranjo projected that money will soon dissipate.
He sparred with both the board’s chairman, Ben Lujan, and general manager Janet Saucedo, who defended the authority. Saucedo blamed some of the authority’s problems on an internal financial crisis and COVID-19.
Naranjo noted that the City of Espanola has begun its own trash service and is taking commercial customers away from the authority.
We are with Naranjo on this one. The trash authority stinks.
Rumors abound regarding inefficiencies, lack of maintenance of vehicles, and even blatant corruption. Many questions remain about the death of a worker for the authority, killed on the job several months ago.
Naranjo needs to keep up the attack and ask more questions.
This is not Denmark, but something is rotten here.