Maybe it was the change in scenery or the wide proliferation of coffee and snacks available, but the Española City Council and city staff was all smiles during a strategic planning meeting April 9 at the National Guard Armory on Industrial Park Road.
Despite the general feeling of camaraderie, meeting moderator Tim Dodge kept much of the subject matter serious.
Dodge, who is the city manager in Las Vegas, N.M., and the immediate past president of state Municipal League City Manager’s Association, reminded city officials about the importance of workplace safety.
Dodge said he drove around Española two weeks ago after meeting with city officials and was shocked to see crews working without hardhats at worksites.
Besides potentially raising liability insurance rates, Dodge said a lack of safety in the workplace could lead to massive financial consequences.
Dodge used a 2011 incident where two Las Vegas city workers died in a trench as an example.
“It was probably the worst day of my life,” he said.
Despite having his entire workforce compliant with League safety standards, Dodge said Las Vegas city workers didn’t meet all the standards set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and were found to be at fault.
As a result, Dodge said the city was forced to pay $1.3 million in administration penalties, worker’s compensation payouts and settlements with the workers’ families.
Dodge went around the room and asked various department heads whether their department had a written standard operating procedure.
While Public Safety Director Eric Garcia, interim city manager Joe Duran and wastewater Superintendent Perry Vigil answered yes, City Clerk Tessa Jo Mascareñas said the clerk’s office did not have one.
Dodge said even office-bound jobs needed a procedure to follow or the city could further risk litigation.
With a couple of high-profile firings in the past couple of years, Dodge’s advice on personnel seemed especially pertinent.
Dodge said it was important for city officials to call references and do thorough background checks.
Dodge understood the urge to give candidates a second chance, but cautioned that an employee’s previous work history was often an indicator of future work.
City Attorney Frank Coppler added his own thoughts as an experienced lawyer.
“There’s an old Latin maxim, ‘Easy to hire, hell to fire,’” he said.
As much as Dodge hammered home personnel issues, he also repeatedly stated the need for parliamentary procedure.
While the previous City Council had a reputation for speaking out of turn and over each other, Dodge said parliamentary procedure was key to bringing respect to the Council.
Dodge said each Council and staff member needed to make sure to address the mayor first before addressing the governing body.
Lucero said the city has a guide to parliamentary procedure, but it’s often too large and obtuse for Councilors to grasp.
Councilor Peggy Martinez said she admired the procedure cheat sheet Councilor Adrianna Ortiz brings from her job as a Los Alamos deputy county clerk.
Lucero said the city could use Ortiz’s cheat sheet as a model for their own simplified document of procedure.
Lucero said she would work to formulate a cheat sheet and present it for Council approval at a future meeting.
Multiple Councilors said a March 22 League-sponsored Newly Elected Officials event helped educate them on parliamentary procedure.
Peggy Martinez said that since Phillip Chacon was still a councilor when the event was held, the city should try to send Michelle Martinez when the next event takes place.