In the span of less than two weeks, Española District 2 Councilor Alfred Herrera was booted from and reinstated to the North Central Solid Waste Authority’s Board of Directors.
Mayor Joseph Maestas shocked Herrera and other councilors at a July 28 Council meeting when he called, abruptly and without discussing it with either man, for a vote to replace Herrera with Public Works Director Ben Ortega as the city’s representative on the Board. The Council approved the move in a 5-3 vote.
The Waste Authority Board voted unanimously Tuesday morning to appoint Herrera to a fifth, empty seat as a so-called “community representative.”
The joint powers agreement that created the Authority in 2002 calls for a five-member Board, with one member appointed by each of its member agencies — the city, Rio Arriba County, Santa Clara Pueblo and Okhay Owingeh. It does not specify who appoints the fifth member.
Authority Manager Joe Lewandowski said that seat was meant to be an at-large community member, and that although the Board has discussed filling that fifth seat in the past, it had been empty since the Authority was founded.
The Board voted to fill the seat Tuesday at the recommendation of auditors, Lewandowski said. Herrera, Lewandowski and Ortega all insisted Herrera’s affiliation as a city councilor would not pose a conflict of interest when voting on the Authority’s Board.
As proof, they brandished an e-mail from Herrera telling the Board that city attorney Paula Maynes had indicated to him “there would not be any problem with a City Councilor serving in this capacity.”
“In here, he’s citizen Herrera, not Councilor Herrera,” Lewandowski said. “Plus, if anything, (the city) would only have two out of five votes. With three, maybe it would be a problem.”
But the city’s interests have often been at odds with the Authority’s over the past year.
Maestas had preceded Herrera as the city’s representative on the Board, and he had lobbied for the Authority to build a proposed transfer station within city limits, on Industrial Park Road, instead of in Alcalde. And the Council in recent months had charged Herrera with recovering over $222,145 in unpaid administrative fees the Authority owes the city.
Herrera said that, because the Authority serves city residents, he is more concerned with the Authority surviving its current financial crisis than about parochial concerns in the city’s interest.
“In terms of the debt, quite frankly, I’m more concerned about (repaying) the other entities more than I am about (repaying) the city, because there’s penalties and interest and so forth involved,” he said. “I’m more interested with the organization doing the right thing overall.”
The Authority currently owes a combined $1.21 million to the city, the federal Internal Revenue Service and the state Risk Management Division, according to a report distributed at the meeting.
The Board chose Herrera over one other applicant. Francisco Simbona, the former Española Housing Authority board chairman and unsuccessful applicant for Lewandowski’s job, dropped off an application for the community member seat halfway through the Board’s Tuesday meeting.
The Board voted unanimously to appoint Herrera.
Ambushed
Herrera said Maestas ambushed him at the July 28 Council meeting — the first time he learned he’d be replaced was when he read the agenda for the meeting.
“I was literally shocked, first that it was on the agenda, and second when the Council ratified it,” Herrera said. “The mayor didn’t discuss it with me. I’d still like to know his reasoning.”
Maestas did not return calls to his mobile phone Monday and Tuesday.
Herrera was not the only one caught off-guard.
“I had no idea Alfred didn’t know about it until I made the motion and saw his face,” Mayor Pro Tem Alice Lucero said. “I thought this was something he and the mayor had discussed.”
District 1 Councilor Danielle Duran said she was also surprised. However, neither objected to the replacement. Duran said the appointment was Maestas’ prerogative and Lucero said sitting on the Board fits Ortega’s job description.
But Herrera said replacing him was a brash and “stupid” decision.
“If I was mayor, first of all, if I was concerned for some reason about what was going on at the Authority, perhaps it might be a good idea to talk to Councilor Herrera about it,” he said. “Should I replace him with one of my busiest employees and one of my newest employees? Hmmm, let me think about this. Then of course my conclusion would be it was a stupid thing to do.”
The Council ratified Ortega’s appointment by a 5-3 vote, with Herrera, District 1 Councilor Dennis Tim Salazar and District 2 Councilor Helen Kain Salazar opposed. Also voting in favor of replacing Herrera were: District 3 Councilors Chayo Garcia and Cecilia Lujan and District 4 Councilor Eddie Maestas. The mayor may only vote in case of a tie.