The property on the west side of Española that once housed Cariños de Los Niños Charter School is now owned by Rio Arriba County, after state officials gave final approval Tuesday.
The New Mexico Board of Finance, including Gov. Susana Martinez, voted unanimously to approve the sale of the nearly four-acre property, at 714 Calle Don Diego.
County officials said the building on the property will be used to provide substance abuse counseling, mental health counseling, parenting training and high school equivalency classes. It will accommodate the RAC-STOP program, which has outgrown its current building on Industrial Park Road, also in Española.
“We’re mincing citizens here,” County Manager Tomas Campos said after extensive debate over the sale. “It will become the property of the citizens of Rio Arriba County. Either the County, Española Public Schools, or the state, we’re all representing the same citizens.”
Española School Board Attorney Geno Zamora, on behalf of the Española School Board, opposed the sale on the grounds that it should have instead become the property of either the District or the state Public Education Department, and serve some kind of educational purpose. He argued that state law requires that when a charter school closes, any property owned by the school must be given to the state government.
However, the quitclaim deed given to the Cariños Board, by the District, does not include any provisions that would allow the property to revert ownership back to either the District or the state.
“You’ve given away, via a quitclaim deed, all rights that you had, no more, no less,” Martinez said. “You’re stuck with whatever happened two years ago.”
David Gomez, an attorney representing the Cariños Board, said state law “is silent” or does not address the specific case at hand, when a charter school owns its own property.
In 2016, the Cariños Board settled a lawsuit with the Española School District and as part of the settlement, was given the building and its own charter.
Cariños is selling the property to the County for $60,000.
County Attorney Adán Trujillo said that figure was agreed upon to cover the final costs of closing the charter school, including paying for audits, payroll and benefits. Any money left over would go to the state, he said.
The appraised value of the property is approximately $690,000.
Board of Finance Division Acting Director Donna Maestas said it is common for one public entity to either donate a piece of property or sell it at a very low price to another public entity.
Called to Question
During the Board of Finance meeting, Española School Board Secretary Gilbert Serrano called the transaction between Cariños and the County a “back room deal.”
Cariños Board Vice President Leo Marquez voted along with the other Cariños Board members to sell the school property to the County, and less than five weeks later, he was hired as deputy County manager.
Cariños Board Member Father Terrance Brennan previously said Marquez was the most involved in negotiations with the County.
In a Monday telephone interview, Marquez, who is the vice president of the Cariños Board, denied that his hiring as deputy County manager had anything to do with the sale.
“Prior to June 5th, I was not an employee of the County,” Marquez said. “I was vice president for Cariños and I acted in the best interest for Cariños. Once I became an employee for the County, it was a conflict of interest for me to do anything.”
So, he said, he recused himself from a vote last week in which three other members of the Cariños Board authorized Chancellor Vernon Jaramillo to go before the New Mexico State Board of Finance to get final approval of the sale.
“(Cariños Board President) Dr. (Juanita) Cata and Brennan founded that school, and they voted to do this,” Marquez said. “They have the same vision I do. If another charter school comes into the area, they will have a place to hang their hat.”
Marquez did not know the date of the meeting where the vote from which he abstained took place.
He did vote along with the rest of the Board, April 30, to close the school at the end of June.
Eight days later, May 8, Rio Arriba County Manager Tomas Campos sent a letter to the Board offering to purchase the nearly four-acre property for $60,000.
During a special Cariños Board meeting, May 8, Marquez and the other members went into executive session to discuss its disposal. When they came out of executive session, members unanimously voted to accept the offer on the condition of its approval from the state Board of Finance.
Marquez previously said his main priorities are the students’ welfare and making sure they have a smooth transition into a new school, as well as preserving the building’s historical value and getting it back to its original owners, the County.
“My personal interest, I’m only one person on the Board, is the historical value of that building,” he said Monday. “I didn’t want to see somebody come in and get it cheap, just to sell the property. They (the County) are not just looking at razing the buildings and selling off the property for profit. That’s the bottom line is (sic), the Board wanted it to stay with the community.”
Less than a month after voting to accept the County’s offer, Marquez submitted his resume for consideration for the deputy County manager job.
In April, former deputy County manager David Trujillo resigned. An ad for the position ran in the Rio Grande SUN on May 24.
Public Works Director Napoleon Garcia submitted a letter of interest for the job on March 21. About a week later, former Española city manager Mark Trujillo submitted a letter of interest, County Human Resources Director Annabelle Almager said.
Marquez applied for the job on June 1, according to County records. He said Campos contacted him the following Wednesday, June 6, and offered him the job.
Campos signed a “request to hire” form, June 8, according to County records. Marquez will make $85,000 per year.
He started work with the County June 11, 34 days after the May 8 vote to sell the property to the County.
“The final thing was, last week, was the move to continue with going down the road with Rio Arriba County,” Marquez said Monday. “I abstained on that vote. They passed it with three votes, to allow to go to the Board of Finance.”
Marquez said Campos hired him over the other candidates because of his background in government and his prior experience working for the County government.
According to his resume, he was director of the Budget and Finance Division of the New Mexico State Treasurer’s Office between January 2015 and November 2017. He was chief deputy treasurer under former Rio Arriba County treasurer Jose Candelaria between January 2013 and December 2014.