The Española Police Union brought a long list of grievances and concerns to the City Council during its meeting on May 13.
Police Officer and Union Vice President Cody Martinez said the majority of the issues stem from the move of the department’s office on the city’s West Side historic district to its current location on Riverside Drive.
Reading from a prepared statement, Martinez said that over the years, he has seen how various personalities and agendas within city government have impacted the police department, and while officers have been able to improvise and overcome obstacles, the union decided it needed to publicly address the city to raise awareness about these problems.
“Since living in our current building, I guess you can say, the union has learned that there was $400,000 allocated to the police department for building maintenance,” Martinez said. “It’s been three years. Where’s that money?”
Issues include the parking lot pavement, no gate to secure areas to secure areas of the building, lack of space and need for employees to share offices caused by the lack of file digitization and a large number of filing cabinets, lack of HVAC units to service all offices in the building, backed up plumbing, a broken and bolted closed front door and no access to quality drinking water.
“We do not have access to drinking water in our building, and because of that, officers have asked to use their clothing allowance to purchase water dispensers,” Martinez said.
Also included in his list of grievances is the officers’ inability to opt out of Social Security contributions despite contributing to Public Employment Retirement Association of New Mexico (PERA).
The department has also been unable to access funds allocated by the Department of Finance and Administration to conduct a temporary felony service warrant program. The $132,000 must be used by June 30 and can only go towards pre-approved felony warrant service operations.
Mayor and
council response
Mayor John Ramon Vigil said he was committed to addressing the police union’s concerns.
“I’m the one who actually moved towards putting the police there, and I take full responsibility in that aspect,” he said. But I also worked to secure the $800,000 that has been put towards that facility.”
While Vigil said the first $400,000 came from a governor’s appropriation, the true amount was $300,000.
The department’s office is now located in what was once the Santa Fe National Forest’s Española Ranger Station. The city acquired the property in 2020 and soon after began renovations to prepare for the move, which occurred in 2022.
In an email, Department of Finance and Administration Director of Legislative Affairs Henry Valdez wrote that the city received funding for two public safety projects under the 2020 emergency funds issued by the governor.
“The first was a Police Substation Remodel, for which the city was awarded $300,000,” he wrote. “Of that amount, $244,711.73 was expended, and $55,288.27 was reverted as of June 30, 2024. The second was an emergency grant for police vehicles, with a total award of $240,000. The City utilized the full amount for its intended purpose.”
In a telephone interview, Vigil said the additional $400,000 is part of a 2023 Capital Outlay appropriation.
“That money has been frozen due to our audit situation, but we’re on track to complete our audits and so that money should be made available by July,” he said.
Local entities must have a current audit in good standing to access Capital Outlay appropriations, Valdez wrote. If an entity does not meet this requirement or will be late in submitting its audit, it can access Capital Outlay and special appropriations through a fiscal agent until it is in compliance.
Police Chief Mizel Garcia said it is concerning that any money meant for the police department was reverted back to the state.
He knows there are councilors who are very supportive of his department, but said the council and mayor are not involved in the day-to-day administration of city government.
“They have what we call a city administration, right, so I think that is where we should start seeing what’s going on,” he said. “There was potentially a hiccup or there was a misstep, you know, (with) that money. We can’t afford to be giving money back that we desperately need for our city, you know, to go forward. That’s money that I don’t have to ask the governing body for, that’s GRT money, that’s grant money.”
This will change in the future.
“However, during the recently completed Legislative Session, DFA pushed for the enactment of the Public Accountability Act (HB 493), which provides local entities more opportunity to tap state funding while still giving DFA the necessary oversight to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent responsibly and effectively,” Valdez wrote.
During the May 13 city council meeting, Vigil asked Finance Director Patrick Varela and City Manager Eric Lujan to send an update about the status of the $400,000 to all council members the next morning.
The Rio Grande SUN submitted an Inspection of Public Records Act request for this update, but has not yet received any responsive documents. It is unknown whether a written update exists.
As far as he has been told, Garcia said, his department will receive these funds.
Warrant program
Mayor Pro Tem Peggy Sue Martinez said to receive the money for the temporary felony warrant program, the agreement had to be approved by resolution, which the Council failed to do at its April 8 meeting.
The council approved the necessary resolution at the May 13 meeting.
District 4 City Councilor Justin Salazar-Torres said the issues with the police department are an embarrassment and in no way the fault of Garcia.
“He’s doing his best,” Salazar-Torres said during the council meeting. “It falls on everybody sitting behind this dais for not giving the proper resources.”