T
ransparency in government not only provides citizens with information about what is happening within that governmental body, but it also promotes accountability within its ranks.
Government transparency also builds trust among those it governs and promotes effectiveness and efficiency. When voters are unaware of what is happening and how decisions are being made, they tend to form their own opinions and that’s how rumors get started.
The current City of Española administration should take heed because there are plenty of rumors floating around and while one should always consider whether these claims can be substantiated before taking them as gospel truth, just about anyone would be hard-pressed to get an answer from someone at city hall — including the press.
There are many issues that plague the city these days, chief among them is the homeless encampment near Valdez Bridge, which was part of the other encampment located near Walmart. City officials decided to move those folks near the river after officials from Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo booted them off their land.
Shortly after the move, many city and county officials as well as representatives from Española Pathways Shelter, met to discuss how they could help the homeless at the encampment — and maybe even get off the streets. The collaboration was short-lived after a March 14 meeting at which a possible future encampment location in Chamita was mentioned. Somehow the information got leaked and quickly spread via social media. Since then, city officials have cut everyone but city employees out of those conversations and meetings.
Last week Mayor John Ramon Vigil in a phone call told the SUN that Chamita is not being considered as a location, but we have yet to see a public announcement.
We have been trying to get answers from the city about relocating the homeless but efforts to reach City Manager Eric Lujan and Vigil have been unsuccessful. Not even the city’s “public information officer” Esperanza Trujillo has responded to inquiries. Voicemail messages have been left for her and emails have been sent to all three to no avail.
Trujillo has sent two press releases to us, one which was received on Feb. 27 in which it was announced that Lujan will establish a temporary homeless encampment near Fairview Lane and will collaborate with the Rio Arriba County Health and Human Services Department and Española Pathways Shelter. The second press release was sent on March 1 and talks about Vigil unveiling an “ambitious plan to establish a new Department of Social Services in order to tackle pressing issues such as homelessness, drug and alcohol addiction and the allocation of the National Opioid Settlement funds within the City budget.”
An inquiry sent to Trujillo on March 6 asking if the city manager would be willing to speak with the SUN about the Department of Social Services idea went unanswered. That’s not uncommon. She has only responded to one email and that was in regard to the Feb. 27 press release. Lujan and Vigil never respond to inquiries. No surprise. That’s why they have a public information officer, after all.
At the April 9 city council meeting, a staff reorganization took place which now puts Trujillo and Human Resources Director Sally Baxter in the position of interim city clerk. They will share responsibilities until a new clerk is hired. See this week’s story by Zane Wolfgang for more information on the decision and reorganization.
We’re not sure that Baxter was the best choice for this position considering she’s had issues handling public records requests from the SUN in the past. Trujillo probably wasn’t the best choice, either, considering she hasn’t communicated acceptably in her position as a public information officer. But the mayor and city manager don’t seem concerned that information isn’t being shared. In fact, they seem to want it that way, as is evidenced by their response to the Chamita information leak.
Their solution to the “leak” was to cut others out of the conversation so they could control who is privy to that information — or so it would appear. The SUN was invited to one meeting and hasn’t been included since — no suprrise there. We’re in the business of informing the public. You can’t have an entity like our newspaper sharing information that you want to keep secret.
Those who want to know what’s happening within the city need to attend council meetings, since that seems to be the only way to get any information from anyone at city hall. Transparency and open government are both fundamental elements to abolishing corruption. So far, the current city administrators have failed at both.