Citizen again removed from county meeting
October 21, 2009
Mike Wood, a Las Maravillas resident who has been preemptively removed twice from Valencia County Commission meetings, was again removed tonight.
Despite a ban on Wood leveled by Commission Chairman Pedro Rael, Wood has continued to show up to the meetings, citing state law, like the Open Meetings Act, and saying he has a right to be present.
Wood was asked to leave the meeting by two deputies even before the meeting began tonight. He stepped outside the commission chambers with the deputies, made a phone call, and chatted with the deputies as a Valencia County News-Bulletin reporter took photos of what was happening.
A short time later the commission meeting started and the door to the commission chambers was closed so the commotion outside of the room didn’t affect the meeting inside.
Wood got back into the commission chambers moments later and walked to the front of the public gallery. He attempted to take a seat in the front row, yelling, “Point of order, Mr. Commissioner. If the sheriffs are taking me out, do you know why?”
Commissioners were discussing the meeting’s agenda.
“Come on. Let’s go,” said one of the two deputies who tailed him into the room.
A deputy grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out of the room.
Commissioners didn’t acknowledge Wood’s question.
Citizens attending the meeting have remained mostly silent about the ban on Wood’s attendance, but tonight several of them spoke up to defend his right to be at commission meetings and to decry a situation they see as developing into a serious injustice.
The citizens honed in on Commissioner Georgia Otero-Kirkham who justified Wood’s removal at the last meeting by “cherry-picking” phrases and sentences from a letter about the situation sent to the county from the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government (NMFOG). Citizens say the letter doesn’t support Wood’s ban.
“While public bodies have a right to maintain order, a person cannot be barred from future meetings simply because he or she may cause a disruption,” Susan Moran told commissioners, reading from the letter and calling the ban an “abuse of power.”
At the last meeting, Otero-Kirkham said the county would continue the ban until an authority higher than NMFOG, which is a nongovernmental organization, told them the county was in the wrong or had to allow him to attend.
Rael provided a legal justification for the ban at the same meeting, saying he’s the custodian of the county administration building and, as the custodian, has the ability to enforce such a ban.
Wood disputes Rael’s claim that he’s the building’s custodian. During a conversation overheard by Valencia! between a county employee and Wood, the employee said the custodian is the county manager.
Other county residents were as upset as Moran. Another county resident, Brian Benoit, told commissioners they’re elected by the citizens to govern, not to rule.
He also mentioned the NMFOG letter.
“It is not a road map to the expulsion of citizens, but rather a caveat to tread lightly in expelling any citizen from any public meeting,” he said.
Another resident didn’t like the preemptive removals.
“At the last meeting, Mr. Wood was ejected from the meeting without having spoken one word until he was addressed to be removed from the meeting,” Bob Gosticha said. “That’s not how open government should work.”
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