Nearly a month after purchasing almost 14 acres of land near Camino del Llano, the Belen City Council last night approved the purchase by ratification.

The purchase came into question last week when the Valencia County News-Bulletin reported that the land had been purchased without a public vote by the city council, which the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government said might be a violation of state law.

While the city council had discussed the purchase behind closed doors, typically city councils or other governing bodies publicly approve a major purchase at the time that they make the purchase.

For example, when Belen Consolidated School purchased the former Auge’s dealership for use as the district’s new bus compound, the school board met behind closed doors several times to discuss the purchase but also discussed the matter and voted publicly to approve the purchase prior to making the purchase.

The land, located along Christopher Road and purchased on January 12 for $619,000, will be used to construct ponding to stop flooding along Camino del Llano, part of an ongoing construction project near the interchange. City officials say they don’t yet have any money to construct the ponding.

Last night, Mayor Ronnie Torres and the city councilors didn’t discuss who authorized the purchase, whether it was done administratively or voted on behind closed doors by the city council.

This page was published on February 9, 2010 at 2:52pm and is filed under Budget, Infrastructure.