Belen Consolidated Schools Board President Jamie Goldberg announced a new measure he and the board are taking to ensure the public is informed about what the school district is doing.

According to Goldberg, the board and public will now get regular updates during board meetings about the discussions and decisions made by the district’s various committees.

The committees, often made up of two school board members and district staff, discuss topics like construction projects and board policy.

Valencia County Sheriff’s Department Captain Don Donges told county commissioners on Wednesday night that problems with “missed calls” at the county’s emergency dispatch center mean officers aren’t being dispatched to address crime.

“This is ridiculous,” he told the commissioners.

Donges has been defending his department against accusations that it failed to respond to calls about a rave in Tierra Grande during the Fourth of July weekend.

Caught in the middle of the debate is the Valencia County Regional Emergency Communication Center, a collaborative effort of the county and municipalities, housed within the Village of Los Lunas Police Department.

The dispatch center coordinates 911 emergency response for the county, the City of Belen, the Village of Bosque Farms, the Village of Los Lunas, and the Town of Peralta.

According to Donges, the call-takers at the dispatch center aren’t properly trained to identify when it’s appropriate to dispatch police, which had citizens at the meeting wondering out loud if the call-takers have been empowered to decide what laws should and shouldn’t be enforced.

He said calls to the dispatch center about the rave were never conveyed to the sheriff’s department.

The problems go beyond whether or not police were dispatched on the night of the rave. Commission Chairman Don Holliday expressed frustrations with an incident in his district.

Holliday said the county manager called the dispatch center after the incident to find out why there was a failure to respond, but the center’s administrator hasn’t responded to him.

“I’m concerned they haven’t gotten back to the county manager,” he said, acknowledging problems at the dispatch center. “We’re going to find out what the hell is going on.”

Commissioner Ron Gentry also wants to “find out what’s going on over there,” saying calls from citizens about crime, and in particular the rave, seem to be “falling on deaf ears.”

He said the county should “reevaluate” the $215,000 it contributes to the operation of the dispatch center.

“Are we getting what our citizens deserve?” Gentry asked.

The Office of New Mexico’s Attorney General this week determined the City of Belen violated the New Mexico Open Meetings Act (OMA) when the Belen City Council met behind closed doors and directed former Mayor Ronnie Torres to negotiate to purchase $619,000 worth of land.

“The Council in essence gave its approval to purchase the property without voting on the matter in the public meeting,” the letter from the attorney general’s office reads, noting the approval occurred during a closed executive session.

After at least two closed-door discussions, the city ended up purchasing 14 acres along Christopher Road, never discussing the matter during a public meeting.

At the time, city officials argued that publicly discussing the matter could have jeopardized the deal.

The letter explains, “While we are cognizant of the fact that the Council might not have wished to announce its intent to purchase a particular parcel for property for fear that the deal may fall through, at a minimum the Council should have voted in public session to delegate to the Mayor its authority to negotiate the purchase terms without identifying the subject property until closing.”

The city council later “ratified” the purchase publicly, but the attorney general’s office notes that wasn’t sufficient to correct the violation because there’s no record of how the councilors voted, other than to say “the motion carried.”

“To remedy the violations discussed above,” the letter reads, “at its next public meeting, the Council should revisit the matter of the purchase of the Camino [del] Llano property and vote to authorize and ratify the purchase.”

In addition to not voting on the matter in public, the city had multiple OMA violations related to having failed to follow the appropriate process for entering into and out of closed executive sessions, as well as failing to record the purposes of the closed-door meetings in meeting minutes.

The attorney general’s office recommends publicly discussing the purposes of those executive sessions and identifying any direction given behind closed doors during the city council’s next meeting.

That may be problematic, however, because only two of the five public officials who met behind closed doors to discuss the land purchase are still serving.

The attorney general’s office became involved in the issue after a complaint was filed by the Valencia County News-Bulletin.

The Valencia County Commission last week banned county elected officials from putting their names on county vehicles, a response to Sheriff Rene Rivera placing his name on patrol cars.

According to the county, the new rule, approved unanimously by resolution, won’t mean Rivera will need to remove his name from the patrol cars.

“It will not apply to people who have already done it,” said David Pato, a county attorney.

The issue came to light during the recent primary election because of an article published by the Valencia County News-Bulletin.

“This resolution sends a clear message,” Commissioner Pedro Rael said.

The New Mexico Whistleblower Protection Act, which safeguards government employees who report illegal or improper actions from retaliation by supervisors, goes into effect today.

The law was passed by the state legislature earlier this year.

According to the New Mexico Municipal League, the act prohibits a public employer from taking any retaliatory action against a public employee because the employee:

• communicates to the public employer or a third party information about an action or a failure to act that the public employee believes in good faith constitutes an unlawful or improper act;
• provides information to, or testifies before, a public body as part of an investigation, hearing or inquiry into an unlawful or improper act; or
• objects to or refuses to participate in an activity, policy or practice that constitutes an unlawful act or improper act.

The act covers “any political subdivision of the state,” which includes municipalities like the City of Belen.

The Belen Police Department’s Chief Mike Chavez has provided the Belen City Council with his department’s goals for 2010, a part of city councilors’ request for accountability.

At the March 22 council meeting, Mayor Rudy Jaramillo and city councilors announced they were establishing an improvement plan and evaluation process for each of the city’s appointed officials, during which their job performances will be assessed at 90 and 180 days.

Because the city government is still searching for a permanent city manager, with applications now being accepted by the city, the police chief, fire chief and airport manager will undergo the improvement plan and evaluation process.

Police Chief Mike Chavez is the first of the three to provide information to the city council about how he would like to improve his department.

Chavez’s 16-page improvement plan includes seven goals:

GOAL 1: To make the City of Belen a major drug free city. As stated earlier [in the plan] this is a never ending battle and should be our constant goal for every year, it is felt that progress can be made. Any achievement in this area is very worthwhile.

GOAL 2: To obtain a mobile data system that would be utilized by officers in the field in their patrol units. Thus, they will be able to complete reports in the field and at times right at the scene of an incident or crash. This will greatly enhance the efficiency of the individual officer; i.e., not having to drive back to the Belen Police Department to complete a report, or criminal complaints, consequently saving a lot of time and effort. As a result of this, officers will be spending more time in the field and less down time at the Belen Police Department filling out reports.

GOAL 3: [See the plan.]

GOAL 4: The department is fully staffed at this time, and our goal is to remain fully staffed in the future. To that end, we have established a continuous classification and testing procedure that will enable us to have possible applicants who can be contacted immediately in case of some unforeseen circumstance that would necessitate the hiring of another police officer. Also, written recruiting plans are in place at the present time and are being continuously refined.

GOAL 5: Our training goals have been accomplished for 2009, but training is a constant and ongoing endeavor. This year a new mandate has come from the state in reference to driving standards. Our goal is to meet this standard not only by having the officers attend said classes, but to have an in house instructor as we do for all other state mandated training.

GOAL 6: To replace old and failing computers within the Belen Police Department’s records and investigations division. These computers are over five and six years old and important information has been lost and has had to be redone, such as criminal complaints, police reports, and crash reports. Replacing these computers would greatly enhance the efficiency of our department.

GOAL 7: To continue with our community based programs that allow the community to more easily make contact with me and other administrative members of the Belen Police Department. This new program will be called “Coffee with the Chief.” One day a month any citizen can meet with me at one of our local restaurants over coffee to air any concerns they may have, or have any questions answered about the Belen Police Department. This program would also allow me to develop a rapport with more citizens; this would also include those that are not normally in contact with the Belen Police Department. The time and date would be advertised in the News-Bulletin.

“Due to the fiscal challenges we are facing within our municipality, we will make every attempt to be successful in completing the above listed goals,” Chavez writes in the plan.

The plan is expected to be discussed during the next regular city council meeting on April 19.

The Valencia County News-Bulletin has filed a New Mexico Open Meetings Act complaint against the City of Belen, alleging the previous administration expended $619,000 on a land purchase without a public vote.

“Under no circumstances should such substantial amounts of public funds be expended by a governing entity without a vote before the public that provided said funds,” Brent Ruffner, the Valencia County News-Bulletin reporter who covers city government, writes in the complaint to the Office of New Mexico’s Attorney General.

At issue is a purchase made by the City of Belen for approximately 14 acres of land near Camino del Llano. The land will be used for ponding as a part of the ongoing Camino del Llano reconstruction project.

According to city officials from the prior administration, the purchase of the land was made sometime in early January.

The purchase may or may not have been discussed behind closed doors as a part of a closed executive session. Regardless of a closed-door discussion, the city council can’t take action behind closed doors; that must be done in public.

It wasn’t until February, and after a newspaper article written by Ruffner exposed the potentially illegal purchase, that the city council “ratified” the purchase.

The purpose of ratifying the purchase is to remedy the OMA violation. Typically the attorney general won’t find a violation if the government that violated the law remedies it, even after the fact.

“We content that a public vote should have been taken to approve the land purchase and expenditure of funds before either of those events took place, which to the best of my knowledge, did not happen,” Ruffner writes in the complaint.

But what might be more serious than an OMA violation is whether or not city officials violated New Mexico procurement laws, which requires city council approval on all purchases over $50,000. Presumably, the attorney general could investigate the possible procurement violation.

Councilor Jerah R. Cordova this week called for a public dialogue on the position of city manager, proposing revisions to the city’s existing ordinance that defines the city manager’s duties and responsibilities.

State law already defines the duties and responsibilities of the city manager, but the city’s existing ordinance gives additional authority to the city manager, exceeding what state law allows.

Cordova wants the council to publicly debate the position at one of its meetings, which is why he proposed the revisions.

The revisions bring the duties and responsibilities of the city manager closer in line with what state law allows, while still giving the city manager the flexibility to do his or her job.

The revisions also strip a little-known provision from the existing ordinance that restructured city government by consolidating positions in a way Cordova believes runs contrary to state law.

Councilor Jerah R. Cordova yesterday submitted to the acting city manager an ordinance for consideration by the council that will guarantee certain rights for councilors and citizens, an effort to make the City of Belen a more open government.

State law requires the city council to set rules for its meetings, which the proposed ordinance will do.

Among other things, the ordinance would guarantee the right of any citizen to publicly comment at all meetings of the city council. Right now the city denies citizens the ability to publicly comment during special and emergency meetings.

For example, Belen resident Gloria Sanchez was denied the opportunity to speak at the March 22 special meeting where the council appointed people to the positions of police chief, fire chief and airport manager, despite Cordova’s effort to allot time for public comments on the agenda and Sanchez’s request to speak.

The new ordinance would also require roll call votes on all action items before the council to ensure the public knows how each of its councilors are voting.

It would also protect the rights of councilors to dissent, ensuring that dissenting opinions and failed proposals are detailed in meeting minutes and available to the public.

The ordinance would also more clearly define the role of the city council as the city’s legislative branch, requiring councilors to directly sponsor legislative proposals instead of those proposals being proposed by the mayor or city manager, who are a part of the executive branch.

While Cordova requested that the proposed open government ordinance be given a public hearing at the meeting on April 5, the ordinance doesn’t appear to have been included on the agenda for that meeting.

The City of Belen will this week begin publishing a job posting for city manager, the position now held by an interim city manager.

On March 8, former City Manager Sally Garley resigned, leaving the position filled by Acting City Manager Mary Lucy Baca.

According to the posting, getting hired to the position will require at least a bachelor’s degree in management or a related field and five years of experience in similar fields, among other things.

The city expects to accept applications for approximately two weeks.