County–Town Challenge: E911 & Annexation

On Tuesday, Feb. 5, assistant manager of the Town of Taos, Abigail Adame presented the joint meeting of the council, county commissioners, and representatives of the Kit Carson Coop with a list of challenges confronting the operation of the E911 system. The system operates under a joint powers agreement (JPA), according to Adame, that includes the town, county, Questa, Taos Ski Valley, and Taos Pueblo. Adame said the current JPA needs to be renegotiated in order to “give life to it.”

Adame mentioned funding, a list of duties and responsibilities for employees and the institutional setting. Adame and other town representatives said the E911 operation is seen as a Town of Taos operation instead of a regional responsibility. Town representatives suggest that moving the system to a new facility would change the institutional culture and eliminate the perception that the Town is the only stakeholder, despite the service to and funding from all those mentioned above. Town representatives (Mayor Cordova, Manager Rodriguez, Adame) said the operation needed more space,  a 311 non-emergency number, a director and an extra supervisory position.

Assistant County Manager Rick Bellis said staff, representing the stakeholders, had been working on JPA issues and would present alternatives to various elected officials. Currently, Bellis said the stakeholders (County, Questa, Taos Pueblo and TSV) are not represented at the E911 Center. The staff expects to model a new board after the one that oversees the Landfill operations (a function of the Intergovernmental Council or IGC).

Bellis also said that moving the equipment is not going to solve the problems but mentioned employee training as key to improved service. A funding formula to improve service, even before moving the facility as the Town proposes to the KCEC Command Center, is going to cost all entities more, especially the County due to the higher number of residents and calls.

The state’s DFA representative said his department was ready to distribute a grant aimed at improving or replacing current equipment with state of the art technology.

A representative of Taos Ski Valley said the village was prepared to pay more for service but the Questa Village administrator, Jim Fambro, called the proposed increase a “budget buster.” Taos County would incur an estimated $175,000 in additional expenses and the Town itself would be billed for an increase as the budget is increased from about $600,000 to $800,000. To bring the system into compliance prior to a proposed moved, which itself has become an issue of controversy, all the entities involved will be paying more money, primarily for employee training and additional employees.

The town has announced a proposal to move the police department from the E911 HQ to town hall, which critics say will free up about 4000 square feet for an expanded E911 facility. The town argues that the current facility is unsafe and insecure and proposes moving to the KCEC Command Center, which will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and incur lease expenses of some $50,0000 a year, while maintaining the facility at the current location could cost as little as $50,000, according to independent reports.

Representatives of the town, including Mayor Cordova and Councilor Michael Silva have close financial ties (contracts) with the Coop. Councilor Abeyta, a realtor, who supported the Super Walmart, is considered an aggressive expansionist and friend to developers.

Councilor Peralta himself played fast and loose with the public purse during his former reign as Mayor: he promoted building the swimming pool in response to a donation by Agnes Martin but convinced the council to avoid the state procurement code and the multimillion-dollar project did not go out for bid. Critics hold Peralta, and subsequent administrations, responsible for the muddled affordable housing project. Mayor Peralta also promoted the idea of annexing El Prado, Blueberry Hill, and the Blinking Light area while also trying to move the post office away from its current location to the area south of Walmart. At one point, Horse Fly obtained documents showing how Peralta would have allowed the Kachina Casino project to proceed if Taos Pueblo would drop its opposition to airport expansion. Ultimately the council protested and the mayor caved.  (Since Fred is way smarter than the rest of us and we have to watch him!)

While discussing the Town’s proposed shoestring annexation of the airport, Commissioner Blankenhorn said, “These numbers are easier than the Command Center numbers.” The County has offered to rebate, via a JPA, the GRT for airport expansion, some five or six hundred thousand dollars, per the expected construction revenue from a federal grant of $24 million.

County Commissioners and staff made it clear that they would support airport expansion via a JPA but questioned the wisdom of moving the E911 system to the KCEC Command Center. County Manager Steve Archuleta mentioned to Councilor Peralta that the county offered to help the town in terms of the airport but were, initially, told “no.” Further, Archuleta said the county would explore all options regarding public safety and revenues regarding emergency communication.

A number of residents from El Prado, including the El Prado Water and Sanitation District, questioned annexation, and said they hadn’t been notified of what some call “a land grab.” If the Town annexes the highway area, various commercial and residential businesses in the six-mile corridor could become residents of the Town. Worse, multi-jurisdictional problems could slow the approval process.  Currently, a number of county property owners in the airport vicinity have been virtually land-locked and unable to develop their property since the Town took their land for the airport via eminent domain in the late sixties.

Apparently, Taos Pueblo, which owns part of the land under the El Prado highway, has not been notified—officially–of the impending annexation. When he went to pay a traffic fine at tribal court, the judge told Commissioner Duran, “Why are you speeding on my (our) highway?” Who knows what the current WarChief will do? The last WarChief (the man who shot the cow) threatened to close down the highway to the bridge, if the state couldn’t stop the vendors–DOT complied, pronto. Now the vendor sell by the side of the road in “no-man’s land.”