Sensible Solutions and Public Service in Taos

In Taos “Sensible Solutions and Public Service” sounds like the title for a handbook published by idealists, who have never visited northern New Mexico. But those activists who “keep hope alive” believe they have found a solution to current controversies surrounding the Command Center, Airport Annexation as well as an antidote to sleepless nights for elected and appointed officials at the Town of Taos, Taos County, and Kit Carson Electric Cooperative, Inc. (KCEC). If common sense prevails, the controversies could die. If not, expect a long hot campaign for mayor and council in 2014.

Yesterday the county commissioners received a letter from the Taos mayor soliciting support for the proposed E911-Dispatch move from Civic Plaza Drive to the KCEC Command Center (CC) on Gusdorf Road. The County demurred.

The first thing one notices about the “block style building” or CC is the coyote or latilla fence, highlighted by an electronic instrument panel, where you punch in a code to gain admittance. When we visited, the gate in the coyote fence to the entrance of the block, steel, and glassed-in building, was open to the public.

Next to the entrance of the CC a building permit from the Town of Taos, issued to KCEC was posted by a town’s contractor, Mike Compton and noted that (Jack) Nottingham was the architect. The young man at the door of the CC, who works for KCEC Telecom (Internet service) said we needed KCEC CEO Luis Reyes’ permission to enter. A young woman, who works for KCEC dispatch was the only other employee amidst the jumble of office furniture on the first floor of the glass fronted building with its northern exposure, shades pulled down. Though permission to enter was not granted, my architect (retired) and I drove around to the south side of the building, a kind of two-story basement structure with plate-glass windows facing south.

According to our greeter, the town was installing acoustical material to accommodate the town’s E911-Dispatch Center. But, by peering through the windows, we saw an empty shell and there was no evidence of remodeling. We discussed how the State Construction Industries Board red-flagged the town’s remodel project at Town Hall on Camino de la Placita for issuing itself a building permit. The employee who signed the June 13 building permit for the town is long gone. As in the annexation putsch, the town likes to sit in judgment on itself and always finds that it does right—though the state and courts often disagree.

For anyone with a modicum of sense, it is easy to see that the CC is a poorly designed white elephant, unfit for any imaginable use other than KCEC Internet or Broadband offices and file storage. Maybe one of the new charter schools could use it for classrooms. Truly, there is no method in the madness of designing a command center, which requires solid walls, temperature controlled premises, and security: all of which exists at the solid former First State Bank building on Civic Plaza Drive, the current premises of E911—Dispatch. The current center was specifically remodeled years ago as a secure facility in a building already paid for, which still provides a secure environment for E911—Dispatch.

The Mayor, Town Council, and KCEC Board of Trustees serve as representatives of taxpayer and member owned entities. Sometimes mistakes are made as in the case of building a Command Center for which there is no use: no government entity signed on during the planning phase other than to say “we’ll wait and see.” Pride goeth before a fall. Give it up, my friends.

Make a deal with the County on the CC and Annexation.

Citizens with common sense, who believe in the principles of public service and public safety, all cry out to the town and Coop to cooperate with the county and the villages to form a Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) under the auspices of a neutral board composed of police, fire, and emergency personnel, who are empowered to make politically-neutral decisions in the interests of public safety.

The Mayor Cordova—CEO Reyes putsch toward the KCEC CC will cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions in long term expenses, for moving and rental costs. County taxpayers will be forced to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars if not millions on new equipment and to remodel an E911—Dispatch Center because the Town is ignoring contractual responsibilities for safety in the greater county area (according to news reports). The police department has moved out of the E911—Dispatch Center on Civic Plaza Drive: there’s plenty of space, an estimated 5,000 square feet. A couple of new laptops and cubicles could solve unmet needs.

The Command Center issue, along with the ill-fated, so far, attempt to “shoestring” in the annexation of the airport, has created enormous and unnecessary ill-will in the community. Their association with the Board of Trustees at the Coop and their CEO has tarnished the Taos Mayor and Town Council.

In March of 2014 Mayor Cordova, an entertainer, and Councilors Michael Silva, an excavator with public contracts, and Rudy Abeyta, a realtor and promoter—all of whom have benefitted privately from the public purse–are up for re-election. Candidates don’t register until January but the campaign begins in the fall.

The town’s lease with KCEC can be abrogated if the council does not appropriate the money. At least two highly popular and experienced public figures, who have demonstrable and honest  records of public service, have indicated an interest in running against the mayor. A number of serious candidates have said they are interested in running for council.

The town election itself will be a referendum on a number of issues: the Command Center,  Annexation, levies on book borrowing, police officers who defer to vigilantes, services at the Youth and Family Center, and the raid on the public purse by elected officials, who are motivated by private profits.