It Is All Bass-Ackwards
by Chuck Ring (GadAbout-BlogAlot ©2008)Â
Quote Freely From the Article — Leave The Pseudonym Alone
The title puts it mildly. Edgewood, has for some time, failed to convince Santa Fe County to return taxes to Edgewood that rightly belong to Edgewood. Additionally, Edgewood has missed opportunities to joint venture with Santa Fe County for a regional library, a public safety facility, a recreational complex and an animal control facility. To accomplish such cooperation requires planning and policy decisions created by all of the governing body and not unilaterally by the mayor. To illustrate, the mayor, on December 8th, sent a Power Point presentation ClickHereForPowerPoint to Santa Fe County Commissioner Mike Anaya and others. While the presentation was well prepared, it was created without input from the council members. The document was solely the work of the mayor and staff. In other words, whatever was used to document the presentation and whatever was requested from Santa Fe County was accomplished without consideration of the Edgewood Town Councilors. Such action on the part of the mayor is not only disrespectful and demeaning to the council members, but it is contrary to open government which, once again, is contrary to one of the mayor’s stated goals during his tenure as mayor.
The mayor can be congratulated for some of his efforts. Notably, he was able to push through the move for the library and he has worked extremely hard for many hours to see that the library move is completed. The library’s move to new quarters was not accomplished through the action of the mayor alone. The project went before the town council for approval … both as to location and funds allocated for the move and subsequent operation of the facility. No less should be done for any requests from the county, the legislature, other funding sources or any projects contemplated for the betterment of the town.
The councilors, should they desire, can act to reverse the mayors work and prepare their own presentation and requests. As it stands now, the mayor’s work does not have the legal or official action of the governing body behind it and it is possible the Santa Fe County
Commissioners will send the requests back for official action by the councilors. The councilors, should, once and for all, act to send a clear and documented message to the mayor regarding the councilor’s role as policy makers and the mayor’s role as administrator. The mayor is in a position to be a mayor whose administration can accomplish much, but he cannot do so by leaving the council aside or behind. The mayor and the council should act quickly to work with the town’s financial adviser. Edgewood is in a very unique position. The location enjoyed by Edgewood, along with the businesses located in Edgewood insure that Edgewood will enjoy patronage from a wide geographical area, Why shouldn’t Edgewood follow professional advice that will put it in the very best position to be financially sound. That is why we have contracted with the financial adviser or at least that was the stated reason.