Archive for June 29, 2011
New Mexico Fire Information Roundup
by John Weckerle
With no promise of significant moisture in the near future, more than a quarter of a million acres of New Mexico have burned in just the currently active fires scattered throughout the state, not counting the portion of New Mexico burned in the Wallow Fire, Arizona’s largest fire to date.
Ranging from the relatively small (at 720 acres) Osha fire near Penasco to the almost 89,000-acre Miller fire north of Silver City, firefighters are battling nine major fires in the Land of Enchantment. Containment ranges from 98% for the Osha Fire to an alarming 3% for the Las Conchas fire near Las Cruces. Two fires (Donaldson and Crooked Creek Complex) were caused by lightning, two (Miller and Track) are known to be human-caused, and the causes of five others are under investigation. Some of the fires have been burning for more than two months.
For more information, see our summary of information collected from the Inciweb site.
County Commissioner: Major Problem with Ethics Board Process
by Wayne Johnson, Bernalillo County Commissioner
No one is perfect. The devil is in the details. No good deed goes unpunished… Every saying a cliché and every saying accurately describes Bernalillo County’s Ethics Ordinance. The ordinance was – I believe – an honest attempt to protect the public from both the perception and reality of misbehavior by county employees and elected officials. It created a set of standards and a process for enforcing those standards.
Allegations against any county employee or elected official can be made through a sworn complaint or anonymously. A web portal was set up to collect anonymous complaints and not surprisingly the county’s web portal quickly became the favorite way to file a complaint.
No one is perfect… In order to protect employees and officials from frivolous complaints, anonymous complaints are reviewed by an independent investigator to determine the validity of the allegation and the applicability of the ordinance. Should facts supporting a violation be found, the ordinance requires that the Internal Audit Contractor “prepare the sworn complaint and present its investigation to the Ethics Board.”
The ordinance clearly intends that a full board of five members be present to hear complaints – even providing for a replacement appointee where a member has a conflict of interest.
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