Impact fees: Good or bad?
Bill Donovan
Staff writer
GALLUP — The city of Gallup is going to give local residents
one more chance to voice their concerns about impending impact fees
on developers.
The city is looking at enacting the impact fees to help defray the
cost of providing infrastructure to new development. For instance,
if a new housing subdivision is constructed, the developer might be
charged for improvements to roads and sewer lines, increased fire
coverage and even expansion of schools.
A final public hearing has been set for 7 p.m. Monday
at city hall.
The city has already held a number of hearings on the
matter since May, but no one came to protest, said City Planner Lisa
Baca Diaz.
At a recent city council meeting, Glen Benefield argued that no one
attended the meetings because no one knew about the hearings.
Opponents question whether putting these fees in place will have a
negative impact on future development.
Baca Diaz said a number of other New Mexico cities, such as Rio Rancho
near Albuquerque, have impact fees.
A report by a task force set up by the city the Capital Improvement
Advisory Committee issued its draft proposal in November.
This report recommended that a base impact fee of $926 be established
during the first year of operation. This would increase to $9,258
over a period of years, probably 10.
Baca Diaz said the introductory fee has been proposed to get people
used to the idea of an impact fee. The fact that the fee would be
low in the beginning would also encourage developers to get their
projects under way as soon as possible.
City officials have been saying for months that the impact fees are
needed to help defray some of the costs that otherwise would have
to be paid for by the public, probably through taxes. Developers would
be able to pass any extra costs on to the people purchasing the homes
or other facilities.
Gallup Mayor John Pena said he believed the public needed to have
an opportunity to give their input on any proposal before it comes
to the Gallup City Council for final review. Pena directed the city
planning office to have one more hearing on the matter.
Baca Diaz said plans now call for the proposal to be
presented to the council in January.
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Narcotics agent Downs moves up to higher
level
Zarana Sanghani
Staff Writer
GALLUP — After more than four years of service, Dusty Downs is
taking his experience as the director of the Region II Narcotics Enforcement
Task Force to the state-level narcotics control agency.
Downs will retire from the task force on Dec. 31, but he has accepted
a position as the program analyst for the Northern New Mexico High
Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. The task force covers Gallup, Grants
and Farmington.
Downs said he wants to continue helping regional drug law enforcement
through his new job.
"I see this as an opportunity to do basically what I do here
at a higher level," Downs said. "There are a lot of things
in this area that could be brought to the state's attention. I want
to use my (new) position to bring support to this region."
Fred Radosevich, chairman of the task force and chief
of police for Grants, said Downs has made improvements to the agency.
"He's done an excellent job. He's managed to take the task force
to the next level," Radosevich said. "He's initiated more
complex investigations. (We did) more cases involving local, state
and federal agencies."
Downs worked with the Farmington Police Department's narcotics division
for 21 years before becoming the task force director. Experiencing
narcotics enforcement first-hand gave him an insight into the problem,
Downs said.
"Narcotics is an intelligence driven animal,"
Downs said. "As director, I'm able to use my position to leverage
a lot of high-level investigation and solicit the help of a lot of
federal agencies."
During his administration, Downs started an "intelligence element"
by creating two positions, one full time and one part time, for agents
assigned to gathering information and assessing the region's drug
trafficking trends.
The added intelligence information permitted the task
force to begin targeting drug trafficking organizations instead of
just individuals or small groups, Downs said. Pursuing such cases
has resulted in increased drug-related seizures and arrests, he added.
Gallup Police Lt. Craig Meo will take Downs' place.
He has served with the Gallup Police Department since July 1988. Meo
has held a variety of positions with the department including narcotics
agent, liquor agent and head of the criminal investigation division.
"It's a lot of brain work. It's a lot of administration action,"
Meo said. "In my opinion, it's more challenging."
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Murder holds up school money
Bill Donovan
Diné Bureau
GALLUP — Rough Rock Community School officials learned Monday
that the Bureau of Indian Affairs plans to deny the school some $500,000
in grant money because it failed to meet government-mandated deadlines.
School Superintendent Robert Roessel admitted the school failed to
meet the deadlines but said the reason stemmed from the murder of
the school's secretary, Emma Yazzie, on Sept. 22.
Her husband, Allison Yazzie, is now in federal custody facing murder
charges.
"Police had her office sealed off for three weeks, and we couldn't
get to our records," said Roessel. "After that, we had a
ceremony, and then we were finally able to get into her office. But
that was on Oct. 21, way past the deadline."
When he informed BIA education program officials of the problem, Roessel
said, he was told there was no problem and to get the records in as
soon as possible.
The records in question dealt with dormitory students
who attend the school and various academic problems they have, which
the school would use as justification for an Intensive Residential
Guidance grant it receives annually.
This grant provides $388,000 used to help 241 of the
260 students who live in the school's dorms by providing money to
hire counselors as well as tutors.
Also denied this year was another grant for about $120,000
which would have been used to provide field trips and other benefits
for 46 students at the school who qualified for the gifted and talented
program.
"I've been in education since 1951, and I have never experienced
anything like this before," said Roessel.
Joe Herron, head of the BIA program, said two weeks
ago, in response to a phone call from the Independent, that a final
decision on the grants had not been made but would be made the following
week by a member of his staff.
At that time, Roessel said he thought the BIA would realize the school
was not at fault for missing the deadline and the grant money would
be approved.
But Herron's office said a letter was sent to the school
Dec. 13, saying the grant was being denied because of a failure to
provide proper documentation.
Eight to 10 jobs at the school, which employs 140 people,
may be affected by the failure to get the grant, said Roessel. Members
of the school board will have to determine whether layoffs will occur
and when, he said.
The programs can be cut back no field trips and a reduction
in tutoring but the main problem will be finding a way to pay the
salaries of those funded through the program.
"We're going to keep these people on as long as possible,"
said Roessel, adding that the school will try to squeeze some extra
funding from other school programs to make up the difference.
The school just received word that an appeal it had made to another
grant it was denied in 1996 this one for $140,000 was approved, so
that money will be coming in.
While part of that money is committed to meet other needs, Roessel
said, it's possible some of it can be used to help pay the salaries
of those who are affected by the denial of this year's grants.
"As you can see, these appeals sometimes take three years or
more when we need the money now," Roessel said.
He still harbors some hope that the school can convince the BIA to
approve the grants.
Roessel said he's been in contact with a number of senators
and congressmen in recent days, informing them of the situation.
"None of them could believe that the BIA was doing this to us,"
Roessel said. "They said Congress appropriated the money to help
kids like those who attend Rough Rock, and it doesn't make sense to
deprive them because of the situation the school faced."
Because of their help, Roessel said, efforts are now under way to
get Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs
Kevin Gover involved.
"We're hoping to have a meeting with him in early January to
ask him to overturn the decision and allow the grants to go through,"
Roessel said.
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Basha's provides holiday meals
Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — As many as 80 Navajo families in
Apache County will receive a Christmas-turkey-and-trimmings dinner
from the county, thanks to Bashas' Diné Markets.
It has been a few years since a similar drive was mounted, said District
One Supervisor Joe Shirley, but a $2,000 donation by the chain managed
by Eddie Basha will result in families in 15 chapters receiving visits
from county crews bringing Christmas food.
"When we are working out on the roads, we come
across fairly impoverished families who could use a little help,"
the supervisor said. "Eddie Basha has been a good friend of the
people. That's well-known, and he's come through again..."
El Malpais receives almost $1 million
Tom Purdom
Staff Writer
GRANTS — The U.S. Congress has approved enough money for the
El Malpais National Park to provide cost-of-living increases for the
park's 19 full-time employees.
Superintendent John V. Lujan was recently notified about the base
budget for the national park which is a few thousand dollars less
than $1 million. Lujan said the park is still eligible for other federal
funds.
In addition, Lujan said the park's annual performance plan, as well
as government performance documents, are available for public review.
He said federal law requires that the park provide details about the
annual appropriated budget and fee revenues...
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Auditor unhappy with tribal Y2K efforts
Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — Although the Navajo Nation failed to follow all
the recommendations made by the tribe's internal auditor, the tribe
is apparently ready for Y2K.
The Office of the Auditor General remains unhappy with the effort
to avoid the potential computer crash at midnight on Dec. 31, but
key systems have passed their tests, the auditors admit.
The auditors said in a report issued Friday that only
one of their five recommendations was completed, with another partially
accomplished...
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