Darak declares candidacy for city council

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

Joe Darak

GALLUP — Joe Darak believes the city's elected officials need to pay closer attention to what their constituents have to say.

"I believe the citizens of Gallup know what's best for them," said Darak, who announced his run for the City Council's west end seat Thursday. It's the government's job to listen.

But too often, he said, that government, from this administration to the ones before it, gets wrapped up in a project before it has a good idea of what the people want. He noted the city's plans to build a power plant near Mentmore about four years ago, derailed in the 11th hour by the complaints of neighborhood residents who felt left in the dark.

A more recent example, he said, was the city's proposal to close Gallup's two seniors centers and build a new one to replace them both. Although the city never committed to the plan, most seniors felt left out of its planning process. And despite numerous public meetings, they felt ignored. In the face of mounting opposition from the seniors, the city was finally convinced to table the idea.

"Why shouldn't the first step have been getting more input from the seniors," Darak asked, "from the very people the city was intending to help?"

"There are always examples like that," he said.

As a councilman, Darak said he'd try to get that input first, though he doesn't expect it to be always easy. In addition to neighborhood meetings and forums, he did not rule out the possibility of going door-to-door, even as a councilman, to get it.

"I know it's hard to get people to come to meetings," he said, "so you have to make an effort to go to where the people are."

Darak sees plenty of expensive projects for the next administration to chose from, from operating and fixing up Red Rock Park to upgrading the golf course, building a skate park, developing more water resources, running a public transit system, subsidizing a commercial airline and many more. And with most of the $23 million worth of bonds the current administration sold already spent or allocated, he expects the next administration to have to deal with a much tighter budget.

With that in mind, Darak is advocating a "back to basics" approach to the city budget, spending more on the basics that serve everyone like streets, water lines and telephone polls than projects that serve a relatively few. Although the current administration has devoted tens of millions of dollars to those basics, he believes it could and should have done more.

Darak commends the administration for its efforts to secure Gallup's precarious water future: planning to develop the G-22 water field east of town; construction of a reverse osmosis system; continued support for the Navajo-Gallup pipeline. But water reclamation and G-22 are only temporary solutions, he said, and the pipeline is over a decade away at best, probably two. There's another critical component he thinks they're missing.

"No matter what," Darak said, "we're going to have to conserve water."

The city has introduced various rebates in recent years, for things like water-efficient shower heads and xeriscaped lawns, and new rules for car washes. But they save relatively little, new Laundromats and car washes keep popping up, and Darak thinks the city needs to be doing much more.

Darak said he also supports the efforts of state Rep. Patricia Lundstrom, D-Gallup, to impose more restrictions on New Mexico's payday loan industry and of the Gallup Committee for a Minimum Wage Increase to raise the local minimum wage by way of a referendum. If either effort fails, Darak said, he'd try to impose it through a City Council resolution, although recent attempts at such resolutions have failed.

As a west end candidate, the council hopeful also has specific plans for his particular district.

"When I ran four years ago (for mayor), I remember sitting in people's living rooms and people telling me their biggest concern was the drug problem, and since then I hear it's only gotten worse," said Darak.

He's not sure what more the city could do create a drug task force, perhaps but he says it needs to do something.

"Whatever it takes, we need to get a handle on the drug problem and gang problem," he said. "It should be a priority."

Other west end issues he wants to keep an eye on include the ongoing upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant, the construction of a new fire station, the opening of a shooting range, new housing developments, and the possible relocation of the Gallup Indian Medical Center near the airport.

Darak has been a teacher for the past nine years, specializing in adult education at Central High School for the past six, and has more recently been writing columns for the Gallup Herald. He mounted an unsuccessful bid for mayor in 2003.

Darak is the only person to declare his candidacy for the City Council's west end seat to date. Incumbent Frank Gonzales, who was elected McKinley County Sheriff in November, said he would not seek a second term.

The election is scheduled for March 6.