Political punches
Mayor takes fire for solo decisions; Ortega, Montoya trade verbal jabs

By Jim Maniaci
Cibola County Bureau

MILAN — Two village mayoral candidates used Thursday's board of trustees meeting to wage a last-minute election campaign battle.

The incumbent drew rebukes from trustees for back-door deals and decisions, revealed by the manager whom the incumbent tried to oust last summer and the mayor pro tem.

In his regular report, Village Manager Carlos Montoya said that the governor was sent four capital improvement requests, including one the staff never heard about and which wasn't needed.

Later, in a matter added by Mayor Pro Tem Vivian Brumbelow, Mayor Tom Ortega got raked over the coals for another solo water decision.

Mayor Tom Ortega said he can make requests such as he did to legislators. And he defended his water action as it met an emergency.

One of his opponents, Trustee Dominic Vigil, said the board only approved three capital requests, wanted to know where the 4th one came from and who authorized it.

Montoya had listed, in priority, the village's three requests as $80,000 for the "quiet zone" railroad crossing, $500,000 toward a new multi-purpose building and $300,000 towards the Uranium Avenue-Milan Street improvements. What went to the governor were $80,000 for the railroad, $200,000 towards the multi-purpose building, $75,000 for the street project and $80,000 towards a new municipal court.

Vigil commented, "So the mayor requested it without board approval? We were back-doored again."

The hot topic was the $80,000 submitted by Representative George Hanosh for the new local court. Discussion revealed it is a building and seven lots about a block west of Village Hall, on Uranium Avenue, offered by Paul Milan.

Montoya estimated it would cost $300,000 to bring the building up to modern requirements.

Trustee Jose Ray Ortega asked if the $80,000 could be shifted to the much-desired multi-purpose building. Montoya said he would find out. Mayor Pro Tem Vivian Brumbelow, the manager and a court staff member agreed the transfer would help everyone. (The initial estimated price was about $1 million for the new community center and the plan was to divide it into $500,000 requests in successive years.)

Vigil also noted that public meetings take place so that village decisions are made in public. He added that the village recently remodeled a building across the street from Village Hall, at Milan Street, into a municipal court and a code enforcement office.

Vigil then jumped the incumbent about a tree deal he said was done through the back door last year. He also raised the question of a possible violation of the New Mexico Constitution's clause against donating to private entities or people. Mayor Ortega responded that the trees and water involved the state highway department's attempt to fight deadly dust storms on I-40.

Montoya ended the first discussion by saying Gov. Bill Richardson has until March 6 to sign or veto the capital allocations submitted by legislators (there are 112, with 70 in the House of Representatives and 42 in the Senate).

There was no mention of any capital improvements for the village being submitted by Sen. Joseph Fidel.

After Brumbelow's opening summary, Mayor Ortega responded that he came in, asked for the manager and found he wasn't in the office. Later, Trustee Ortega scolded Mayor Ortega for merely coming into the office and expecting the manager to be there instead of trying to track him down.

The mayor said he told Montoya's assistant to relay word to the manager of the state Transportation Department's District 6 decision to go ahead and use village water to suppress the dust on private land.

"The dust was bad and we didn't want to have happen what happened a few years ago," the mayor commented. He quickly added, "If the manager isn't here, someone has to decide." The mayor was referring to a tragic event two years ago when several people died during a blinding dust storm on I-40 west of Exit 79 into Milan.

Vigil got contract village attorney Steven Chavez to admit, "It triggers a look into it to see if the anti-donation clause was violated."

Police Chief Jerry Stephens said that on Feb. 15, he, the manager and Public Works Director Ben Chavez went into an emergency mode because fill dirt had been dumped on a lot resulting in less than 20 feet of visibility.

"Carlos said that if she (the property owner, with whom the chief talked on the telephone three times) couldn't do it, put water on the piles, we would and bill her for the labor. She said OK. Once we did that ... the problem was eliminated within an hour (of starting)," Stephens said.

He said the Chaffin family was bringing in the dirt so a new store could be built there.

Montoya also corrected the mayor by pointing out the incident was on Route 66 (State Hwy. 122 and 605 area), not on I-40.

The manager continued, "It's hard to manage the village when the mayor is committing our water without the Board of Trustees knowledge ... Please, Mr. Mayor, let the Board of Trustees know what you are doing. You need a majority of the board to give me direction. That's all I ask."

Vigil then added that state law allows emergency meetings to handle such conditions.

— To contact reporter Jim Maniaci in Grants, telephone 285-6184 or (505) 870-7775 (cellular).