Minutes cause of flare up
Duty taken away from clerks office

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — The duty of taking minutes for the Cibola County board of commissioners' meetings was wrested away from the County Clerk's office over objections from clerk's office staff during the regular board meeting Monday night.

During the "approval of minutes" portion of the agenda, Dr. Jane Pitts, commissioner from District 4 (Bluewater and San Mateo), motioned for the commission to take on the duties of recording the minutes.

This move follows in the steps of two other New Mexico counties, Bernalillo and Santa Fe, that have already contracted outside assistance to take those counties' commission meetings minutes, County Attorney Joe Diaz said.

In her motion, Pitts stated: "The clerk has not fulfilled her duty. The minutes she has prepared have been consistently inaccurate and incomplete.

"I move that this board authorize the county manager and county attorney to take whatever steps are necessary to ensue that a record of our proceedings is accurately, completely and timely prepared. The clerk will remain custodian of the records."

Difference of opinion
Kathy Gonzales, chief deputy clerk who was present taking minutes with two other clerk's office staff members told the board the corrections asked for were always done.

Pitts responded immediately, "No they are not!"

Election Coordinator George Trujillo, a member of the clerk's office staff, addressed the board and said something in this picture is not right.

He told the board that someone in the county manager's office reviews the minutes and then sends them back to the clerk's office for corrections. If those minutes are still wrong, there is a problem in the manager's office.

Elena Rodriguez, the county manager's administrative assistant told Trujillo that the minutes return from the clerk's office without corrections.

"How many times do I have to send them back?" she asked. "I have sent them as many as seven times."

County Clerk's reaction
County Clerk Eileen Martinez was reached at her office following the meeting. She said the decision to remove taking minutes from her office and contract it out is a conspiracy and that there are no communications between her and County Manager David Ulibarri.

Ulibarri told the commission he thought something could be worked out with the clerk's office, just prior to the commission voting unanimously, 5-0, to approve the motion.

"I have walked down the hall to see him, he's not there. I have left messages and phone calls for him to return my calls, and he never returns my calls," Martinez said.

"This is another attempt to embarrass me and my office staff," she said.

"We never shy away from work, but I suggested this three years ago when some of the office staff walked out.

"At that time I was told the county couldn't afford it. Now that the County Manager's office wants to do it, we can afford it," she said.

"I appreciate it, even though it is an attempt to embarrass the office. I appreciate them hiring someone to do the minutes if that will please them. My staff has already gone through enough embarrassment," she said.

With the pay scale the county offers, Martinez said she cannot hire anyone with the professional experience or training it takes to do the minutes the way the commission wants.

Diaz said the motion is legal, it allows the clerk's office to retain custody of the minutes which is required by the state.

Other action In other business, the board approved:

• American Indian Voting Rights Coordinators' contracts adding one-and-a-half months time to the contracts and accompanying pay, $11,235, so that they could receive training between Jan. 16 and March when the contracts were supposed to begin.
  
  
• A loan for $590,572 for special software for the Assessor's and Treasurer's offices.
  
  
• A resolution that the county will abide by the state's Open Meetings Act.
  
  
• Adopting three local banks as financial institutions that could receive county investments: Grants State Bank, Wells Fargo and Rancher's Bank.

The next regularly scheduled commission meeting is at 5 p.m., Feb. 13, in the board room at 515 W. High St., in the county complex.

— To contact reporter Jim Tiffin, call (505) 287-2197, or e-mail: jimtiffin1@msn.com.