Gamerco board refuses to step down

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — The Gamerco Water and Sanitation District's embattled board is refusing calls from community residents that it resign. But that doesn't mean it will be taking back control of the troubled town's water and sanitation any time soon.

With $125,000 yet to collect from the district, the city will be asking McKinley County District Court Judge Joseph Rich not to hand control over billing and collection back to the board in mid-November, when its original court-ordered term expires.

Rich granted the city's request for control over billing Gamerco residents for their water and sanitation it was already billing them for electricity in mid-January, and gave it until mid-November to set things right. At that point, he would decide whether to let the city stay in charge or hand power back to the board.

With hardly $45,000 of the district's original $170,000 debt to the city paid off and judgments to pay up still filed against 50 Gamerco residents, the city will be asking Rich to let it stay put. Considering where things stand, district board member Don Harris says he has no problem with that.

"The board and the City of Gallup are in agreement with one another that it needs to stay where it's at," he said.

With the city busy billing residents and collecting on their payments, the board's had little to do this year, Harris said. And with fellow member Tom Komfala working in Colorado much of the year, it hasn't even been making many of its monthly meetings. But that doesn't mean the board is going anywhere.

In a statement prepared for its meeting Oct. 11, Harris and Komfala defied demands from many residents who blame them for the town's debt to the city for their resignation.

"Don Harris and Tom Komfala both feel that as members of the board of directors of the Gamerco Water and Sanitation District, they have done nothing illegal in carrying out their duties. They feel they are fully qualified to pursue a satisfactory settlement of the problems facing Gamerco," the letter reads. "For these reasons, they will not be resigning their positions."

It was just a month-and-a-half ago, however, that Harris said he'd consider stepping down "under the right circumstances," that is, if he and Komfala could find anyone willing to step into the third vacant seat on the board. With all three seats filled, he could resign without costing the board a quorum.

Despite finding that person, he and Komfala are staying put. They swore in Gamerco resident Art Burrola Wednesday, the same day they refused to tender their resignations.

But with the board's duties significantly curtailed by the current court order, it's not clear how much difference the board regardless of its membership can make.

Gamerco resident Tom Devlin hopes the change will at least get more people to attend the board meetings. But the promise of any significant changes in Gamerco will have to come not so much from the board, he said, as the rest of the community.

"A board itself does not make things happen," Devlin said. "The community has to step up."

It's not all bad news for Gamerco. Since the city took over billing, City Clerk Patty Holland said, the majority of Gamerco residents 85 percent have been staying current.

How much longer it will take residents to pay off their debts is anyone's guess.