Sunshine is a foreign idea in Sunland Park
Heath Haussamen
By all appearances, the Sunland Park City Council tried to comply with the Open Meetings Act in appointing a new mayor, but it still failed. The city’s leaders don’t seem to know how to let sunshine in. They need help.
The N.M. Open Meetings Act requires that anyone who wants to be let into a public meeting of a government body be allowed in. Here’s the provision in the law:
“… all persons desiring shall be permitted to attend and listen to the deliberations and proceedings.”
By all appearances, the Sunland Park City Council tried to make that happen during its search for a new mayor. Councilors postponed one meeting after it got rowdy because there were too many people to fit in the room. They found a bigger venue.
But their attempt to involve the public still failed.
Police blocked the entrance to the larger room at least 30 minutes before the meeting started because the room was full. Many Sunland Park residents and others weren’t allowed to attend the meeting. Among those kept out were at least two residents who wanted to ask the council to consider appointing them mayor.
Absent those choices, the city council appointed 24-year-old Javier Perea, who showed up at the meeting with his résumé in hand and walked away with the task of leading the most scandal-plagued city in the state into a new era of ethics and transparency.
Here’s what Gwyneth Doland, executive director of the N.M. Foundation for Open Government, said about the situation:
“Why on earth would you do something so important as choose the next mayor when the room isn’t big enough to hold all the people applying for the job? The Open Meetings Act REQUIRES you to let in everyone who wants to be there. I don’t know if this is malevolence or incompetence, but I know I don’t much like the choices.
“If I were one of those guys who wanted to be mayor and didn’t get in the meeting, I’d be talking to my lawyer right now.”
Hoping for incompetence
I’m hoping for incompetence. No offense to Perea, but why would a city council appoint someone to be mayor minutes after seeing his résumé for the first time, without a background check or even basic verification of the information on that sheet of paper?
The council should have set up a process that included submitting applications in writing by a certain deadline, public dissemination of that information, time for public feedback, and background checks. Then the council should have held its meeting at the largest school gymnasium in the city. The candidates should have been publicly interviewed at the meeting, in front of anyone who wanted to be present, and taken public input.
Only then should the council should have made its selection.
Such a process would have taken some time, but it would have increased the chances that the council was making a good decision and ensured compliance with the Open Meetings Act. In other words, it’s what should have been done to serve the city’s residents.
Which allegedly hasn’t been the case in Sunland Park for a long time. Many of the city’s leaders are currently facing felony charges that all involve preserving their own power and using the city’s money for personal gain.
Sunland Park needs a new direction. If Perea remains mayor, let’s hope he can quickly grow into the job of building a culture of transparency and accountability – and an attitude of service to the 14,000 residents of the city.
Of course, given Sunland Park’s unpredictability, there’s no certainty Perea will be mayor. Gerardo Hernandez, who lost the March 6 election to Daniel Salinas before Salinas forfeited the seat, is challenging the election results in court, alleging that voter fraud swayed the results. It appears there might actually have enough voter fraud to affect the outcome, so Hernandez might have a case.
And someone else who wanted to ask the council to appoint him or her to the job but was kept out of the meeting by police might sue. Perea’s selection violated the Open Meetings Act and, as the act states, any action taken by a public policymaking body in violation of the act is invalid.
A baby step
I don’t know how this is all going to shake out. But if Perea stays mayor, I’m at least encouraged that he seems to have intelligence and youthful energy. He made a public speaking blunder shortly after being appointed, but he can learn from it and move on.
Similarly, I hope the council learns from this experience and develops a mindset of openness and transparency. For as long as I’ve been a journalist, Sunland Park has intentionally operated in the dark. That has to change, now.
The city council took a baby step by delaying its meeting once and trying to find a bigger venue to accommodate more people. Even if its efforts to comply with the Open Meetings Act failed, let’s hope there’s a spark there that can light a fire.
Doland and the Attorney General’s Office travel around the state teaching local governments how to comply with the Open Meetings and Inspection of Public Records acts. I hope they schedule a training session in Sunland Park as soon as possible. The city needs help. Its residents deserve better.
The voters of Sunland Park could have ended this fiasco on election day by not voting for the candidate that was under public investigation. This is the second time in ten years that a candidate in a city or county election has carried Sunland Park after it was already public knowledge that an investigation or warrant was already under way. Maybe the city motto should be “Get a warrant, get elected”. They have waste countless resources by not being responbile voters who understand the rule of law.
It seems this city has perhaps more incompetent and amateurish leadership than most. They obviously are not up the job of governing anything. This problem is, however, also on display in numerous cities around our state and I’m afraid a similar situation would put them in the same sorry state as Sunland Park. Indeed, our county and state governments are little better or more capable of handling any crisis situations. The news reports are full of incompetent elected officials from Espanola, to Santa Fe, to Bernalillo Co., to ABQ, to Torrence Co. This state’s cup runeth over with incompetence and corruption.
Southvalley, I don’t believe Mr. Coppler is employed by the city any longer.
What about having the City of Sunland Park hire a full time city attorney that is employed at City Hall. I think the currenty city attorney, Frank Coppler (not sure on spelling) is from Santa Fe, and rarely comes to Sunland Park. Would these OMA violations have been permitted with an attorney advising the city council of the law?
One more question, would having a full time city attorney prevented some if not all of the bribery, forgery, kick backs, etc…
Well…maybe Mr. Coppler was also involved? Did he get any kick backs? Some more investigating by the State Police is needed.
Rather than an individual having to file suit, OMA does allow the DA or AG to enforce OMA. 10-15-3(B).
In fact, violating OMA is a misdemeanor. 10-15-4.
As OMA is “foreign” in 2012 to too many public bodies in New Mexico, it is past time for our public officials to start enforcing OMA and IPRA through the law and meshing out the misdemeanor punishments. I wonder how long it will take elected officials to learn their jobs if they were held accountable to those jobs?
My understanding of our judicial system is its basis is in “punishment deters.” Well, let’s start deterring and enforcing.
DA Amy Orlando needs to file misdemeanor charges pursuant to 10-15-4 against all Sunland Park officials who participated in violating OMA last week, including the individual Council members and the police who barred entrance to a public meeting.
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