City Councilors Decry Secrecy Over Audit Discussions

City councilors decry secrecy over audit discussions

Santa Fe City councilors during yesterday’s regular meeting said they learned the city might face financial repercussions from the state over its late audits from a story in the Santa Fe New Mexican and questioned why they had not been informed. “I think this is an ongoing pattern we need to break, because it just makes us that much stronger,” District 1 Councilor Renee Villarreal said. “It’s better for everybody if we understand what’s happening. I think it would be important to keep the transparency to us so we can also be transparent to our constituents.” Both City Manager John Blair and Mayor Alan Webber defended the decision to keep the administration’s discussions with the state about potential withholding of its legislative appropriations private. “It was my choice that we not share the letter to the governing body when we received it,” Blair said.”There are some complicated policy and political and communication issues related to trying to resolve the issue,” he noted, and said he believed it would be more beneficial to “resolving issues related to that letter” that “the fewer people that knew the better.” Moreover, he noted, the city “had to change strategies” as a result of the letter being shared with the newspaper. (SFR requested a copy of the letter from the state Department of Finance Administration and was directed to file an Inspection of Public Records Act request, which is now pending). “Not every piece of correspondence that comes in to the mayor and to me should automatically be forwarded to every member of the governing body,” Blair said, adding that it requires “discretion” to determine when such information should be shared. Meanwhile, City Finance Director Emily Oster said she expects the city to complete its late audit for Fiscal Year 2022 no later than Dec. 4, but would not commit to meeting a Dec. 15 deadline for the Fiscal Year 2023 audit.

Santa Fe policing task force wrapping up

Three years after its inception, the City of Santa Fe Community Health and Safety Task Force is nearing completion and will soon present a list of recommendations geared at increasing public trust in law enforcement. Mayor Alan Webber and Councilors Renee Villarreal and Chris Rivera sponsored a resolution creating the task force in August 2020 following George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis Police, with a goal of generating a report in six months. That didn’t happen. “Busy people can get stuff done, but we also wanted to be very thoughtful about our work,” Villarreal said at the task force’s Tuesday meeting, citing schedules and the COVID-19 pandemic as reasons for the multi-year delay. The task force’s draft recommendations include creation of a police oversight board; revamping the Santa Fe Police Department’s web page to make more clear how to file a complaint; and creating an annual report from SFPD and the Santa Fe Fire Department of received complaints. Members also suggested the city should work with the Vera Institute for Justice to increase public access to information. The city has previously refused to release police officers’ disciplinary records and misconduct investigations.

Redistricting trial underway

In response to legal motions filed Tuesday, the state Supreme Court yesterday ordered 9th Judicial District Judge Fred T. Van Soelen to dismiss Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and Lt. Gov. Howie Morales as parties in the gerrymandering redistricting lawsuit, the trial for which began yesterday in Lovington and is expected to run through Friday. The court’s order came in response to an emergency petition from the governor’s attorneys Tuesday. Among other issues, the governor’s attorneys noted that requiring their presence at the redistricting trial would “significantly diminish their ability” to defend the governor from the multiple lawsuits filed against her office following her now-rescinded 30-day ban on open and concealed weapon carry in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County. The Republican lawsuit alleges partisan gerrymandering by Democrats during the last redistricting in all three congressional districts. The state Supreme Court last week issued a written opinion intended to provide guidance regarding the determination of gerrymandering in the case.

City announces eviction-prevention grants

Alongside members of Chainbreaker Collective, City of Santa Fe officials yesterday announced $1 million in grants to help prevent evictions. The city distributed comparable cash grants in 2021 using federal pandemic relief money, but this time the grants will come from city funds. Chainbreaker advocated for the measure and plans to help inform local tenants about how to apply for assistance. A collective member and renter named Bernadette, who asked for her last name to be withheld, told reporters she has experienced increasing rent costs on a month-to-month lease. “We deserve to live in dignity,” she said. “There is power in organizing. These eviction prevention funds can help us deal with these predatory rent increases. We appreciate the partnership with the city and all they are doing to help renters like me.” The city plans to distribute the $1 million in increments of $3,000 to 333 households. Applications will remain open until all the funds are expended, and any unexpended funds can be rolled over into the next fiscal year, Youth and Family Services Division Director Julie Sanchez tells SFR.

Listen up

Tonight’s reading and book-signing for the 2023 New Mexico Poetry Anthology, edited by Levi Romero and Michelle Otero, won’t feature all the poets whose 200 original works appear in the book, but will include readings by nearly 20, including National Book Award recipient Arthur Sze, New Mexico Poet Laureate Lauren Camp, Santa Fe Poet Laureate Darryl Lorenzo Wellington and a slew of other beloved state poets, such as Miriam Sagan, Elizabeth Jacobson and Valerie Martinez. The reading, Q&A and signing will be held from 5 to 7 pm at Collected Works Bookstore (202 Galisteo St.) and stream live on Zoom; register here for the link.

Deck the halls!

With temperatures once again hitting the 80s and some of us waiting for the aspens to change color, Christmas isn’t quite top of mind. Except for the industrial travel-magazine complex, which is gearing up for the holiday. Travel & Leisure magazine includes Santa Fe in its list of the 25 “best Christmas towns” in the US (#13), noting that Santa Fe celebrates the holiday “a little differently” with the Canyon Road Farolito Walk, which “flips the script on conventional festive displays—instead of modern-day LED string lights, a trail of lanterns sets the iconic pink adobes aglow.” In addition, for those “imagining only desert and earthen homes,” a “white Christmas” can be had by making a trip up to Ski Santa Fe, the magazine notes (assuming we’ve had snow by Christmas, that is). PureWow also rounds up its take on the 39 best Christmas towns in the US (a weirdly specific number that goes unexplained), eschewing Santa Fe’s charms for those of Taos, which comes in at #15. “To see Taos lit up for the holidays is to be wowed by the wonder of it all,” the story proclaims. “This New Mexico town turns up the mirth with a mix of decorations and artisan-made gifts, plus gleeful events like the annual tree lighting ceremony and Twirl Aglow Party.”

O’Keeffe flavor

In her 2015 release, The Maverick Cookbook: Iconic Recipes and Tales from New Mexico, author Lynn Cline’s Georgia O’Keeffe chapter includes such dishes as Abiquiú applesauce and Ghost Ranch Curried Chicken. A new menu at Bar Calico in New York (23 Lexington Ave., on the second floor of the Freehand Hotel in the Flatiron district), the “neighborhood cocktail bar inspired by the American Southwest,” takes a different tack in its homage to O’Keeffe, Forbes magazine reports. Head bartender Alex Dominguez has created a menu that includes The O’ Keeffe Sour, described as “a variation of the New York sour, in homage to O’Keeffe’s life in 1920s NYC,” containing lairds, Mizu Barley sochu, black apricot tea, maple, lemon and egg white. Other drinks include Machu Picchu, consisting of Pisco Barsol, Midori, Chareau, Combier, lime and mint, which is inspired by the 1957 painting “Machu Picchu”; Cura Clara, made with Su Casa Mezcal, Amontillado sherry, lemon and ginger, described as “a milk punch inspired by the beauty of O’Keeffe’s austerity.” Forbes contributor Natasha Gural focuses primarily on a flight of sotol, writing: “Our favorite pechuga-style sotol produced in Chihuahua by Maestro Sotolero José ‘Chito’ Fernandez Flores evoked the dreamy, mystical feel of O’Keeffe’s Summer Days (1936).” Bottom line, she says: “Your palate will dance along as you let the cocktails conjure O’Keeffe masterpieces.”

Hot town

The National Weather Service forecasts a mostly sunny day, with a high temperature near 81 degrees and northeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming west 10 to 15 mph in the afternoon. Santa Fe National Forest officials yesterday reported “good” progress on the Golondrino prescribed burn in the Cuba district, which they expected to wrap up yesterday. In a statement, Golondrino Burn Boss Josiah Salaz said he anticipated “remaining smoke impacts to be light for several days.” Pending favorable weather conditions, ignitions for the Rincon fire, approximately 7 miles north of the community of Gallina, will begin at 10 am today; officials say conditions for smoke dispersal are “forecast to be excellent, but anticipate some “settling of smoke in the evenings.”

Thanks for reading! The Word does not wish to encounter an electric blue tarantula.