The Mayor's Report
One year ago you elected me as your mayor. (I know - it only seems like
ten years ago) Many good things have happened in this past year, I only wish
I could take credit for some of them.
At any rate, you now have a police department, with three great guys that
love their community. These officers have been relocating some of the local
drug dealers to the county jail. They work with the schools, work their cases,
get called out in the middle of the night, as well as work double shifts.
You need to be proud of these guys.
The ten-year battle over the blinking light for our school zone is coming
to an end and we should be getting that shortly, thanks to the school and
many citizens who have worked hard on this project. Our water project is finished,
and I'd like to tell our guys "thanks for their hard work" I've seen your
road crew and water department working while most of Capitan was sound asleep.
We have also applied for new grants that look good. The office at Village
hall is open 10 hours a day four days a week so you can make it in if you
have business and you're one of those of us who have to really work for a
living.
I have nothing but the highest regard for all the employees of the Village.
For a year I have seen first hand how hard they work and the abuse they have
to smile and take at times. These are all good people and I am proud to be
working with them. Really the only thing I can take credit for is that this
controversial Mayor's Report has a higher circulation than the Lincoln County
News. (Now Ruth's mad)
Over a year ago when I ran for office I ran on a platform of open government
and used the slogan "It's time to turn the Light on". Unless you've been in
coma you've noticed I've not been shy about keeping you, my boss, informed
as to what I've seen. You've noticed that some of the rats are squinting from
the brightness of the light being shined in their face as you've been allowed
to see what has gone on within your Village. I've shown you how the pigs
fight to gather at the trough, eating their fill at the Village Buffet, and
how the Jackals have picked your pocket while proclaiming they are "working
for the people".
Last week I sent a memo to my trustees telling them I was resigning from
the board of LCSWA. Chief Vega and I have discussed this at length. We both
agreed that we could not be a party to a board that routinely conducts business
in what we see as an illegal manner. My last act, on this board, on your behalf
was to contact the New Mexico Attorney General about the violation of open
meetings act and the illegal hire of the operational supervisor. I received
a letter this week from the attorney general stating her office has taken
the case - ouch! This will force The News to ink a frenzy of "What a Great
Job They are Doing" articles and the LCSWA will be campaigning on a broader
scale. However, don't worry they do it with your money.
It may seem my focus has been narrow, in that I have shined the light on
the unscrupulous actions, taken behind closed doors, of the LCSWA. Even though
it has taken a year and still the board of LCSWA refuses to act within the
guidelines of the law and the Joint Powers Agreement there are other fish
we are frying. I've seen, what I believe to be the brazen and blatant misuse
of your money and public trust. As one example, my first day in office I denied
a trip to a former Trustee wanting to travel to Santa Fe, on your money,
to a "Ball". I was invited to come along to the party and was told the Village
would pick up the tab. My first day I was offered the temptation to come
to the trough and become one of the "boys". No one traveled to Santa Fe on
your money, causing personalities to clash (as Leo Martinez likes to say)
into a fight that shows no signs of ceasing.
In the past I've shown you how your money has been slowly drained into the
pockets of those you entrusted it with. Do not lose heart, I want to remind
you that no one I have appointed to a board has collected a single dollar
for serving on that board. All monies are sent directly to the Capitan Library
or the School for the Baseball field. If you do not believe that makes a difference
in their bottom line, call the Library and ask if that money helps out. I
would hope we always keep the fatted hogs pushed back from the Village trough.
We never want to go back to operating in the dark.
So you do not think all is gloom and doom, the gas company is working hard
on a problem that they were handed from the former board, that being the price
of gas to your home. The county manager Tom Stewart wrote his commissioners
complaining that the county's gas bill would have been over $36,800.00 lower
had they been able to hook up to Zia gas and not CCNG. The county is talking
about going to propane. The Capitan School would be able to hire another teacher
with their savings. I don't need to tell you about the price of heating with
gas. We're at a point where it's cheaper to bum your furniture. I am told
there are some solutions on the horizon. I can only hope. I sit writing this,
wearing my hat and coat.
I apologize to some of you for this past year. As I told you, I'm not a
politician, more like the Dirty Harry of Mayors. Sometimes I don't play well
with others. I've seen two letters in the Lincoln County News by Ms. Powers
taking about "anarchy and chaos in the streets of Capitan" since I was elected.
That in itself tells me, if she and The Lincoln County News are upset, I
have not lost my focus.
John Whitaker informs me the Mayor's Reports are making us-the "laughing
stock of the-state". Is that because of what I report, or how we've acted
in the past? John also tells me it is all in the "past" and I should not be
reporting them to you. But I would contend it is those past actions that cause
you and I problems today. So this month when you write a check for your gas
bill, you might want to give John and Leroy both a call and thank them for
their representation on the gas board for all those years. John will not
know if the gas is too high, his house is on propane. I'm told your bill
is only 70% higher then it should be.
Luckily, and for legal matters, I'm out of paper. If I had time I'd tell
you how a lawyer threatened to sue me over my last mayors report. I suppose
lawyers were children once?
