I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
The New Mexico Attorney General’s office has failed to confirm the Clovis News Journal’s contention that three Curry County commissioners held an illegal meeting in November, but did warn commissioners to be more cautious in the future.
Curry County commissioners Wendell Bostwick, Dan Stoddard and Caleb Chandler had met with Eastern Plains Council of Governments Director Richard Arguello at a Clovis coffee shop, where Arguello said the group discussed what services the Council could offer Curry County.
That would have been a violation of the New Mexico Open Meetings Act, since the meeting had not been not announced to the public and a quorum of commissioners was present.
But County officials said no county business took place at the meeting.
Two commissioners implied, but would not say outright, that the meeting between three commissioners and Arguello had been spontaneous and coincidental.
“In a small community, you’re subject to run into people at different times, and we know that,” Bostwick said.
“People should be able to meet for coffee without worrying about a quorum,” County Commission Chairman Robert O. Sandoval told The Independent in April.
Clovis is a small community and commissioners know one another, Sandoval said.
Furthermore, no County business was discussed because Arguello talked but commissioners asked no questions, Bostwick claimed.
“It’s a very fine line to draw between a ‘one-way’ transmission of information and a ‘discussion’ among a quorum,” New Mexico Foundation for Open Government (FOG) Executive Director Sarah Welsh said.
“If you’re really representing the public, why would you want to try to avoid the law on a technicality like that?” Clovis News Journal Editor David Stevens said. “Hopefully, they got the message and this won’t be a problem in the future.”
A review of 17 New Mexico counties’ online public meeting agendas and minutes found that all but two may have violated the executive (closed to the public) sessions clause of the Open Meetings Act, The Independent reported in April.
The Eastern Plains Council of Governments is a chronic violator of the state Audit Act, failing to complete independent audits since 2004, according to State Auditor’s Office records obtained by The Independent. State Auditor Hector Balderas has designated the Council the first in a list of 46 state and local government entities “at risk” of fraud and embezzlement because of its failures to complete audits.
