Tonight’s Town Commission meeting has been cancelled.

Reason given is lack of a quorum due to two Commissioners being out of town and presumably unable to call in. I’ve taken advantage of the lull to catch up on reading. 

First, a brief wrap-up for the previous meeting: 

• It appears that salaries and benefits for two of the three positions mentioned on the agenda have already been accounted for in the budget. 
• The Animal Control position will require some reshuffling of finances. 
• The Commission is still trying to pretend that holding individual Commissioners responsible for remarks made on the record during meetings is not only indecorous, but that attempts to hold them accountable constitute impermissible “personal attacks” which will not be tolerated. 
• Meanwhile, we are waiting to see the Commission’s choice to fill the vacancy in District 5. It seems there is no shortage of applicants, but how many of them are even minimally qualified and live in the district?  

I’ve heard a lot of questions about the so-called “leak” of confidential information regarding the Berrenda Pipeline proposal on social media. 

• The town’s reaction is typical of local government caught out in an embarrassing situation: Discredit the messenger and ignore the pertinent substantive questions raised by the leak. 
• Who leaked the information, by what means, and for what reason?  
• Edgewood’s town government has a long history of shooting itself in the foot; this situation may be nothing more than the nasty intra-factional quarreling which erupted soon after epCorE’s Glorious Revolution of 2021. 
• It is a long, difficult, and expensive road between buying paper water rights and water out of taps; it is way too soon to either fully embrace or reject the proposal.
• When Commissioners characterize legitimate questions as attempted sabotage, then the public has every right to question not only the proposal but the Commissioners’ motives.  

From my current Edgewood-specific reading list:

• This profile of the town’s fifth town manager in five years, Kelly Hamilton, makes for interesting reading. 
• I will leave it to readers to draw their own conclusions, but the latest agenda/packet for the Lodger’s Tax Advisory Board also contains information about the news outlet which published the profile of the current Town Manager. 
• And, last but not least, this July 22 update from Reboot Edgewood helps explain why the questions about the feasibility of returning to county governance continue to gain support.  

Campbell Ranch Minor* Subdivision Hearing Scheduled for May 15, 2025

The Town Commission remanded the November 2024 “minor” subdivision approval to the P&Z Commission with a list of items which it wants addressed. Based on the meeting packet posted at the ToE website, it looks as though the public notifications have been done more systematically this time. 

*There really is no such thing as a minor subdivision. Subdivision approval (along with the required schedule for construction of improvements) is the point at which zoning concepts become reality. The road to substandard development usually begins with lax subdivision regulations. In Edgewood, calls for allowing/expanding minor subdivisions start off with tear-jerker anecdotes about grandma and grandpa gifting land to family members. The reality? More often it’s a developer trying to cut costs. 

New Commissioner Appointed to replace Sterling Donner

The Independent News has this story about the Town’s newly appointed Commissioner, Mike Rariden. The appointment was done by Commissioners Brennan, Mulligan, and Murillo who voted unanimously to appoint Rariden. The discussion featured a confusingly worded abstention by Commissioner Anaya who was participating via telephone, and a motion by Commissioner Murillo to appoint the other finalist which did not receive a second. Following the vote, perpetual candidate Commissioner Brennan, commenced to solicit votes in the next council election while sitting as presiding officer. Hard to tell if he was in earnest or trying to leaven the proceedings with some humor.