All the lights are on: Is there anyone at home?

I’ve held off posting recently for a variety of reasons. The most relevant for the blog’s readers is that I have been waiting to see what (if anything) the Town Commission might have learned from the Fire/EMS JPA fiasco. 

• Unfortunately, it seems that the heads have gone back into the sand with regard to making sensible plans for the town government’s future.  
• Instead, the Commissioners are casting about for someone, anyone who will “tell their itching ears what they want to hear” while complaining against the people trying to tell them what they need to know.  
• Last night’s complaints about Reboot Edgewood missed the point entirely: Reboot Edgewood is not the cause of the town’s dysfunction. It is a legitimate, rational response to the current system-wide state of dysfunction. 
• The meeting started late and featured only two seats occupied by Commissioners: District 5 is vacant, Commissioner Taylor was absent, and Commissioner Murillo attended via an abysmal phone connection. 
• As has been the case since 2022, the meetings feature too many closed session agenda items with the closed sessions lasting way too long. More than half of last night’s meeting was spent out of public view with no action following. 
• The bad financial news continues as well.  
• Town Commissioners bragged about completing new road paving projects, yet none of them appear willing to deal with the almost insurmountable costs of reducing a backlog of deferred maintenance on existing pavement and chip seal. 
• More ominous are the complaints by department heads about the cutbacks to the budget. Bottom line: expect more Budget Adjustment Requests (BARs) in the coming fiscal year which is not yet a month old.  
• The town’s Planning & Zoning department is still in transition. Even though the July 16 meeting showed a few signs of improvement, it ran way too long and the decision-making process for the evening as a whole showcased the P&Z Commission’s habit of relying on an “arbitrary and capricious” decision-making process. 
• To their credit, unlike the Town Commission, the P&Z Commissioners are making an effort to deal with the world as it actually exists. Town Manager Hamilton’s decision to bring in a consultant is making a difference, but progress may take time.  

Doing the right thing for the wrong reasons?

I have had some interesting feedback on the MAP decode post. 

• First, a disclaimer: I will benefit if/when this project comes to fruition. So factor that into your analysis of this and yesterday’s posts. However, I am not holding my breath on a hard surface for Horton from Venus to Frost getting done anytime soon. (See also Church Road.)
• Horton Road has long been identified as a priority north-south road which, if paved, could serve two purposes: relieve congestion on NM 344, and act as an alternate evacuation route if 344 were to be blocked in an emergency situation.  
• One person asked how many trips per day (TPD) have been measured on different points along Horton, or even if it has been measured at all. I don’t recall hearing this mentioned. 
• Another reader confirmed that Horton traffic has been measured, but that it did not meet the threshold established as > 250 TPD. 
• There are other roads in other parts of town which probably exceed traffic on Horton, and could serve the same beneficial purposes for those areas. Were they given consideration? 
• Mayor Brennan painted a very optimistic picture of the prospects for funding. I wonder how much he understands the way MAP funding works in the real world? 
• Brennan lives near Horton, and improving it was a campaign promise. Instead of campaigning for a state office last year, perhaps he should have put in more time on this project.   
• Has the town identified any funding sources other than MAP and the “in-kind” services described by Brennan?  
• If safety considerations are so urgent, then what remedial measures is the town prepared to take while the work is in progress?
• The Clerk polling Commissioners individually via-email avoids the pitfalls of a rolling quorum, but that exigency does not substitute for full and open discussion of all the available options. 
• Once again, Commissioner Anaya was absent and so we didn't hear from him.

I don’t have a problem with the unanimous vote to apply for MAP funding to improve Horton; it’s not a bad choice. I do have a problem with the Commission’s failure to get the item on the agenda well in advance of the deadline, and the failure to discuss all the options out in the open. This is yet another instance of the transparency talk/walk not lining up.