The October 3 Edgewood Town Council meeting was a pleasant change from recent
contentious meetings. It was relatively understated in tone, and some
good things were accomplished.
The evening began
with the promotion of Officer David Lovato to Sargent with several of
his family members present. Sgt. Lovato was hired into EPD as a cadet
and graduated from the police academy as a member of the department.
In the town's early days all the officers were, by necessity, what
Chief Crow termed “lateral hires” from other departments.
The new animal
control ordinance, almost two years in the making, was approved along
with correlated changes to the zoning ordinance. While no one who
participated in the process got everything they wanted, the end
result is an ordinance with more precise definitions and stronger
requirements for ensuring the well-being of animals. The new
ordinance also has clearer due-process language and there are
improvements with regard to making clear the rights and
responsibilities that go with animal ownership. The council is also
considering a plan which would allow the town to sell treated
wastewater effluent under certain conditions.
The town will now be
managing its computers and networks in-house after approving a new
position of Information Technology Administrator. The newly hired
employee, Mr. Jesus Velazquez is a graduate of the University of New
Mexico's Valencia IT program. One of New Mexico's biggest challenges
is retaining its college graduates so it's exciting to see yet
another young person who attended school in New Mexico join the town
staff.
However, the most
interesting agenda item proved to be the wastewater report which was
originally scheduled to be a part of the consent agenda. Councilor
Sherry Abraham asked for it to be pulled out for a separate
discussion. The report offered some much needed clarification about
the plant's recent history, but the resulting discussion was fairly
limited due to the fact that the town has not yet formally replied to
NMED. [Discussion begins about the 5 minute mark.]
A complaint has been
made to the state alleging that town has been discharging raw sewage
at the plant which then leached onto neighboring properties. What the
state determined was that the town had pumped treated effluent out of
the holding pond temporarily in order to clear a clogged drain. There
is no evidence that any of the treated effluent left town property.
The only finding issued by the state on that matter was an entirely
reasonable instruction that the town should, in future, notify NMED
in advance if another diversion is needed.
More intriguing have
been the rumors about numerous discharge permit compliance failures
at the facility. The report offered some answers. There have been
findings issued by NMED, but examination of the complete record
shows that all but one of these violations were discovered during the
previous mayor's term and during the time in which EPCOR was
operating the town's wastewater plant. The lone exception dates back
to the original construction of the facility (2006-8) during which
the prescribed impermeable surface for collecting sludge was omitted.
[Other problems dating from the original construction had been found
and corrected beginning in 2008.]
Unfortunately, the
original deadline for remedying these problems fell between the 2016
mayoral election and the swearing in of the current mayor. The
existence of the notice appears to have been quite literally lost in
the transition, and its existence only came to light some time after
the original March 2016 deadline. Due to the unfortunate deletion of
the e-mail accounts of two former senior staff members, we will
probably never have the full story of what took place. However, the
cumulative results of the NMED findings, and the discussion of the
report at the meeting, call into question EPCOR's performance during
the time it was responsible for running the plant. Those findings
also undermine the credibility of its narrative of having saved a
failing plant from imminent ruin.
It is important to keep in mind that the primary role of state agencies is to assist municipalities with compliance. There is a mistaken belief making the rounds on various social media platforms that their role is punitive and that complaints can be used as instruments of political payback schemes. I can assure you that those who work at these agencies are well aware of these beliefs and can tell pretty quickly which complaints are substantive and which are motivated from less noble intent.
