At Tuesday’s BOCC meeting, Doña Ana County Attorney Cari Neill gave an update on the Writ of Mandamus against Sheriff Kim Stewart. At the previous BOCC meeting, Neill mentioned filing a writ ordering the sheriff to commission officers who had just graduated from the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office, or DASO. Neill said Sheriff Stewart filed a statement with the county clerk and the court, stating that she had commissioned all the officers.
“The court then found that the statement filed was sufficient to meet the requirements, and held that the sheriff had complied with the writ, and so the court properly dismissed that action,” said Neill to the commissioners.
Neill also noted that there were still issues and questions in regards to DASO staffing, as well as procedures qualifying cadets for the academy. She also said that the county had also been served a lawsuit and a Notice of Tort Claim related to actions of Sheriff Stewart.
“That said, I do appreciate the commissioners agreeing to the external audit of DASO,” Neill said, referring to a recommendation made at the last BOCC meeting. “I believe that will help direct our discussions and help us to see where adjustments need to be made, both in policy and in practice.”
To that end, later in Tuesday’s meeting, the BOCC heard from Internal Auditor Ernest Budden, who gave the board information for them to consider before proceeding with an external or internal audit on DASO. The information Budden gave included types of audits; audit objectives, which would then determine an audit’s scope; and audit firm qualifications, or areas of expertise.
After several minutes of discussion between the commissioners and Budden, as well as one public comment about the matter, District One Commissioner and board chair Christopher Schaljo-Hernandez made a comment before a vote from the board.
“I personally would just like to move forward,” Shaljo-Hernandez told the board. “You all have been given homework assignments to find out if this needs to go to the state auditor, but I would like to see this move forward. I would like to see this get underway, and I want this done. And if we find out along the way that we are operating out of scope, we can bring this to the board immediately, and the county manager will definitely keep us in the right lane as well as our county attorney. So I have every faith that we are acting in good faith.”
The board then voted unanimously to follow Schaljo-Hernandez’s directive to move forward with the matter. The next scheduled BOCC meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 25, at 9am.
