COMMENTARY:
Despite commissioners’ good intentions, stupidity and confusion seem to dominate mid-level county management.
I support the firing of County Manager Scott Andrews, partly for reasons commissioners may not share. I’m glad they’ll make a longer search this time. I hope we make a better choice. I hope they involve a citizens. That sounds cumbersome, but since they’ll take longer, because of the turnover of two commission seats, there’s time.
I dislike recent restrictions on public input. I dislike citizens interrupting other speakers. It’s sorely tempting, but let’s be strong and resist.
I worried about having no interim county manager. Ships need captains. They now plan, temporarily, to name three – and seek a highly-experienced consultant to assist.
The Commission’s closed session Tuesday lasted hours. Commissioners are working hard. I sense some unity, or that they’re listening better to each other. The recent state audit gave them a clearer picture of the problems they must solve. However: the Audit warned that unauthorized folks shouldn’t make County decisions, such as Andrews’s lawsuit against the sheriff. Well, we now have a non-employee security guard making County mistakes. Earlier, Cari Neill and Andrews wrongly “trespassed” Derrick Pacheco, complying with NONE of the familiar requirements of due process: a clear written statement of conduct warranting the “trespass,” a hearing before someone neutral, and a route to appeal. I publicly pointed those out. Then they did it again. When Derrick tried to attend a meeting, the security guard threw him out. Deputies went to Derrick’s house. Someone at DASO recognized the error, and the deputies apologized.
Derrick attended Tuesday’s meeting. The same security guard, with no legal excuse, put hands on him to eject him; but when the Sheriff was called, she apparently recognized that there was no crime, and no basis for her to act. This is wrong. Later, that security guard knocked down a woman who probably weighed 80 pounds. I hear private security was also violating law by carrying weapons while in plain clothes. None of this is good. Someone needs to gain control.
The Audit warned to follow the Inspection of Public Records Act. You are still breaking it, risking costly lawsuits and damages. I’d bet on Yoli Diaz to win her lawsuit. I requested former Interim County Attorney Cari Neill’s resignation letter, in which she reportedly criticizes how the manager managed. That’s a public document. Putting it in Andrews’s personnel file can’t change that. There’s abundant case-law to that effect, although not specifically with a resignation letter. The County objected that it was immune as “matters of opinion in a personnel file” – an exemption meant to encourage supervisors’ candor in evaluations. Therefore, when I hire a lawyer and sue, we all will (a) pay a lawyer to defend the county, and (b) after county loses, pay my lawyer some multiple of his hourly fees. If anyone appeals, that’ll also create a precedent requiring better conduct by the county next time.
The Audit also warned county management against unnecessarily picking fights with the Sheriff. I think the county is improperly handling an obviously bogus complaint against her now. It appears not made in good faith, but, well, it attacks our enemy, the sheriff.
The audit led the State to force the County to hire someone to make sure the County handles money more prudently. I wish I could do the same with IPRA, basic civil rights, crowd management, and civil relations with DASO.
Peter Goodman's opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of KRWG Public Media or NMSU.