COMMENTARY:
To City Manager Ikani Taumoepeau:
I hope we can play pickleball soon, and maybe even get Brad out from behind his desk.
However, I write concerning the City’s incredibly embarrassing response to our invitation to discuss serious allegations concerning the Utilities Department’s handling of issues regarding water contaminants. Lynn Moorer and Liz Rodriguez-Johnson have raised issues regarding the City’s level of performance with regard to a federal law on lead water pipes, as well as on the accuracy of some city reporting on water contaminants.
Your Communications Director, Mandy Leatherwood, emailed me that. “I was informed that you requested our Utilities Director Adrienne Widmer be on the show next week. I will coordinate with her on scheduling. Can you share with me what topics you’d like for her to cover so she can collect relevant information to discuss with you?” I thanked her and answered, “Basically, LC Utilities' level of compliance with federal regulations, such as monitoring issue we spoke about today. The sorts of things I suspect Lynn Moorer has discussed with LC Utilities.”
When she asked whether we would have other guests, I replied that we’d have Ms. Moorer and possibly Ms. Rodrigues-Johnson. She responded, “I am not comfortable sending my Utilities Director to your show when you are giving Ms. Moorer an equal platform. Ms. Moorer does not have the experience, expertise, and has willfully been spreading misinformation for over a year. . . . Hosting her on your show at the same level as our Utilities Director gives her credibility that is undeserved.”
Of course I advised her that we choose our guests. Cities and counties don’t. Nor does Donald Trump. I suggested that an effective way to deal with folks spreading misinformation is to confront them and provide the facts. (You know that, having contacted me the previous Tuesday evening to ask if a Utilities Department person could join us Wednesday morning to discuss an issue we expected to mention. Naturally we complied.)
The City is required to complete a study of where we may still have lead water pipes. There’s a deadline for an inventory, then a deadline for eliminating lead. I’m hearing that the City has not been doing all that it should. These are technical matters I’m not familiar with. It made sense to seek to arrange a discussion between Ms. Widmer and Ms. Moorer, who is or was an environmental attorney and has investigated. Ms. Rodrigues-Johnson adds that the City has been particularly deficient in sharing information with citizens who speak only or primarily Spanish – some of whom are likely most in need of full information. At our show, Ms. Moorer also showed me an email from the New Mexico Environmental Department thanking her for pointing out that a local report on contaminants stated the wrong results.
If I were you, I strongly desire both to know the full facts, so as to determine actions, and that the public learn the facts, for citizen’s own protection. I fear that Ms. Leatherwood ran up against an unwillingness by Ms. Widmer to appear publicly in a situation she does not completely control. Such chores are sometimes a necessary part of public employment.
I invite a redo. I cannot subpoena the City. You could suggest that Ms. Widmer talk with us or designate someone knowledgeable to do so. If the City wants to inform the public, we are surely one method of doing so.
Peter Goodman's opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of KRWG Public Media or NMSU.