Mountainair Town Council and EMS Department Establish Mission Statements
At the January 2, 2024, meeting of the Mountainair Town Council, new member Annette Padilla and newly-elected Municipal Judge Michelle Archuleta (her mother) were welcomed to office by Mayor Peter Nieto and the incumbent council members. The meeting began with Public Works Supervisor Carl Archuleta briefing the council on a water leak repaired on Sunset Avenue and new stop signs placed at residents’ request on Wilson Avenue and Piñon Street.
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Director Josh Lewis advised the council that EMS had responded to 22 calls in December 2023. He also expressed gratitude for the former EMS Director's work in obtaining a new gurney for the department.
Mayor Peter Nieto announced that town personnel would meet with a representative of New Mexico Meters on January 3, 2023, due to the many problems with the new water meters since the town approved New Mexico Meters’ proposal in 2023. Nieto also said that while there had been a break-in of the DJ’s vehicle during the town’s New Year's Eve celebration, the perpetrator had been caught on camera and arrested by the Torrance County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO).
Former town council member Ernie Lopez arrived midway through the meeting. During the meeting, Lopez used his cellphone to film members of the audience and the town council. In the interests of disclosure of potential conflicts of interest, Lopez is currently the subject of an ongoing investigation by the New Mexico Office of the Attorney General for possible violations of New Mexico’s Sunshine Laws, specifically the Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA). The Mountainair Dispatch submitted the underlying IPRA request in October 2023 that caused this investigation.
Because the Town Council had a new member, it was required to reconsider the appointment of Mountainair Town Clerk and Mayor Pro Tem. The town council unanimously approved the reappointment of Dennis Fulfer as Mountainair Town Clerk and Gayle Jones as Mayor Pro Tem. The town council voted to re-approve the six locations where it posts its meeting agendas and notices of meetings in accordance with New Mexico’s Open Meetings Act. Those six locations are:
- The Mountainair town hall;
- The Mountainair Post Office;
- Gustin’s Hardware;
- Mountainair Meds ‘n’ More;
- NAPA Burns Auto; and,
- The Mustang Diner.
As noted by Mayor Nieto, the town must provide 72 hours' notice for regular meetings and 24 hours' notice for special meetings.
Town Clerk Dennis Fulfer raised a matter before the town council involving the New Mexico Finance Authority (NMFA). Fulfer explained that the NMFA intercepted municipal gross receipts tax revenues for municipalities, then after taking a small portion of those revenues, sat on them for extended periods. This, Fulfer said, led to difficulties in accounting for the gross receipts taxes in the town’s budget, and he, therefore, wanted to create a budget adjustment request (BAR) that could be used to deal with a delayed payout of revenues from the NMFA. The town council unanimously approved this BAR item as Resolution 2024-02.
The town council spent the majority of its time in this meeting focused on a proposal by Fulfer that the town adopt a mission statement as "a guiding principle for all the decisions we all make on a daily basis." Fulfer's proposed mission statement was
The town of Mountainair is committed to continually improving the quality of life for all residents and businesses by ensuring our residents and businesses are safe, by encouraging healthy choices, by supporting economic growth, by capitalizing on our existing social and cultural capital, by incorporating best practices into operations of our departments, and [by] responsibly managing time, resources, and public funds.
Fulfer said that the mission statement - particularly the section dealing with social and cultural capital - was a result of the fact that
Mountainair is a special place that, first of all, I've never seen anything like this anywhere else.... It's called social capital, where people talk with each other, and we mobilize on when we build upon each other, we support each other. ... We've got an asset that's - that's not quantifiable. You just feel it.
The Mountainair Town Council unanimously approved the mission statement in its vote on Resolution 2024-03.
Subsequently, EMS Director Josh Lewis proposed Resolution 2024-04, in which the EMS Department also adopted a mission statement. Lewis said that the mission statement for the EMS Department would be
The mission of the Mountainair EMS Department is to provide timely, compassionate, and exceptional pre-hospital emergency medical care to our community. We are dedicated to saving lives and promoting health and well-being. We strive to be a trusted and reliable partner in times of crisis. We provide unwavering support in the face of people's worst times. Our highly skilled and committed team of professionals is driven by the core values of integrity, compassion, and excellence. With unwavering dedication, we aim to deliver the highest standard of emergency medical services, ensuring the well-being and safety of those we serve through continuous training, innovation, and community engagement. We aspire to be a beacon of hope and support during critical moments, fostering a healthier and safer environment for all in our community.
The town council unanimously approved this resolution.
During the town council comment period, Council Member Richard Torres and Town Clerk Dennis Fulfer raised concerns regarding parties on North Sunset Avenue, near where the road ends, just southwest of the basketball courts in Chavez Memorial Park. Torres said that the parties had led to concerns regarding the safety of residents on that corner of Sunset Avenue. He cited one example of a female who brought a van to that location to party. Mayor Nieto asked if the TCSO had been called regarding the problem. Torres explained that they had been called repeatedly, responding too late to accomplish anything in one instance and failing to respond in another. Mayor Nieto indicated that the town would attempt to resolve the matter by first talking with the partiers.