The most important item on the Truth or Consequences City Commission agenda, Feb. 26, is a public hearing and then a vote on a 56-percent rate increase in water rates, although it will be more than a 100-percent rate increase for people who use less than 1,000 gallons a month. The City held three town […]
Preview: Truth or Consequences City Commission meeting, Wednesday, Feb. 26 Read More »
Over the last month, while the Truth or Consequences City Commission gears up to pass a massive water- rate increase to pay for a $9.4-million project, City staff and city-hired engineering firm Wilson & Company have spouted wildly different numbers on the water system’s leak rate. Is it leaking a not-crisis 17.4 percent, as City
The Elephant Butte city website is unclear whether the City is a strong-mayor or mayor-council form of government, an ambiguity City Council Member Michael Williams wants to clear up. He claims he is meeting with resistance, starting with his own status as a city council member. Williams was appointed to the Elephant Butte City Council
It took about six months, but the City of Elephant Butte has signed a deal with a firm specializing in golf course management and marketing to revive Sierra Del Rio Golf Course. The City will retain ownership, giving management to Spirit Golf, LLC. The City was given the golf course about three years ago. It
George Szigeti is putting out false information on the smart-meter debacle in a bid to win City Commission Seat 5. Szigeti currently occupies Seat 5. He was appointed by the City Commission December 2018 to fill resigning-Mayor Steve Green’s seat, who hand-picked Szigeti and stayed on until he was seated. The City Commission went against
Fact check on Szigeti’s smart-meter claims Read More »
The Elephant Butte City Council approved a contract with Spirit Golf in open session after holding the fifth executive session on the agreement, Feb. 12. The two parties were working from a draft contract and the Council’s motion approved that contract with four amendments, to take effect March 15. The contract will probably not be
During the second town hall on the City of Truth or Consequences’ proposed $9.4-million project to replace water pipes downtown and the attendant massive rate increase, several residents pointed out the inequity of all customers subsidizing what will only benefit downtown. Ron Fenn, candidate for City Commission, Seat 5, pointed out the project will cost
Two weeks after missing two legal deadlines on the people’s initiative ordinance to ban smart meters, the Truth or Consequences City Commission received a legal justification for doing so from their lawyer, Jay Rubin. The City Commission’s comfort level in waiting for legal cover shows it has blind faith in City Manager Morris Madrid. It
Passive City Commission leaves people at mercy of City Manager Read More »
George Szigeti, running for Truth or Consequences City Commission, Position 5, has put up four campaign signs that are misleading to the public. They state: “Re-elect” George Szigeti to the City Commission, which is not possible, because Szigeti has never been elected to the City Commission. Szigeti was appointed by the City Commission to take
Szigeti bends truth on campaign signs Read More »
Truth or Consequences Municipal Judge Beatrice Sanders has worked for the municipal court in some capacity since 1991. While Thomas Hawkins was municipal judge, Sanders applied for a job to computerize the municipal court records and forms. “I need to automate your court,” Sanders told Hawkins. “He had been writing in ledgers. Nobody wanted computers
Joe Baca feels his military and law enforcement experience as well as his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in criminal justice qualify him to be municipal judge. “Why am I running? I believe, with my 20-years’ experience in criminal justice in the military and law enforcement and my education will benefit the community. And I want
Joe Baca is running for municipal judge Read More »
Truth or Consequences City Manager Morris Madrid told the Public Utility Advisory Board the City’s water system is only leaking about 21 percent, not the horrific 47 percent reported in an engineering study by Wilson & Company in a September 2019 study, but his explanation doesn’t hold water. PUAB Chairman Jeff Dornbusch, at the PUAB,
Truth or Consequences city staff spreading wrong info on water system’s leak rate Read More »
The City of Truth or Consequences City Commission took on a huge debt several weeks ago to fix the water pipes downtown, as well as other critical water-system improvements, and now it wants to raise rates to pay for the debt. The City is holding a series of town halls on the proposed 55-percent
Problems with information used to rationalize water-rate increase Read More »
Truth or Consequences City Manager Morris Madrid is determining community priorities to be considered for Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s “call” items this legislative session, without seeking authority or direction from the City Commission or the community. After the fact, Madrid reported during the Jan. 8 meeting the City and other local government entities were invited
The Sierra Vista Hospital Joint Powers Commission, a 12-person board comprised of three elected officials from each of the local-government entities, passed a resolution Jan. 9 that asks legislators to propose legislation that will change the governing structure to a “special hospital district.” Kim Skinner, Elephant Butte mayor pro tem and chairperson of the hospital
Citizen-activist Ron Fenn and Truth or Consequences City Commission candidate for Seat 5 has filed a lawsuit against the City for blocking an election that would let the people decide whether smart meters should be banned over the next 10 years. Fenn started and circulated the petition in favor of banning smart meters and wrote
The people’s initiative ordinance to ban smart meters for 10 years was shunted aside, the Truth or Consequences City Commission convinced by their lawyer and city manager it could be ignored. Worse than a rejection, the initiative ordinance didn’t even go to a vote. None of the commissioners would make a motion to accept or
The Elephant Butte City Council held two public hearings on two ordinances the Planning and Zoning Commission put forth for passage at the Jan. 22 meeting, passing one and rejecting the other. The City didn’t allow shipping or freight containers in residential or commercial zones before, but approved an ordinance allowing them with conditions after
The Truth or Consequences City Commission will hold a special meeting at 9 a.m., Wednesday, Jan. 29. Three items are on the agenda: –A public hearing on the citizens’ initiative ordinance that seeks to place a 10-year moratorium on smart meters within the City’s utility jurisdiction. –A resolution setting a special election on the smart-meter
The Elephant Butte City Council still hasn’t pulled the trigger after months of negotiation with Sprit Golf, the only respondent to the City’s request for proposals to manage the Sierra Del Rio Golf Course. The City Council went into executive session after holding its open meeting, Jan. 22, which included Spirit Golf partners Richard Holcomb