Accusations fly at P&Z
Chair, vice chair quit; trustee called liar; mayor called a drunkard

By Jim Maniaci
Cibola County Bureau

MILAN — The Milan Village Planning-Zoning Commission lost two of its five members — and more than a quarter-century of experience Thursday night — when the chair and vice-chair resigned and walked out.

Before quitting, Vice Chair Joe Chavez hurled loud accusations against his political foe, Mayor Tom Ortega, and Trustee Ellen Baca, who was on the agenda to detail what she believed to be the commission's past sins.

Near tears, Chair Pauline Barker called some of Baca's accusations outright lies, adding she wouldn't put up with the humiliation heaped upon her.


After Barker spoke, Chavez took his turn.
Chavez accused Baca and Ortega of wanting to appoint "your own cronies" to go with "that drunken mayor you've got." He also accused Baca of stating "lie after lie." He repeated his charge several times, once saying, "I'm not a liar like you are a liar."

He also charged Baca and Ortega with wanting "to get some puppets in here to do what you want." And he claimed, "all you like to do is sue people and lie. You've lied about me. That's how you got on the board."

Trustees did it
Then they got into the Patrick Cassidy case. Chavez said, "You guys (the board of trustees) let him have it. Fine. It's up to you guys."

Chavez then turned to the Paul Milan fence controversy, the spark which ignited the mayor's drive to drive the commissioner from the panel.

"It's illegal as hell," Chavez said, also indicating that if the prestigious local banker had simply come in for a variance, it would have been granted. The dispute is over the height of the fence and its distance from the property line.

Baca defended Milan, saying that when village zoning officials questioned the construction, "he ceased and desisted" until all the requirements were met.

Village Manager Marcella Sandoval then interjected that as (then) Village Clerk she had forgotten to put the request on the commission agenda and thus it would have, by state law, to wait until the next meeting.

After the chair and vice chair had walked out of the Village Hall Trustees Chamber, Baca praised the other three commissioners: Mary Tovar, Mary Lundstrom and Don Sweeney. Trustee Vivian Brumbelow, from the audience, likewise praised the trio for their courteous and professional conduct.

Want to stay?
Baca asked the remaining commissioners if they would like to be considered for the new commission once trustees revise the ordinance on Jan. 25, as Ortega announced the previous night he would do and that he has the votes to make it stick. Tovar said she would not. Sweeney said it depends on how things develop. Lundstrom didn't really answer.

That was a more civil part of the exchange in which Baca said her research showed during Lundstrom's five years as Milan Municipal Court Judge that she imposed an illegal fine, just as the commission had tried to impose an illegal fine last year, causing current Municipal Court Judge Willie Jaramillo to dismiss the case against Mark Robinson.

Baca said her research showed Lundstrom's fine exceeded the limit. Lundstrom said it was four fines combined into one entry. The reply was given in a much calmer voice than the loud and fast-paced exchange between Chavez and Baca, who has backed Ortega's desire to convert the commission into an at-will panel, without specific terms, with one member being from outside the village limits.

The trustee said she observed the commission for 10 months, since being elected to the board, and the conduct hasn't changed. Baca then indicated the commission manipulated a local citizen never naming Eddie Corley into telling trustees they didn't work with the commission.

She then accused Barker of violating the ordinance against abandoned cars, while "Mr. Chavez quoted the ordinance to citizens" and claiming he didn't follow the ordinance for setbacks on his own commercial property.

Chavez replied he sold the land four years ago and when he constructed his building 25 years ago he obtained and met the setback requirements from the village.

Never built
Baca then went after Barker for obtaining approval admitting she had done so as a citizen and not a commissioner for a carport within the village's easement (right-of-way). Barker replied she never built the carport.

The trustee then defended Cassidy. She said Chavez told him he would have to tear down his building in a commercial zone. Baca said the structure was more than 50 years old (and therefore given the protection commonly called grandfathering). She also complained that even though she tried to speak from the audience Barker rudely ordered her to shut up and sit down.

Barker called Baca's overall statement "out and out lies and I can prove it." As to the carport, she said the village code enforcement officer at the time the job has a revolving door reputation did the measurements and gave them to the commission.

The resigned chair also said Baca has had some very legitimate points, but Barker repeated that some of Baca's statements were "outright lies."

Barker denied being on the commission for personal gratification. Then she said, "And you can take this job and shove it."

Before leaving, she asked Brumbelow how many years the commission worked on trying to get the zoning ordinance revised, with the help of a zoning lawyer, and was told four years. Finding the village was out of compliance, the commission went through the ordinance rewriting it, and sent it to former village attorney Steve Chavez in Los Lunas. Baca and Barker agreed Chavez only put a new cover on the old ordinance.

Ready today
Current contract attorney Bruce Boynton of Milan told the commission he will have the revision finished Friday morning (today).

Barker said no one told her or the commission "that we were way out in left field," agreeing with Boynton the goal is to make the new (proposed) village law "user friendly." She added that the commission considered adding a flow chart. "We are trying so hard."

Ortega has said he doesn't attend commission meetings an obvious contrast to Brumbelow, who served about 10 years on previous commissions to avoid prejudicing any decisions. She said she attends to keep up with what's going on. Barker said she doesn't attend the trustees meetings because she's not into local politics. "You are the village trustees," she told Baca and Brumbelow. She added, "Whatever happens, happens." Then she walked out.

In her counter-reply during Lundstrom's comments, Baca's key point was to accuse Barker and Chavez of "lording it over" people coming before the commission.

Tovar summed up her feelings by saying, "It looks like a witch hunt" and "we're only doing our job."

Sweeney complained that what was printed in the press made the commission look dumb, adding "We feel like we've been up against a wall since we started." He asked why the trustees weren't counseling the commission if it was doing something wrong.