Few Answers After Yet Another Sunland Park Meeting
The Sunland Park City Council met Wednesday evening but the city still doesn’t have a mayor.
The meeting was pretty calm, especially compared to previous meetings that had walkouts and fights. The most excitement came from a misunderstanding between mayor pro-tem Isabel Santos and Councilor Carmen Rodriguez.
About an hour-and-a-half into the meeting Santos and Rodriguez got into a short argument over a proposed resolution. Santos thought Rodriguez was trying to stop her from speaking to the media, and she even handed out copies of the Bill of Rights.
“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion or expression,” Santos said.
“The problem is I don’t want to take responsibility for somebody else speaking for me or if there’s any legalities to that issue for what they say. I don’t want to take responsibility,” Rodriguez said.
The resolution was approved by all councilors except Santos.
Residents were bored with the familiar bickering among council members.
The crowd at the meeting was pretty small but residents showed interest when councilors asked representatives from the Department of Finance and Administration about holding a special election.
“If it is your will to hold a special election for the mayor, that’s a budget kind of discussion that we can have,” Ryan Gleason, a DFA official said.
Residents seemed to be most concerned about finances and whether the city will hold a special election. They told ABC-7 they’re relieved the DFA is finally cleaning up the city finances.
“Members of the state, your comments are music to this taxpayer’s ears,” one resident said.
The council also officially terminated three employees including the finance director and city clerk. If a special election is held, it would be in September.
