Sunland Park residents fired up at disincorporation meeting

Dona Ana County Commissioner Dr. David Garcia and County Manager Julia Brown held a town hall meeting Wednesday night at San Martin de Porres Church. The county officials answered questions about the disincorporation effort being pushed by residents in Sunland Park.

Petitioners confirmed to ABC-7 on Wednesday that they have collected enough signatures to move forward. They said they plan on turning in their signatures to County Clerk Lynn Ellins on Monday.

Once they turn in the signatures, Ellins said he will have 10 working days to verify that the petition has at least 25% of registered voters in Sunland Park. He said he will then submit the petition to county commissioners, who will have 14 days to verify it. They will then order a special election.

Like any election, voters will be notified in the mail with a ballot.

On Wednesday, dozens packed the church for the town hall meeting. When County Attorney Nelson Goodin explained all Sunland Park services would turn to the county if the city dissolved, there were some boos from the crowd. County Manager Julia Brown said some information coming from the disincorporators is false.

While some of the petitioners were at the meeting, they left before ABC-7 was able to get a comment.