Timeline: Cortney Niland battled EPE, supported arena location and faced recall

Cortney Niland was elected for the District 8 seat in 2011 and was re-elected in 2015.

Niland’s term would have ended in 2019.

ABC-7 put together a recent timeline of Niland while in office.

New to politics Niland started getting attention in 2012 when she challenged El Paso Electric and made it her mission for them to lower their rates and was successful.

Niland and the rest of City Council reached a settlement with EPE and got a $15 million decrease in electric rates for El Pasoans but it wasn’t until recently that Niland started getting attention for other reasons.

In Oct. 2016 City Council announced the location for the downtown arena. Rep. Niland supported the Durangito location.

In the following months residents and historic preservationists of the area opposed having the arena built in the Durangito neighborhood.

On Dec. 15 Durangito resident and activist Michael Patino announced an effort to recall Niland saying she failed to protect the constituents in the area.

“She’s failed me in a sense that we have no trust anymore in our representative,” Patino told ABC-7 in a 2016 interview.

Shortly after Niland hinted council might be rethinking the location of the downtown arena.

“I continue to meet with my neighbors that I represent, to continue to meet with organizations. Ultimately I would love to find a solution that’s a win for everyone. This is something that I’ve been concerned about since we had a public discussion,” Niland told ABC-7 in a 2016 interview.

The following day representatives Jim Tolbert, Peter Swarzbein, Niland and Lily Limon along with Mayor Oscar Leeser – at different times met behind closed doors to discuss alternative sites for the downtown arena.

On Dec.19 an ethics complaint accused four council members of violating the Texas Open Meetings Act.

A day later council voted to exclude the Durangito neighborhood from the list of possible arena sites.

That was the last council meeting Niland attended.

Niland said she had excused absences because of her husband’s health problems.

The recall was eventually dropped and the ethics complaints were dismissed.