News

Mayor vetoes appointments; waiting for full council consideration

By William Hoover
Anvil Herald Correspondent

On Tuesday, Jan. 19, Mayor Jim Danner vetoed the Parks Advisory Board appointments approved by the two-man council of Clyde Haak and Mike Sanchez 11 days before a new council would be elected.

The Mayor said he vetoed the action so the appointments could be decided by the full five-member city council in standard fashion.

The three appointments were made at the Jan. 12 city council meeting against the mayor’s recommendation to wait for the election. After a motion by Haak, the two-man council voted 2-0 to appoint Soledad Najera, John Pollizi and T.A. Lopez to the city’s advisory board prior to the special election to seat a full five-member council.

Haak and Sanchez insisted on the vote despite statements from the mayor that the lawsuit settlement compromise, which ordered the special election, limited council to taking action on basic city business and prohibited the council from making board appoints or taking any controversial action while operating with less than the standard three-member quorum.

Danner said he did not publicize the veto so as not to effect the elections. He said he told current councilmen, but he had no reason or responsibility to inform the candidates.

“I did not want the veto to influence the election politics,” said Danner on Monday, Jan. 25. “We were not supposed to do anything controversial or drastic until after the election. (The parks board appointments) were strictly a political move. The appointments will be made, but I want them made by the full council.”

When queried about the veto of the Parks Board appointments, neither Lutz, Long nor Torres was aware of the mayoral veto.

“I did not attend the last council meeting,” said Lutz of the appointments. “We did not know the mayor vetoed anything this week, which shows you how intently we’ve been working on our campaign.”

At the first council meeting of the year, Interim City Secretary, Sandy Torres, provided council with a list of the city boards with positions that needed filled for the agenda item requested by Haak. Danner said he thought it would be more equitable for the public if council waited until after the Jan. 23 election resulted in a full five-member city council before considering any board appointments. Haak, however, wanted to act immediately.

The mayor reminded Haak all board members were granted continuances of their terms until a full council was seated after the special election.

“Once we do have a full council, I will request that any of you who have prospective members for any of the boards to present those names to council for consideration,” Danner told Haak and Sanchez at the pre-election council meeting.

Haak said he wanted to reappoint three parks board incumbents whose terms had expired or would expire soon. He received support from Sanchez.

“I think its important we have these important people continue to serve on this board,” said Sanchez. “I realize we can address the other boards another day. But, as far as the parks board goes, I’m confident these individuals will continue to do the good job they are doing.

“All the boards are continuing to do a good job,” said Danner, who noted all board members had been granted continuances of their terms until after the election. “There is no difference with the other boards. They are all functioning well.”

As soon as Hondo has a five-member city council seated in February, all board and commission vacancies will be filled, said Mayor Danner on Saturday, Jan. 23.

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