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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