2. Rio Communities: Incorporation will hopefully attract new businesses to area
from PAGE 1A
are going to be, but all we have
is that estimate.”
The New Mexico Municipal
League — a nonprofit, non-
partisan association whose
member cities comprise 100
percent of the state’s incorpo-
rated municipalities — guides
interested parties through the
incorporation process, offer-
ing legal advice, helping with
mapping and census numbers.
The league has estimated
the proposed municipality’s
revenues based on the infor-
mation it can wrangle out of
the state Taxation and Revenue
Department on gross receipts
taxes, franchise taxes and
liquor and gas taxes.
“It’s not an easy thing to
get to this point,” Gwinn
said. “We had to go to the
Municipal League and make
our case, prove to the state that
we have the ability to become
a community and provide the
legally necessary services to
the resident.”
They also had to convince
the city of Belen that, “while
they couldn’t afford us, we
could afford ourselves. It’s
been hard. As we move for-
ward, we are climbing the
mountain in front of us. We
got to the top and we are hav-
ing the vote.
“Now the next one is in
front of us. This is just the
beginning.”
All the while, Gwinn and
the incorporation committee
members have been working
with residents in the area to
figure out what their needs and
concerns are, so that the new
government can meet them.
Gwinn said the No. 1 con-
cern and need was public
safety — faster response by
law enforcement and better,
stricter control of nuisance
ordinances.
“We have a lot of auto
burglaries, break ins, illegal
dumping,” he said. “If we
incorporate, we will have a
municipal judge. And as much
as I hate to say it, the revenue
from fines and citations helps
a community evolve.”
If the incorporation effort
manages to capture a majority
of the votes, then the next step
is to elect a mayor, council and
municipal judge. And as with
any government comes sup-
port staff.
Gwinn is hoping the com-
munity’s own residents will
become an integral part of
a government that is for the
people, by the people, of the
people.
“There are key people with-
in the community who can
help us build and make things
happen,” he said. “What each
individual can bring will help
make our new community suc-
cessful.
“We’re not a community
with deep roots. We got our
start in 1964 when Horizon
Land Company built the first
house. We are the largest unin-
corporated community in the
county, we are also a commu-
nity without a voice. And we
want to have one. The coun-
ty doesn’t have the funds to
support us, to help us. So it
behooves us to help ourselves.”
Gwinn says the community,
if it indeed does become a
municipality, has no intention
of cutting itself off from the
county or the city of Belen. As
a matter of fact, the new city
may well have to look to the
county for continued services
after incorporation.
Services such as code
enforcement, law enforce-
ment, animal control and road
maintenance will most likely
continue in partnership with
the county.
“None of this is going to
happen over night. We know
that,” Gwinn said. “The new
mayor and council will need to
make agreements to continue
services as we get on our feet.”
Not only will a smaller geo-
graphic area, run by people
who live right there, be able to
keep tighter controls on things,
Gwinn feels there will be more
businesses interested in locat-
ing there.
“Right now, if a business
wants to come into this area,
they have to go to the county
commission, which is five dif-
ferent people, with five differ-
ent priorities, who all want that
business in their district,” he
said. “If we are incorporated,
a business deals with us, just
us.”
Even with all their room to
grow inside the boundaries,
Gwinn points out there are still
a lot of people living in unin-
corporated southeast Valencia
County.
“Additional businesses in a
new city would act to keep a
lot more money in the county,
and not let it go to Bernalillo or
Torrance,” he said.
After a career teaching
history, Rio Communities
resident Silvestre Saavedra
decided to get involved in the
incorporation effort and make
history.
“I wanted to be a part of
something that would change
people’s lives,” Saavedra said.
“There’s a new vision here.”
Part of that vision comes
from the incorporation com-
mittee itself, Gwinn said. In
the past, it has been made up of
people mostly associated with
RCA in some way.
“Some people, for whatever
reason, don’t like the associa-
tion,” Gwinn said. “I have kept
the incorporation stuff sepa-
rate from the Rio Communities
Association. The people of the
committee have a vision.”
Ironically, Gwinn is the
RCA president.
“I look at the cities
that recently incorporat-
ed — Peralta, Rio Rancho,
Mountainair — and think,
why can’t we?” Saavedra said,
a resident of the area since
2005. “I’m not going to say
we’re going to be the best, but
we’re going to be the best we
can be.
“The main thing is we want
to give the residents a voice. If
I can stand up and voice my
opinion, I’m a happy man.”
The opportunity to express
an opinion even extends to the
name of the new town. Gwinn
says it’s not going to default
to Rio Communities. Part of
the reason is the communi-
ty of Chamesa on Manzano
Expressway is also part of the
proposed city.
“We’re not all Rio
Communities or all Chamesa,”
Gwinn said.
Two large sheets of paper
hang on the wall of the RCA
office, filled with proposed
names — some are crossed
off, some survived the cut.
Those still standing include
Rivers Edge, the lyrical Valle
del Oro and Friendly.
The beauty and quiet of
Chamesa brought Susan
Campbell here 13 years ago.
“I stay here because of the
beauty,” Campbell said. “But
I’d sure like the safety and con-
venience a town can provide.”
Serving on the board of
Chamesa’s home owner’s
association, Campbell is very
aware of the ongoing issues in
the community, security being
one of the biggest.
“I know Valencia County
has a small force and can’t
afford much bigger. A call for
assistance from the county
sheriff is a long wait,” she said.
Campbell said if the incor-
poration is successful, getting
security improved and up and
running is very important.
“I lived in a community of
more than four million. I didn’t
have to take near as many
precautions as I do out here,”
she said. “One woman was in
the shower, and in broad day-
light, a man came in through
her kitchen window. Another
woman, she and her son were
at home, and someone hooked
up to the trailer in their front
drive and took off. The county
sheriff is way overloaded, I
understand. That doesn’t make
you feel any safer.”
Other services are hard to
get as well, Campbell says. She
said the residents of Chamesa
have had to save up and install
their own speed bumps, as
well as for someone to come
out in the spring to knock
down weeds. They have also
purchased two live traps since
there is a lot of stray animals
that are dumped off in the
area and little response from
county animal control.
“Getting any kind of
improvements is very diffi-
cult,” she said. “We need street
lights out here, just a few.”
Campbell says she and the
other residents understand
that those improvements won’t
appear instantly, if incorpora-
tion happens.
“We all know things are
not going be done overnight.
We understand that quite thor-
oughly,” she said. “But at least
we know it’s more possible
for it to happen than without
incorporation. The street lights
I mentioned? They are two or
three years down the road. But
we know eventually we will
ask for and get them.
“There are a few things a
town could do for its resi-
dents. I’m very much in favor
of incorporation.”
About 15 miles to the south
of what might turn into a new
city of its own is the devel-
opment of Tierra Grande.
When the idea of incorpora-
tion started being bandied
about, the administrator for the
Tierra Grande Improvement
Association took notice.
“I started out looking at the
footprint: Did it include Tierra
Grande?” asked Sue Moran.
“It didn’t and I did a quick
review of our residents and
they didn’t want to be.”
Moran said Tierra Grande
is a different kind of commu-
nity than their neighbors to the
north — with five acre mini-
mums for their lots and only
145 homes, including Tierra
Grande in an incorporation
effort would skew the needed
one person per acre ratio.
“Then I got to really like the
committee members,” Moran
said. “Nobody was looking
like they were looking for
political positions, personal
gain. I listened to their stories.
It was about having a voice,
being represented. I’ve been
to commission meetings and
seen an almost dislike for this
area.”
Moran said from what she
could see, the only way for
the residents of the area to be
treated well was to do things
themselves.
“If things don’t go well
they only have themselves to
blame,” she said. “I’ve always
been a proponent of the under-
dog. I do believe they will
succeed.”
Moran saw the prior incor-
poration efforts fail and said
by making the footprint small-
er and getting out and com-
municating with residents, the
committee may well correct
some of the errors of the past.
“This will only be a benefit
for Tierra Grande. There will
be a ripple effect of having
good, strong neighbors,” she
said. “If they bring in busi-
nesses — a restaurant, a phar-
macy — my residents don’t
have to go trudging 15 miles
into Belen. In the long run,
it benefits my members. I
believe in their plan.”
Moran might be outside
looking in and seeing a rosey
picture, but at least one res-
ident on the inside isn’t so
sure incorporation is the right
move.
Robert Sanders says he sim-
ply doesn’t have enough solid
information about incorpora-
tion to be for or against the
idea.
“I do think there are bet-
ter ways than incorporation to
address some of the issues in
the area,” Sanders said.
A resident of 17 years,
Sanders has an academic back-
ground in economics, and says
he’s been trying to analyze
the preliminary revenue and
expense numbers the incor-
poration committee has made
public.
“What appears to be miss-
ing, in looking at the budget
is, you don’t look at just start
up, day one, but the future,” he
said. “Things change. It looks
like they are relying on things
like grants, which expire in a
short period of time.”
Sanders pointed out that
things such as the donat-
ed office space from Valley
Improvement Association,
elected officials serving for no
salary and people volunteering
at no cost to the municipality
doesn’t go on forever.
“If you are looking to peo-
ple serving at no cost, there is
no way to know if you are cor-
rect with your assumptions,”
Sanders said. “I think they
have done a very good job pro-
viding information about the
pluses, but not the negatives.
It doesn’t give enough infor-
mation to make an intelligent
judgment.”
Sanders said he hasn’t heard
much opinion expressed one
way or another out in the com-
munity. But then he admits he
hasn’t gone listening that much
either.
“I did have one person
express a real strong opinion.
And it was adverse. They said
they just can’t afford more,”
he said. “I’m sure there are
people who feel as strongly
for it. There’s always the silent
majority and who knows who
that is.”
He also called Belen’s deci-
sion not to annex the area a
“red flag.”
The argument that busi-
nesses will “flock” to the city
doesn’t hold much sway over
Sanders either.
“Let’s look at that assump-
tion. There are empty spaces
right now on Rio Communities
Boulevard, there’s the old
Tillery and spaces on (N.M.)
304. They’ll say that’s not in
a city, look at Belen,” he said.
“That’s another example of
empty storefronts, unfortu-
nately, and it’s on the interstate
and a major rail line. They’ll
say, ‘Well look at Los Lunas.’
Yes, they have been quite suc-
cessful. It’s taken 20 years to
get there.”
Estimated Rio Communities
municipal budget
(As of Nov. 25, 2012)
Anticipated revenues
General funds
Locally imposed gross receipts tax $83,000
Franchise tax $60,000
Gross receipts tax (state) $65,000
Small city assistance $50,000
Judicial fines and fees $30,000
Gasoline tax $25,000
Motor vehicle fees $12,000
Building license fees $3,000
Building permits $25,000
Total general funds $353,000
State grants
Law enforcement fund $20,600
Recreation fund $3,000
Street fund (2 cents per gallon) $50,000
Emergency medical services $9,000
Fire protection fund $53,000
Total state funds $135,600
Total anticipated revenue $488,600
Anticipated expenditures
Municipal administration $86,000
Municipal court $34,000
Police service $222,000
Animal control services $11,000
Total anticipated expenditures $353,000
(All data reviewed and validated by the New Mexico
Municipal League.)
LOCAL Valencia County News-Bulletin8A December 26, 2012
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4. as much as I hate to say it,
the revenue from fines and
citations helps a community
evolve.”
And no one is arguing that
the situation is anything other
than what Gwinn represents.
“I understand their frustra-
tion,” said Valencia County
Sheriff Louis Burkhard.
With five deputies and a
sergeant trying to cover 1,458
square miles of county during
any given shift, the sheriff full
well knows the limitations of
his force.
“And we currently have
more deputies in the field than
we’ve had in a long time,” he
said. “I wish them success,
and we will certainly help
them as much as we can, but I
think they are in for a reality
check.”
Creating and maintaining
a quality police department
could very well be the most
expensive undertaking of any
municipality, said Burkhard,
who, in 2007, was elected
Peralta’s first municipal judge.
“As a city, you have to
provide police and fire pro-
tection, a court and several
other public services,” he said.
“When Peralta incorporated,
they looked at forming their
own law enforcement depart-
ment, but found it to be cost
prohibitive.”
Instead, the town of
Peralta, which successfully
incorporated in 2007, con-
tracts with its neighbor, the
village of Bosque Farms, for
police protection. The town
pays Bosque Farms $180,000
a year for 24/7 coverage.
“It’s a question of what do
you want. Are you looking at
24/7 coverage? If that’s the
case, I’ve estimated you need
a minimum of seven patrol
officers and a chief or admin-
istrator,” Burkhard said.
Assuming the nation-
al average of $100,000 per
department employee holds
true, to start up an eight-
person police force would be
$800,000, the sheriff said.
Burkhard said there are
salaries and benefits to be
accounted for, plus the cost
of vehicles, maintenance of a
fleet as well as the expense
of consumables, such as gas
and tires.
There is the need for office
space so members of the pub-
lic can walk in and interact
with their police department,
he said, as well as the expense
of an evidence room and
someone to manage it.
And if a community has
a police force, those officers
have to be dispatched to calls
somehow.
Right now, that is through
the Valencia County Regional
Dispatch Center. Currently, all
government agencies that are
dispatched through the center
pay for the service based on
the number of calls for service
the center receives.
Since Peralta contracts
with Bosque Farms for law
enforcement services, those
calls are billed to the village.
They are paid and Peralta has
agreed to reimburse the vil-
lage for up to $21,000 in dis-
patch fees this year.
“There’s training, over-
time, equipment — the list
goes on and on,” Burkhard
said.
And with law enforcement
comes the inevitable legal
entanglements.
“The biggest liabilities in
law enforcement are evidence
and policy,” the sheriff said.
WhiletheRioCommunities
area could partner with the
neighboring city of Belen
for police protection while it
builds its own department,
nothing can be done or negoti-
ated until incorporation actu-
ally happens.
Belen city officials did
consider annexing Rio
Communities, but ultimately
decided against it.
At an October Belen
City Council meeting, the
city’s Director of Planning
and Zoning and Economic
Development Chief Steven
Tomita urged councilors to
forgo annexing the commu-
nity into Belen at this time.
Tomita said the responsi-
bilities and costs of under-
taking the community would
weigh down the city further
than it could handle.
Burkhard also has first-
hand experience in helping
to turn a department around.
When he was the police chief
in Bosque Farms, there were
six officers and a “decrepit
fleet,” he said. When he left,
the village was up to 10 offi-
cers and had started making
strides in replacing worn out
equipment.
“Even with 10 officers, it
was still difficult,” he said.
“When you look at things like
overtime, you can budget for
it but if there is a major inci-
dent — a murder or large
scale accident — you have
to have officers there around
the clock. You have to be pre-
pared for that.”
And while the county may
be willing to partner with a
new community and con-
tract for law enforcement,
Burkhard says the coverage
might not be much more than
what they already have.
“We only have so many
officers. And even if they
could help enough to pay
for two more officers, they
have to remember that if they
call for back-up, who knows
where our officers will be and
have to come from,” he said.
“We still will have the rest of
the county to deal with.”
A fledgling department
can make some headway
with grants and volunteers,
Burkhard said, but there are
drawbacks.
A force of volunteer offi-
cers has to be overseen by
a certified officer, who will
most likely want to be paid.
There are grants for fund-
ing law enforcement equip-
ment and even to pay officers’
salaries, but it takes time and
effort to find and apply for
them.
“Then you need someone
to administer them, filling
out the paperwork and reports
that need to go back,” he said.
“It needs constant attention.”
Certified officers spend
nearly a year in the training
academy, Burkhard said, and
even once they are certified,
they still have to maintain
their certification and get spe-
ciality training in areas such
as narcotics to be effective
officers.
“Most of the criminal
activity in the area is prop-
erty crimes. And most of that
activity is directly associated
with drug use,” he said. “Any
time an officer works narcot-
ics, we turn over a lot of prop-
erty crimes. We will certainly
help as much as we can. I’m
not trying to be negative, just
realistic.”
Code enforcement
Since 2008, Sonny Vega has
been the county code enforce-
ment officer responsible for
patrolling most of the east-
ern side of the county, with
the exception of El Cerro and
Meadow Lake. His territory
includes the proposed incor-
poration area.
After 23 years working in
the collections department of
Public Service Company of
New Mexico, irate property
owners going toe-to-tow with
him over weeds and junked
cars isn’t really a big deal.
“I just do my job,” Vega
says with a shrug.
Every Monday, he starts in
the north and begins to work
his way toward the county
line. Rio Communities is
Wednesdays and Thursdays.
As he drives through the
communities, he has gotten to
know the “problem areas.” He
is also answering complaints
on the fly, changing course as
residents call in issues.
“For the most part, I know
the areas that don’t have to be
constantly watched. I know
where the problems are,” Vega
said. “In the area that is look-
ing at incorporating, the area
to the east is all open and
there is a lot of illegal dump-
ing.”
Other common issues in
the area include people just
not keeping up their property,
“letting things get crazy,” he
said.
For a while, there was a
spurt of people restoring cars.
They would buy a project
vehicle, then a car to salvage
parts off. Then it was another
car with a usable bumper and
a third with a good transmis-
sion. Pretty soon it became a
bunch of “to its,” Vega said.
“As in, I’ll get around ‘to
it’ eventually,” he said, laugh-
ing. “If you have one or two
cars you’re getting parts off,
we can do that, but you’re not
going to stockpile them.”
While weeds, excess noise
and dust, derelict cars and
trash fall under the purview
of code enforcement and
county ordinances, County
Community Development
Director Jacobo Martinez said
sometimes his office fields
calls that are covenant issues.
Sometimes people don’t
understand the division
between the two sets of rules,
he said.
The county ordinances
stipulate how tall a fence can
be, but not what materials it
needs to be built from, he
said, for instance.
Other times, the county
ordinances seem to be a little
vague.
Martinez said they get
frequent complaints about
a property on Riggs Street
about horses being kept on the
property.
“A lot of people in the com-
munity view this as an agri-
cultural area. It’s zoned subur-
ban residential, which doesn’t
say you can have livestock,
but it doesn’t say you can-
not,” Martinez said. “But live-
stock is against the covenants.
Covenants are between neigh-
bors, and we don’t enforce
them.”
During meetings about
incorporation, some residents
asked if a new city could
enforce covenants. Martinez
said that is certainly some-
thing a new municipality
could look at as it is putting
together zoning laws.
In zoning, there are typi-
cally two different approaches
— a land-use based or euclid-
ean model, such as the county,
or a design based, Martinez
said.
“An example of design-
based zoning would be an
area that has an historic over-
lay zone, where the building
facades have to look a certain
way,” he said. “That’s how
some municipalities zone out
certain types of businesses.
Fast food restaurants, big box
stores usually have a standard
set of plans and architectural
designs, signs and facades.
If you have design-based
zoning, and they don’t have
the right appearance, it might
be cost prohibitive to redesign
a building for just one town.
“It can also mean that if a
local member wants to start
a business, they may have to
build their own space,” he
said. “For instance, a lot of
restaurants begin in a store-
front. If they have to have a
certain design, it might not
happen.”
How stringent a munici-
pality’s zoning and nuisance
laws are is up to the governing
body, Martinez said, but they
do have to comply with the
federal Fair Housing Act and
can’t be discriminatory.
“Your public nuisance
laws, you can write them
very strict. If weeds are a
problem, you can say nothing
higher than four inches,” he
said. “Your governing body is
going to have a vision and will
really determine a lot with
your ordinances on nuisances
and zoning.”
If incorporation is success-
ful, Martinez said the county
would continue to help the
new town however it could as
they decide what they want in
the future.
And as the man on the
street, dealing with people
on a day-to-day basis, Vega
urged the new town to educate
the public once it is estab-
lished.
“It’s important to educate
the public. You have to tell
them what is expected and
what the consequences are,”
he said. “You need to help
them realize you are working
with them, not against them.”
LOCAL December 29, 2012 3AValencia County News-Bulletin
Incorporation: Sheriff warns Rio Communities about cost of starting a police force
from PAGE 1A
Julia M. Dendinger-News-Bulletin photo
LOOKING FOR CODE VIOLATIONS and answering complaints, Valencia County Code Enforcement
Officer Sonny Vega patrols Rio Communities one street at a time. During 2012, Vega opened 30
cases in Rio Communities and cleared 24.
Polling place for election day
First Presbyterian Church, 85 Manzano Expressway
Precincts 29, 30, 32 and 34
7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 8
Absentee and in-person voting
Valencia County Administration Building, 444 Luna
Ave., Los Lunas
Ends at 5 p.m., Friday, Jan. 4
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6. LOCAL Valencia County News-Bulletin6A January 2, 2013
Pool: Village aquatic center put on hold
from PAGE 1A
Incorporation: Former and current mayors advise Rio Communities about process
from PAGE 1A
“The residents aren’t always sympathetic that
you don’t have money. They expect the same
or better. You have to figure out a way to
provide services.”
EDWARD ARCHULETA
First Peralta Mayor
cities,” Archuleta said. “There are stat-
utes on how to incorporate, but there
is nothing that supports you once you
incorporate.”
By making the decision to separate
from the county, Peralta, and any sub-
sequent municipality, is truly standing
on its own.
“Any county laws or ordinances that
once applied are no longer in effect.
Zoning goes away. Nothing that the
county has passed applies anymore,”
Archuleta said. “You start from scratch
with anything you want to do.”
In any brand new town, the only
applicable laws are state statutes,
Archuleta said, and technically, the
only law enforcement agency with
jurisdiction inside that city is the state
police.
“The county (sheriff’s department)
can go in, but they can only enforce
state laws,” he said.
Once a municipality gets far enough
down the road to create and enact its
own statutes, they can mirror county
laws, Archuleta said.
“But first you have to pass your
own,” he said.
One challenge that Peralta had to
navigate, and Rio Communities will
also if the vote is successful next week,
is police protection. Archuleta said his
town had four choices — cooperate
with the county, state, the village of
Los Lunas or the village of Bosque
Farms.
“Bosque Farms was the most logical
choice; they were already in place and
our neighbors,” he said.
A bit of misinformation Archuleta
said he has seen in the press about Rio
Communities’ attempted incorporation
concerns property taxes.
“They are correct in saying prop-
erty taxes will not automatically go
up, but they are a source of revenue,”
he said. “However, the governing body
does not have to go to the voters for an
increase. It is up to the elected officials
— they can go for a vote or simply
implement it themselves.
“And quite frankly, without a prop-
erty tax increase, it’s going to be dif-
ficult for them to form their own police
force.”
While property taxes should remain
steady, residents of the new city can
expect to see a downward dip in gross
receipts taxes — at least temporarily.
When a new municipality forms,
the GRT rate in the area returns to the
state’s base of 5 percent. Of that, 1.225
percent is returned to the municipality.
However, to get anything over that
automatic 1.225 percent, the city has to
self impose additional taxes, Archuleta
said. It has the option of imposing 1.25
percent, either all at once or in incre-
ments of .25 percent.
“One of the first things we did, was
bring the GRT back up to at least the
county level. We went in eyes wide
open, I felt. We knew the GRT would
decrease,” Archuleta said. “At the time,
we intentionally didn’t increase it to the
level of our neighboring municipali-
ties.”
Once Peralta had its city tax number
from the state, Archuleta made sure a
notice was sent to all the businesses
within the new city, alerting them to
report GRT to the state under Peralta’s
number.
“One of the problems was we had
two different addresses — Peralta and
Los Lunas,” he said. “The post office
let us bring all of Peralta’s incorporated
area under the Peralta zip code.”
As the process moved forward for
Peralta, Archuleta said there were
a myriad of things that were not
unknowns but still rather frustrating.
Spending money, for instance.
Assuming the city had money,
Archuleta points out that until an elect-
ed body is in place and implements
policies and procedures, there’s no way
for a municipality to pay for anything.
“The (county) commission has no
governing authority. And then after the
election, we were faced with no money
— I mean zero,” he said.
If the Rio Communities incorpora-
tion passes, the city will have to hold
a municipal election for a mayor, four
councilors and judge. Those officials
will assume office on July 1.
“We had to publish the election
notice in the paper, which costs money.
Everything costs money, but we had
no money. And you can’t spend public
funds without a process,” Archuleta
said. “Someone has to be working dili-
gently to put it all together.”
For Archuleta, that “someone”
was then former commissioner Mary
Andersen.
“Thank God for Mary. She had
researched all the GRT issues and
knew we had to implement them and
when, but there are waiting periods.
You can’t do everything at once,” he
said.
Archuleta said the Middle Rio
Grande Council of Governments and
the New Mexico Municipal League
were both very helpful and “sympa-
thetic to our cause. But not sympathetic
in the way of funding,” he said, laugh-
ing. “I think they did a lot of things for
us at no cost.
“The county also set a lot of prec-
edents with Peralta that they need to
follow for Rio Communities. I know
Commissioner (Ron) Gentry was very
adamant that when Rio Communities
incorporated, they would provide the
same services they did for Peralta.”
When Archuleta and the committee
were pitching the idea of a new city to
the residents of the area, they did so
on the idea of small government, no
employees and keeping government to
a minimum.
“That is actually very, very difficult
to do,” he said. “In reality, the demand
for services will require that you have
employees and the means available to
provide those services.”
In addition to the elected offi-
cials, state statute also mandates that
a municipality have a police officer,
municipal clerk and treasurer, although
the jobs of clerk and treasurer may be
combined and filled by one person.
These positions can be either full- or
part-time.
“The residents aren’t always sympa-
thetic that you don’t have money. They
expect the same or better,” Archuleta
said. “You have got to figure out a way
to provide services.”
The biggest surprise for Archuleta
and the rest of those lucky enough to be
elected to office was the sheer amount
of time it took out of their lives.
“Once we were incorporated, the
phone rang off the hook with people
wanting us to do things about weeds,
trash. And who was out there cutting
the weeds? Me,” said Archuleta, who
was elected Peralta’s first mayor. “If
neighbors are having a dispute over
a property issue or nuisance and you
don’t have ordinances, all you can
really say is, ‘Please, can you do this?’”
The time it took to serve as mayor
was well worth it, Archuleta said, but
he strongly advised anyone interested
in running for office in a new town not
have a full-time job.
And it will take time to see the city
become what the people ultimately
want it to be.
“With any incorporation, not a
whole lot is going to happen quick-
ly. There are pressures to do a lot,”
Archuleta said. “Peralta has been
around five years, going on six. Still
on a daily basis, there’s something new
and they’ve done a lot.”
While Archuleta was the first
mayor, Bryan Olguin was the second
and remains the current of Valencia
County’s newest city.
When he took office in 2008, Olguin
said his main priority was securing a
town hall for Peralta, a home.
“For the first several months, the
town office was out of my truck, in my
suitcase,” Olguin said. “The first coun-
cil wanted to start zoning, but I felt one
of the biggest things we needed was
office space; a place people can call.
“People were calling me, chasing
me down, and they had every right to
do that — I ran for the office. It was
never overwhelming, but it was tough.”
In the time leading up to the incor-
poration, Olguin said there was an out-
pouring of offers to help and volunteers
to run the new town.
“After incorporation, everyone kind
of scattered. People were still willing
to help, but they wanted to know how
much you were going to pay,” he said.
“We didn’t have any money, so I was
the clerk for several months.”
And there’s the issues of money
again. Olguin said Peralta didn’t begin
to receive GRT until a couple months
after he was in office.
“We qualified for small city assis-
tance, but we had to have generat-
ed one year of GRT to get it,” he
said. “Some advice I would give (Rio
Communities) is the day after the elec-
tion, go up to DFA and take out a loan
of $50,000 to $100,000 for start-up
money. So you can do things like get
stationary, phones, hire someone to
answer the phones.”
Olguin said for Peralta, the fire
department was the smoothest transi-
tion. The department went from being
a county fire district to just covering
Peralta.
“We have a great chief and the state
fire funds, and about $35,00 to $40,000
comes from us,” he said.
In the area of public safety, Peralta’s
choice for law enforcement was very
challenging, Olguin said.
“We basically got bids from the
county and Bosque Farms. We almost
got lynched. There were some very
hard feelings. There was a very strong
contingent that wanted the sheriff’s
department,” he said. “But the propos-
als were not equitable. Bosque Farms
offered so much more.”
Peralta is “tickled pink” with
Bosque Farms’ law enforcement,
Olguin said, but the town is in the pro-
cess of weaning itself off the village’s
services.
“We are looking at weaning off by
next year while still working with vil-
lage,” he said. “Prior to my next term
in office, I would like to have a Peralta
police department in place.”
Olguin was frank, saying that
kind of independence would probably
involve some sort of tax increase.
“We’ve talked about it a few times,
and if it’s for police or fire, no one had
a problem,” he said.
Peralta is also starting to take over
services such as animal control and
code enforcement that the county has
continued to provide.
This month, the town is sending its
public works employee to get his ani-
mal control certification, and Olguin
said they are hopeful that by next fiscal
year, the town will be able to purchase
a vehicle and equipment to pick up
animals.
The town is also conducting inter-
views currently for a code enforcement
officer.
And speaking of ordinances, Olguin
said everyone wants ordinances but
don’t want the laws to effect them.
“They want a weak ordinance, but
not for them — for that guy,” he said.
“These are classic cars, not junk. There
are always loopholes. We revised our
fireworks ordinance four times.”
From insurance to furnishing the
office to purchasing vehicles, Olguin
said there’s always something.
“There have been so many surpris-
es,” he said. “But it’s all worth it. One
of the things that helped us immensely
was the village of Bosque Farms. They
are the ideal neighbors and laid out the
carpet with a smile and open arms.
“I think Belen will be the kind of
neighbor for Rio Communities like
Bosque Farms was to us.”
Polling place for election day
First Presbyterian Church, 85 Manzano Expressway
Precincts 29, 30, 32 and 34
7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 8
Absentee and in-person voting
Valencia County Administration Building, 444 Luna
Ave., Los Lunas
Ends at 5 p.m., Friday, Jan. 4
“People were calling me, chasing me down,
and they had every right to do that — I ran for
the office. It was never overwhelming, but it
was tough.”
BRYAN OLGUIN
Current Peralta Mayor
staffing the pool.
If the district didn’t use the 2 mill levy money
for maintenance of the pool, it would have that
much more funding for maintenance of schools,
Cieremans said.
The district and village partner on several
youth sport and recreational activities, and are
considering a partnership to enclose the pool, or
build a larger indoor swimming pool.
Before the economy tanked, the village had an
aquatic center on its wish list.
“We did discuss the possibility of partnering
for a larger aquatic center in the future,” Saiz
said. “But that’s still some time off. But it was a
very good meeting.
“They were very open to partnering with us to
provide a facility for the community.”
Julia M. Dendinger-News-Bulletin photo
IT HAS BEEN slow but steady progress for the town of Peralta, says Mayor Bryan Olguin. The town, incorporated in 2007,
is getting ready to break away from the county this year for services such as code enforcement and animal control.
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8. LOCAL January 5, 2013 7AValencia County News-Bulletin
Dogs: Volunteers with New Mexico Dogs Deserve Better help two neglected pups
from PAGE 1A
Incorporation: Rio Communities Association would change to chamber of commerce
from PAGE 1A
head first into running a city.
A place to hold meetings
has to be found, courtroom
space set up, policies, proce-
dures and laws drafted, pre-
sented to the public and adopt-
ed. Not to mention securing
funding to pay for everything
from stamps to a clerk, con-
tracting for services the new
town needs if it doesn’t have
the immediate ability to pro-
vide them, and somehow find-
ing the time to plan for the
future.
For decades, the Valley
Improvement Association has
handled many services the
county was unable to deliv-
er. The association took care
of the upkeep of the parks
and common areas around
the community, paved roads,
expanded the water and sewer
systems, put in bike paths and
worked to bring in industry
and development.
Now those halcyon days are
over and VIA is looking to its
own future. With assessment
revenues falling off rapidly
over the recent years, associa-
tion CEO Paul Baca says the
company simply cannot offer
the services it once provided.
Not to mention, most of
the older areas of development
— the area looking to incor-
porate — never paid assess-
ments to begin with, relying
on the assessments paid by
other member owners to take
care of the necessities.
“We used to pay for things
like the street lights, the
upkeep of the parks. At one
time, we housed a post office
branch, an office for the volun-
teer sheriff’s department and
funded a youth recreation pro-
gram,” Baca said. “Our assess-
ments are at about an eighth of
what they used to be, and by
2017, the assessment revenue
will be nothing.”
By providing those ameni-
ties, Baca said VIA was car-
rying on with the old Horizon
Land Company philosophy of
encouraging development by
doing things such as donat-
ing land for schools and com-
munity centers and courting
businesses for the Rio Grande
Industrial Park.
And with assessments dry-
ing up quickly, Baca said VIA
is finding itself more and more
in the position of only being
able to offer assistance in the
form of land donations and
“technical support” such as
maps, plat histories and insti-
tutional knowledge.
“As we go forward, it’s
going to be up to all the com-
munities to say, ‘OK, who’s
going to pick up slack that
VIA was doing,’” he said.
If the incorporation is suc-
cessful, Baca said VIA is will-
ing to deed over the two parks,
Timan and Del Fuego, and
any common areas to the new
city. And with that good will
gesture comes some expense.
Last year, between the
parks in the proposed area of
incorporation, and the park in
the Las Maravillas subdivi-
sion, Baca said VIA laid out
nearly $43,000 in water charg-
es and upkeep.
“The municipality will
have to pay for the water and
any level of maintenance or
improvement it wants to fund,”
he said.
The common areas thread-
ed throughout the communi-
ties are a bit tricky, Baca said.
The areas are owned by VIA
and the uses can be anything
from walking paths to a small
park. They act as a buffer area
between clusters of houses,
running from one street over
the next parallel one.
Often tree-lined, the com-
mon areas give access to parks
and the Tierra del Sol golf
course in some places.
The areas are spread out
through the area on both sides
of N.M. 47. Baca points out
that like VIA, if they become
the property of a municipality,
they also become the respon-
sibility of the entity — which
means paying homeowners
for broken fences due to fall-
ing tree limbs and in some
cases, figuring out just who is
responsible.
“Over by the golf course,
the area on one side of the
street is ours, on the other, it’s
not,” Baca said. “In some plac-
es, we’re not sure whose it is.”
The association is also will-
ing to offer the new munici-
pality office space for a paltry
$1 a year, until it gets up and
running, Baca said.
If the incorporation hap-
pens, he said VIA won’t really
have a role in running the city
— after all, it is technically a
business like any other.
“As far as the incorporation
goes, we haven’t played a role
at all. I think the community
needs to take control of its own
destiny, have a voice,” Baca
said. “People don’t want their
taxes to go up, but those same
people complain they don’t
have adequate police protec-
tion. Again, if they want addi-
tional services, it’s up to the
community to decide.
“I live in Belen. We have
high property taxes, but we
have police protection. And I
have a municipality looking
after me and the future of the
community. Because the coun-
ty is so large, it’s resources
are so limited. It’s difficult to
deliver services to the entire
community. As a business per-
son, I feel like they have a lot
of potential here.”
Baca said the relation-
ships VIA has helped build
over the years, such as with
the Mid-Region Council of
Governments and the state
municipal league, will also be
in place for a fledgling city to
rely upon.
“And while the assessment
revenues are decreasing, and
some areas have never paid
assessments, there are areas
where covenants are still in
place and we can assist there,”
he said. “How far we can
go with that, I don’t know
though.”
The association isn’t the
only group that may see some
changes come its way if the
incorporation happens.
The Rio Communities
Association, a non-profit
formed in 1963, was organized
to support the health, safety
and well-being of the neigh-
borhoods east of the river.
Mark Gwinn is the cur-
rent RCA president and the
president of the incorporation
project.
The community is broken
up into districts and there is a
volunteer representative from
each area. From those volun-
teers, a board of officers is
elected.
“AspresidentofRCA,Ihave
encouraged our elected body
to transition into the chamber
of commerce the community
will need after incorporation,”
Gwinn said. “I would like to
see RCA coordinating with the
businesses we have here and
bringing new businesses in.
For a long time, we’ve been an
educational body. Education is
great, but there comes a time
when you have to walk the
walk.”
Severing ties with the coun-
ty may prove to be a slow
process and those supporting
the incorporation acknowl-
edge that. And the former and
current mayors of the town of
Peralta spoke with first hand
knowledge about just how
slowly the wheels of indepen-
dence grind.
Peralta incorporated offi-
cially in March 2007. Just this
year, it is taking the final steps
to train and hire its own ani-
mal control and code enforce-
ment officers.
As the new municipal-
ity becomes more and more
independent — again assum-
ing incorporation is successful
— Valencia County Manager
Bruce Swingle said the county
will continue services and sup-
port to the residents.
“We haven’t had any formal
discussions with anyone from
Rio Communities regarding
services, but once they are
incorporated, they will have
the green light and we will
work with them in terms of
what they are going to need for
services,” Swingle said.
The county does have a
payment schedule in place for
other entities to contract for
services such as road mainte-
nance, code enforcement and
animal control, Swingle said,
and it will be a policy decision
by the commissioners as to
what the final charges will be.
“It will be up to the govern-
ing body of Rio Communities
to determine what services
they want to have,” he said.
“And the commission will
have to look at how expensive
that may be and decide wheth-
er to transfer that expense to
Rio Communities of not. It is
their call.”
One of the benefits tout-
ed by Gwinn and others who
favor incorporation will be the
redirection of gross receipts
taxes back to the municipality
for its use.
Looking at the formula
used by the municipal league
to help determine the estimat-
ed budget for the new town,
Swingle said the county would
see a decrease in GRT revenue
of about $500,000, while prop-
erty tax revenues would be
unaffected.
“We will support them in
any way we can,” Swingle
said. “What they need is up to
the community.”
chaining dogs.
During the group’s walk, they
found a dead dog chained up at
an abandoned house, starved and
mauled by free-roaming dogs.
“It happens a lot — people move
and leave their dogs chained,” Stell
said. “I get calls from property own-
ers all the time, but I’ve never had
to remove a dead dog off of a chain
before.”
Dogs are pack animals that
thrive and prosper in social settings.
Chaining them up outside isolates
them from interaction with their peo-
ple, so they develop neurotic behav-
iors as a consequence, she said.
“They get lonely and depressed,
they get aggressive, or fearful and
shut down,” Stell said. “Typically,
they’re neglected, and so they suffer
a lot of physical ailments.”
The area they are confined to
deteriorates and can promote canine
diseases such as giardia and coc-
cidia, and because of neglect, the
dogs often suffer from heart worms,
anemia caused by fleas, embedded
collars and muscular damage.
Dogs that are constantly tethered
strain at their chain and develop
larger muscles in front, while their
rear quarters atrophy, and the weight
of the chain can cause stress on their
skeletal structure over time.
One chain exchanged by a dog
owner for a harness and trolley
weighed 54.3 pounds, Stell said.
“Chained dogs, usually over a life-
time of being chained, either com-
pletely shut down and are despon-
dent, having completely given up,
or they’re just so hugely aggressive
that they can’t be rehabilitated,” Stell
said.
“It’s very rare for me to take a dog
off the chain and be able to place
them into a foster home immediately.
I usually have to do weeks, some-
times months of behavioral rehab
with them in order to place them into
a home.
“The majority of dogs are able to
bounce back and make it, but some
dogs don’t. So, it’s a very long term
form of abuse and neglect. It really
just kills their spirit.”
Chained dogs are also vulner-
able to attack by free-roaming dogs,
especially female dogs that aren’t
spayed, and chained dogs without
cover from the summer sun will not
get relief in a doghouse, which is
10-20 degrees hotter inside than the
heat outside.
Dogs chained long term are also
likely to develop an exaggerated ter-
ritorial attitude, and are more likely
to attack children who enter the yard.
“My personal belief is, if you
don’t have the means to properly,
safely and humanely contain a dog,
then you shouldn’t have a dog,” Stell
said. “Having a dog isn’t a right, it is
a privilege and not everybody under-
stands that.”
Another big problem is pack dogs,
she said.
Packs of dogs have been known
to attack children, some even result-
ing in death, as in the recent case
reported by the Albuquerque Journal
of 8-year-old Tomas Jay Henio in
Pinehill, about 55 miles south of
Gallup.
He was reportedly attacked and
killed by nine dogs that belonged to
his great uncle, who had taken in the
abandoned animals over the years.
Stell said dogs in packs are a huge
public safety hazard.
Two neglected pit bull puppies,
wormy, starving and shut outdoors
were surrendered by two different
breeders on Monday. The pups are
considered litter rejects.
There are a lot of pit bull breeders
and puppies with the parvo virus in
Meadow Lake, she said.
“A lot of people that we spoke to
will go down to the feed store and
buy parvo shots,” Stell said. “Well,
there’s no guarantee on the integrity
of their shipping — the vaccinations
have to be kept at a certain tempera-
ture, stored properly and adminis-
tered correctly.”
The group took both of the young
dogs back to Albuquerque where
they have kennel and veterinarian
arrangements. The pups were vacci-
nated and will spend 10 days in quar-
antine before going to foster homes.
New Mexico Dogs Deserve Better
provide a number of services, includ-
ing access to reduced rate spay and
neuter programs, as well as commu-
nity outreach.
“Our hope is that by being there
and visiting with people, we have
left an impression, that we have
given them some information that
they can continue to utilize,” Stell
said. “Basically, we’re just going out
there and providing what those dogs
are going to need to make it through
the winter.”
To report a dog, volunteer or make
a donation visit the New Mexico
Dogs Deserve Better website, new-
mexicodogsdeservebetter.org.
Deborah Fox-News-Bulletin photo
VOLUNTEERS OF NEW MEXICO DOGS Deserve Better are pictured in front, from left, Angela Stell, president of the non-
profit animal welfare organization, and community outreach team members, Tamra Miller; in back, from left, Nathan
Baca, Angel Romero, Tina Holguin, Jenn Toennies, DJ Ward and Steve Allen.
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46265 ECME 440L-003 StudentTeaching in Early Childhood Educ W 4-6:30 pm C Gutierrez-Gomez
HED 473 Health Issues in Death & Dying T 1-3:30 pm Doris Fields
HED 482 Intro. to Health Ed & Multicult Health Beliefs F 10-12:30 pm Elba Saavedra
LLSS 493 Current Dev for Heritage LangTeaching W 4:15-6:45 pm Christine Sims
LLSS 511 History of US Education T 4:15-6:45 pm Glenabah Martinez
LLSS 554 Teaching the Native American Child T 4:15-6:45 pm VincentWerito
LLSS 564 Issues with American Indian Education W 7-9:30 pm VincentWerito
LLSS 593 Current Devt for Heritage LangTeaching W 4:15-6:45 pm Christine Sims
41234 MGMT 300-009 Operations Management T/TH 11-12:15 pm StevenYourstone
35384 MGMT 310-011 Legal Issues for Managers M/W 9:30-10:45 am Amelia Nelson
32563 MGMT 328-012 International Management M/W 2-3:15 pm Manuel Montoya
45387 MGMT 398-007 Career Management Skills TH 1-3:00 pm Susan Collins
46144 MGMT 486-005 Logistics Systems Management M/W 11-12:15 pm Mary Margaret Rogers
39200 MGMT 490-004 ST: Principals of Casino Management T 4-6:30 pm Albert Cherino
39214 MGMT 594-012 ST: Principals of Casino Management T 4-6:30 pm Albert Cherino
39849 PADM 500-031 Public Management & Policy M 4-6:30 pm Anthony Cahill
31887 PADM 521-025 Institutional Development & Behavior M 7-9:30 pm Kun Huang
47357 PADM 522-009 Program Evaluation M 7-9:30 pm Mario Rivera
38346 PADM 525-027 Hum Res Management: Public Sector M 7-9:30pm Steven Meilleur
31870 PADM 529-026 Administrative law T 7-9:30 pm RandallVanVleck
41279 PADM 535-005 Comparative Public Administration W 4-6:30 pm Mario Rivera
41288 PADM 538-005 Non-Profit Management T 4-6:30 pm Steven Meilleur
44279 PADM 552-006 Designing Applied Research TH 4-6:30 pm Staff
45003 PADM 562-006 Health Governance in Global Perspective TH 7-9:30 pm Stephanie Smith
44789 PADM 590-007 Native American Economic Development W 7-9:30 pm Albert Cherino
38578 PADM 596-025 Res Pub Managers R 4-6:30pm ChihWei Hsieh
NOTE: The above Interactive Television classes are held in the Student Community Center, 2nd Floor.
Online classes are also available in a variety of subject areas.
Visit online.unm.edu for a list of classes for Spring semester.
Register today for Spring 2013 Semester • Classes start Jan 14
VALENCIA
Bachelor & Graduate Programs
925-8970
valenciabgp.unm.edu
For information on admissions, registration, tuition and fees, visit the
UNM Valencia Bachelor & Graduate website at http://valenciabgp.unm.edu.
