Dear editor,
After leaving the City of Grants where I was the City Manager for approximately 6 ½ years, I am saddened and disturbed by the public comments made by the new City Manager, the Mayor Modey Hicks, and Councilman Erik Garcia, who continue to publicly criticize and disparage current and former leaders of the city, such as myself.
Benjamin Franklin said, “Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain, and most fools do.” It is sad and disturbing that these leaders have created a narrative in the City Council meetings and in the media, that is based on false information, derogatory, and sometimes harassing, remarks. City meetings have become a mockery, likened to episodes of Jerry Springer or Real Housewives, with residents and nonresidents tuning in to see what drama and outrageous behavior will unfold. This is what our City government has become.
Criticism is to be expected when in public service. But what continues to bother me, despite my attempts to ignore it, are the fallacies that continue to be told and even published without rebuttal, investigation, or vetting. I am not sure anyone else cares what the real truth is, but I care, and I know my family cares, as we feel that my reputation has been tarnished. The personal attacks have not stopped with me, but are also being tossed out like candy at a parade, hurting the reputation of our fellow Councilmen, who do not deserve such treatment. Nobody deserves such treatment.
I won’t go into details about working for the current Mayor, but I will say my personal experience was abusive, hostile, and challenging. No one, as an employee of any organization or government, should be subjected to manipulation, deceit, bullying, intimidation tactics, name-calling, and downright harassment. No employee should be subject to their supervisor’s radical political ideology. No employee should be asked to do something illegal or put the safety of their employees at risk.
The unfortunate thing about working for public government, is that elected officials often arrive with their own agendas and list of priorities. The best officials adjust those agendas to fit the needs voiced by their constituents and approach from a position of, “what is the best for the community and the greater good?” versus, “what’s in it for me?” I was faced with the challenge of managing the city under the leadership of some elected officials preoccupied with their own unethical and self-serving agendas. In a job like mine, I had to constantly fear the loss of my job. If I disagreed with a City official about following a state mandate; if I disagreed with a Councilman about cutting down all of the elm trees that provide the only shade and dust control in town; if someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed that day - any of that could result in me, as a professional, being name-called and verbally abused on live stream during a public meeting, and then terminated. That is the life I lived as City Manager under the current Mayor’s leadership.
Since my departure from the City, the Mayor, Councilman Erik Garcia, Vanessa Chavez and the current City Treasurer, have publicly stated that there was transferring of money which caused co-mingling of funds. That the city was close to being insolvent and taken over by the state. That I left the City struggling financially. They are claiming that the City could hardly make payroll. The Mayor claims we had a bad audit and that he was kept from the exit conference. Both Erik and the Mayor claim that I lied to them and kept things from them. Vanessa Chavez claimed that departments never saw their budgets. Modey is claiming that the other three Councilmen have not done their duty of oversight and that they are corrupt. All of this is untrue. I urge anyone who believes this nonsense to check the facts.
Where is the proof of these accusations? I can tell you that we will never see proof of any of this because it is all false. After these initial accusations, fast-forward a few months down the road, it all seems to be “resolved.” If there were truly such serious issues, like a fear of not making payroll, they would not be resolved overnight, without explanation. As some of you may recall when the County was having legitimate, financial issues, it took the County three years to resolve them. It has been stated that the County was close to insolvency.
To demonstrate how information can easily be misrepresented, let me provide an example. At the Nov. 18th meeting Commissioner Windhorst stated that there was a time when the County only had $183,000 in surplus. So, I decided to fact-check this information to see if this is true through reviewing public records I looked at all the County audits from 2015 to 2019. Each year the County ended the year with at least $8 mil in surplus. Were they ever really close to being insolvent? It does not appear so by the records. However, I welcome factual documentation and proof, if I am indeed wrong.
Now I’d like to offer up the facts in regard to how I handled the City finances. I have included the City of Grants 4th Quarter Report that was not compiled by me, but someone after I left the City. It shows the transactions for my last year in my position, for which I was only absent from two months of that year. We started that year with around $8 mil cash and investments, which is considered a healthy reserve. They ended the year with $12,174,198, (approximately a $4 mil increase). The report shows that Revenue was $26,627,409 and expenditures were $23,092,839. So obviously, the City did not overspend under my leadership, and I did not leave them close to being insolvent.
Take a close look at the Golf Course line item. The Mayor keeps stating that the Golf Course is costing $800,000 a year. He conveniently forgot to mention that that amount is offset by $337,642 in revenue. Also, about $100,000 of that is a charge for water for the golf course due to the severe drought last year, which is not necessarily the case every year. That amount should really be added back in because the City gets the revenue for the water bill. Don’t forget that the golf course operation is also part of our Wastewater Treatment that we would have to fund even if there is no golf course.
If the City was in such dire straits, why did they fill all the vacant positions that I had placed on hiring freeze? Why did they add three new positions at the Fire Department? Why did they give hefty raises to the pipe crew and street crew? Why did they approve a huge air conditioner at the mechanic shop, new roofs for several of the buildings, a $35,000 roller for the street dept, a $106,673 bucket truck, a $400,000 change order for 1st Street Pond and Pump, new computers at the library, new flooring at the animal shelter, and so on and so on. Typically, entities in troublesome financial positions do not continue to spend money like that, but rather begin cost-cutting efforts.
This begs the question, why is the City claiming false financial woes? I believe part of it is to try and make me look bad, personally, and part of it is because the Mayor wanted to cancel the full contract with Jacobs and if the reason for canceling is budget constraints, there is no penalty to get out of the contract. Otherwise, the penalty was 1/12 of the contract which would have been about $100,000. That is why I believe they are falsely claiming financial woes. All of this while the Mayor continues to publicly accuse others of corruption.
To see all New Mexico government audits you can go to the NM Office of the State Auditor,
https://www.sapnm.org I have included a spreadsheet comparing the audit summary of all local government agencies. As you can see in comparison, the City did not necessarily have a bad audit as was stated. Keep in mind that all findings are not necessarily equal, and all audit teams are not equal. I have saved my text message where I invited the Mayor to the last audit exit conference, and he did not respond. The auditor was on a tight deadline to turn the audit in the next day and so when the Mayor did not answer, I texted Rick Lucero to attend the exit conference. As normal protocol, the auditors went over the report a few months later with all of the City Council for their approval. Nothing was hidden from anyone.
Any transfers of funds were what was recommended by an accounting firm that had been hired a few years ago to help the finance director. The individual from the accounting firm telling us what to transfer and where it gets transferred is a CPA, CGFM (Certified Government Financial Manager). I have all the emails and correspondence from him. I personally was not authorized to transfer money in the software system. The Finance Director or the Procurement Officer in her absence made the transfers recommended by the CPA.
I urge the people of Grants to examine the facts. While I was the City Manager, I may not have always made the right decisions, and I may not have been perfect, but I can tell you that I approached my work every day with my heart and soul, dedicated to doing what is right and ethical for the people of Grants.
I leave you with this advice from the great spiritual teacher, Buddha. There is a difference between criticism by a person who is trying to help, and willing to help, and a person who is trying to be destructive and abusive.
“A man interrupted one of the Buddha’s lectures with a flood of abuse. Buddha waited until he had finished and then asked him, “If a man offered a gift to another but the gift was declined, to whom would the gift belong?”
“To the one who offered it,” said the man.
“Then,” said the Buddha, “I decline to accept your abuse and request you to keep it for yourself.”
Laura Jaramillo
Grants