CITY OF GRANTS, N.M. – Election Day is March 1, and many of the hopeful candidates for Grants City Council are preparing for the big day. For months the Grants City Council has stood stagnant as internal turmoil left the government fractional and barely operating, District 4 is currently held by Councilor Fred Padilla, who is not seeking to retrain his seat through reelection. Instead, three hopefuls seek to take the seat and put the City of Grants back on a working track.
Due to COVID-19 exposure and subsequent infection, the Cibola Citizen was unable to conduct in-person interviews with these candidates. Richard W. Jones did not respond to the Citizen’s request for comments. Jones can be contacted at 505-290-0843.
Beverly Michael
A retired clinical social worker, and area businesswoman, Beverly Michael seeks to focus on bringing financial strength back to Grants. Looking to the Village of Milan, Michael seeks to look into the New Mexico Correctional Department to see if private entities can regain control of the prison located on Sakalares Boulevard in Grants. “The city has lost around $600,000 annually in gross receipts tax income that came from the private run facility. When the Milan facility was facing closure, past elected officials and village officials protested loudly and sought another contract to keep the private facility going,” Michael said. She declared that this would be her first order of business if elected. Michael then declared that “we need to move quickly to support other major manufacturing types of businesses in Grants, who can help us recover this gross receipts loss.” She seeks to focus on hydrogen access at the Tri-State Power Generating Plant in Prewitt.
Another of Michael’s goals would see infrastructure across Grants updated. “It seems like daily occurrences of water or sewer line breaks, with water being shut off repeatedly. When a road has to be dug up to make repairs, it is often not repaired adequately, creating sink holes and pot holes that are really bad.”
When asked why she wants to be a Grants City Councilor, she replied, “I have always been interested in local government and have attended many City Council meetings, as well as watching them live on social media. It has been difficult to see the negativity and fighting that occurs at meetings. When citizens are afraid to attend meetings to speak to the council for fear of being yelled at or told off, violates the Open Meetings Act. This simply should not be happening. It is an embarrassment to Grants and an insult to the citizens when public elected officials behave like this. The Council needs to return to non-partisan status and should have elected officials who will not use the office to push their partisan agendas. The Council needs to work for the citizens.”
When asked to addressed the current public opinion crisis the Grants City Council is suffering, Michael said, “I plan to be responsive to the Citizens of Grants, follow through with anything I can help with and be open to ideas and suggestions from not only District 4, but all of Grants. I plan to re-introduce the Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct that I submitted to City Council in 2020, that was ignored. I think that if we put in guidelines for how meetings are to be run and what to do if things become out of hand, we will see positive communication between citizens and elected officials.
“In all my life here, I have never encountered such a negative environment in our city government. We can operate from a place of kindness and acceptance, and professionalism needs to be the priority. I promise to do these things without having to post on social media my every move and I guarantee I am not looking for a Netflix reality show.”
Accountability is really important to Michael, she presented the city council with a code of ethics in 2020 which they adopted, but did not carry into 2021. She seeks to bring the resolution back up if elected to office. When asked about area non-profits, Michael explained that while she has never volunteered for non-profit work in the City of Grants, she does have an extensive history of working with non-profits in Albuquerque, and here in Cibola County, working with the 4H Festival of Trees and Roberta’s Place Festival of Wreaths. Michael said that she honors those people in our community who volunteer without needing photos posted on social medias. Michael can be contacted at 505-980-0886.
Ruben Aranda
A former Grants City Councilor, and a current Certified Safety and Health Official for a Fortune 500 Company, Ruben Aranda is big on community events for the youth, being an official for the New Mexico Activities Association for high school basketball over the last 21 years. Aranda explained that he wants to work toward “an inclusive and diverse community,” saying, “I am a common citizen of this community and feel obligated to do whatever I can to help with improvements of our community.”
Part of his plans for District 4 in Grants include making sure that the district is “at the forefront” when it comes to already funded projects, so that the area can get the greatest number of improvements. Then Aranda seeks to have a code of conduct passed in the city council chambers. “It would entail personal accountability for how one interacts with respect and courtesy toward each other, as well as the prohibition of shaming, name calling, and personal attacks. There must be a standard and a point of a beginning.”
Aranda wants to see order returned to the Grants City Council, stating, “I would help to bring into light the Robert’s Rule of Order, which is a manual implemented originally by the military on procedure that refers to most organizations with boards of directors. There must be orderly discussion, and every individual recognized by the floor, must have the opportunity to debate a point without being a pundit for shaming. The governing body of the city is a representation of our community. We are diverse in ideas, visions, beliefs, and experiences. Pulling together in the same direction is so much easier than pulling in different directions.” If elected, this would not be Aranda’s first time in the spotlight of local government. He served in the past as not only a Grants City Councilor, but also Mayor Pro tempore but he resigned after voting to accept the services of OMI. “I was elected to two terms as city council for district 4, as well as Mayor Pro Tem. Midway through my last year of service, I accepted a promotion as Project Manager for OMI, which at the time was in contract with the City of Grants. Accepting a direct leadership position with OMI would have created a conflict of interest, so I stepped down from my city council seat.” As an individual, Aranda has worked as a volunteer for Grants Fire and Rescue, volunteering his time for 40 years, both active and inactive; the Tri-State Fireman’s Association Board of Directors; the Knights of Columbus; Trek For Trash/Clean the Scene; and Youth Soccer. He explained that volunteering for non-profits shows his commitment to Grants.
Aranda can be contacted at 505-29-0361.