Making a lieutenant; On-going questions of impropriety

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MILAN, N.M. – Questions of impropriety are floating around the Village of Milan, New Mexico, after reporting from the Cibola Citizen that newly-minted Lieutenant Gilbert Gonzales was in the running to become the chief of Milan Police Department.

Controversy stirred because Lt. Gonzales is the domestic partner of Village Mayor Felix Gonzales’ daughter. Village policy states this is inappropriate because an employee must not be supervised by family, which includes domestic partners.

After this story broke, the Citizen received several complaints pointing out that the village does not allow for an officer to be promoted to lieutenant, because there is a ladder to climb to get to that position. Lt. Gonzales’ promotion occurred while he was just an officer for the department.

Village of Milan promotion policy states that, to become a lieutenant, the person in question must have the following qualifications:

“Ten (10) or more years continuous experience with the Village of Milan Police Dept.

“Two (2) or more years experience (sic.) as a Sergeant with the Village of Milan Police Dept.

“Successful completion of a mid-management course (may be waived for one year after promotion) in addition to first line supervisor and instructor development.” (sic.)

This comes from Village of Milan policy on promotions for the Milan Police Department. The Cibola Citizen has confirmed that Lt. Gonzales has not served 10 continuous years with the department or two years as a sergeant.

Lt. Gonzales was promoted before former MPD Chief Lionel Desiderio left the office. Since then, MPD has been operating with five officers to safeguard the whole community and receiving assistance from the Cibola County Sheriff’s Office.

Several phone calls were made to Mayor Felix Gonzales, but all went unanswered or unreturned except for one, where the newspaper was informed at press time that Mayor Gonzales was in Gallup, N.M. and unable to answer the call.