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Thursday, March 20, 2008

Stearley Hires Mayor of Estancia

By Lee Ross
Mountain View Telegraph
    For now, Edgewood has two mayors.
    Edgewood's mayor, Robert Stearley, hired Estancia's mayor, Martin Hibbs, as part-time acting town administrator.
    On his first day in office, March 10, Stearley dismissed town administrator Jeff Condrey and told the Telegraph he'd appointed himself as acting town administrator.
    At the town council meeting of March 12, Estephanie Muller, who had been deputy clerk, was appointed to an acting clerk/treasurer/administrator role.
    In an interview Monday, Stearley said Muller is now acting clerk/treasurer and that Hibbs is acting town administrator for the time being.
    Those changes are not yet permanent, Stearley said. The town administrator position will have to be advertised and Muller's change in position will have to be approved by the town council.
    For the time being, Hibbs will make $37.33 per hour in the part-time position, Stearley said.
    Hibbs said he will likely work four full days a week, or 30 to 35 hours a week.
    Stearley explained how the Estancia mayor has enough time to work in Edgewood as well.
    "Being mayor over there (in Estancia) is part time for him," Stearley said. "I was really fortunate that Marty had the time ... he's doing a fantastic job over there."
    Hibbs said that, as mayor of Estancia, which doesn't have a town administrator, he has filled that role. Stearley said that Hibbs can also draw on his experience with Estancia's roads, police department and recreation programs for the youth.
    "Certainly with Marty's assistance, (I'll) cover a whole lot more ground than I can by myself," Stearley said. "He brings a lot to this town."
    He also pointed out that most roads in Estancia are paved, and that he'd like to see something like that done in Edgewood.
    "I'm going to bring a proposal to the council to buy the equipment necessary to do chip seal pavement," he said.
    The equipment is actually a relatively inexpensive gravel spreader, Stearley said.
    The roads would have to be in good shape and compacted to begin with, and an outside company would have to be hired to spread oil on the road afterward, Stearley said.
    He added that chip seal can also help keep dust from the roads down, which could even be a public health hazard.
    "Many of our roads are ready for this treatment," he said.
    Once the town's sewer is functioning, which may be by the end of 2008, the treated water can also be used on the roads to keep the dust down, Stearley said.
    He said a different issue is at the top of his list of priorities, however. Public safety, specifically the police department, is a priority ahead of roads.
    "A part of (public safety) is the police department. ... That's our number one obligation to the citizens of this town," Stearley said.
    He noted that the town's current police protection, a joint powers agreement with the New Mexico State Police, expires July 1.
    Edgewood Police Chief Paul Welch said he already has 15 applications that meet the town's requirements, but he's not ready to begin hiring until he has the appropriate infrastructure in place.
    The two major issues that might impede hiring police officers, according to Welch, are getting two communications services going, including phones and radio dispatch service for 911 calls.
    Although there are other aspects of the police department still needed, such as police vehicles, Welch said the communications systems are vital.
    "We (police) are a communications organization," he explained.
    He recently met with a group from Santa Fe County's Regional Emergency Communications Center, which has representation from the city and county of Santa Fe's police and fire departments.
    Welch said he hopes to use their dispatch services.
    "I explained my concerns about my time frame," he said. "Things are getting very tight."
    One aspect of communications may have been taken care of recently. Work on a phone line, running to the police station, was finished Monday, according to Qwest media relations manager Gary Younger.