Tenacious Leader of Rio Rancho Remembered

An urban visionary. A tenacious and dedicated city leader. A blunt talker with a no-nonsense attitude.

Those are some of the traits colleagues in Rio Rancho attribute to former Mayor Pat D’Arco, 91, who died after an extended illness.

For anyone arriving in Rio Rancho, the most visible legacy to the city he helped shape are the signs along Rio Rancho’s main north-south thoroughfare, N.M. 528, proclaiming it “Pat D’Arco Highway.”

In 2007, the New Mexico State Transportation Commission named a 9.7-mile section of the road from Westside to U.S. 550 after the former mayor. Then-Department of Transportation Cabinet Secretary Rhonda Faught called D’Arco “Mr. Rio Rancho.”

D’Arco’s efforts to secure rights of way from AMREP, the company that originally developed Rio Rancho, galvanized the state Department of Transportation’s plan to widen that section of N.M. 528 from a two-lane to a four-lane road.

He then crafted a partnership among the city, Intel Corp. and the Transportation Department that widened N.M. 528 to six lanes between Southern and the Bernalillo County line.

“He’s been an icon,” said Ray Johnson, who sits on the city’s Planning and Zoning Board, which D’Arco chaired until recently.

Current Rio Rancho Mayor Thomas Swisstack, who originally served as mayor following D’Arco, spoke of his predecessor’s determination to look out for Rio Rancho’s interests among other communities in the region and at the state level.

“He was adamant that we were a growing city and should have an equal voice and not be a suburb to any community, but a partner,” Swisstack said.

D’Arco’s commitment to city improvements didn’t end with his term as mayor in 1994. He continued attending state transportation commission meetings and serving on the Planning and Zoning Board into his 90s.
— This article appeared on page C2 of the Albuquerque Journal