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Saturday, November 21, 2009
Private E-Mail Raises Concerns
By Steve Lynn
The Daily Times
FARMINGTON — A city councilman e-mailed developers, the mayor and another councilman about La Plata Ranch, angering two other councilors who said they should have discussed the development publicly.
Councilman George Sharpe e-mailed Councilman Dan Darnell and Mayor Bill Standley after a Nov. 3 City Council meeting on the proposed 562-home development La Plata Ranch. Sharpe sent the messages to fellow elected officials' personal e-mail accounts.
The e-mails, sent Nov. 6-9, come as the city is weighing whether to annex 250 acres of land northeast of Piñon Hills and New Mexico 170 that La Plata Holdings and Albuquerque-based Geltmore want to develop. La Plata Ranch developers want the city to spend millions on the project's infrastructure.
The e-mails were not addressed to councilors Jason Sandel and Mary Fischer.
Fischer called the correspondence "totally inappropriate" and a "good ol' boy system" of conducting city business. Sharpe should have discussed the issues in front of her and members of the public at a meeting, she said.
Sandel complained about the e-mail correspondence in a meeting earlier this week.
"An entire conversation was occurring to build a consensus outside of an open meeting," Sandel wrote in an e-mail to City Manager Rob Mayes. "I think that most would consider this to be railroading."'
Sharpe denied that he was seeking agreement from other councilors in the e-mails. City staffers should work out a method to share infrastructure costs with the developer, Sharpe wrote in the e-mails. Those negotiations should be followed by a public City Council discussion whether to approve the new method, Sharpe wrote.
The e-mail correspondence raises concerns, said Sarah Welsh, executive director of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government who reviewed the e-mails.
"They're still discussing business and that's something that should be done in an open meeting," Welsh said.
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