City council president threatening to halt policy from mayor’s office over communication qualms

A change in how Mayor Tim Keller’s administration fields questions from the city council is causing a rift at City Hall.

“I would say that right now, the dynamic between the administration and the council is … abrasive instead of cooperative for both sides,” City Council President Brook Bassan told the Journal in a recent interview.

Her frustration stems from a procedural change in how the council is directed to communicate with the mayor’s office — specifically, that all questions go to one email address instead of directly to city departments.

Bassan called on the administration Thursday to fix lapses in communication to avoid “further disruption to city governance,” hinting she might halt policy from the mayor’s office being placed on the council agenda in her capacity as the body’s president.

“It would be really, incredibly unfortunate to have the work of the city grind to a halt over a disagreement about how I meet the requirements of them answering questions,” Samantha Sengel, chief administrative officer for the mayor, told the Journal on Friday.

In a Jan. 13 email provided to the Journal, Sengel says “all requests, questions, and inquiries from councilors and Council Services staff should now be directed to a centralized email address.”

“In some instances, our directors and staff spend an extensive amount of time tracking down information and responding to requests from Council Services — staff, analysts, and councilors — sometimes at the expense of focusing on the critical work that advances the city,” the email reads.

According to the administration, nine people respond directly to those emails before going to a respective department.

Documents obtained by the Journal show there are around 52 council staffers, a number that has grown by 10 employees over the past four years.

The inbox has received a couple of hundred emails since its launch, according to Sengel.

The centralized email was established in part because of an ordinance sponsored by Councilor Louie Sanchez, that passed last year, requiring all answers to questions asked of the administration by councilors be done so in writing.

“While I understand that the administration is trying to collect data, there are ways to do so that don’t delay essential services to the citizens of Albuquerque. What used to take a two-minute phone call, now takes weeks to get a response,” Sanchez said in a statement Friday morning.

Sengel said that the email is necessary for her to keep track of the council’s questions.

Keller came to the defense of his chief administrative officer on Friday, calling her “the consummate professional.”

“She takes running the city and serving our constituents very seriously. I appreciate that her focus is on the business of the people,” the mayor said in a statement Friday.

The next council meeting is Wednesday and Bassan is looking to get back to government business.

“We’re supposed to be helping Albuquerque, whether you’re the mayor or whether you’re the council. We all got in this to help Albuquerque,” Bassan said. “Right now … I don’t think we can effectively do our job, because we are not getting access to information that is necessary for us to make educated choices.”