How much is that dog park in the window? Future of Coronado dog park, charter chatter and more from City Council

It was the penultimate City Council meeting before the body takes its July break.

But Albuquerque City Councilors aren’t taking an early vacation. Councilors and commenters alike held fast as their Monday meeting stretched into early Tuesday morning.

To come is a final vote on a bevy of charter amendments and the annual update to the city’s zoning code, both of which are scheduled for discussion at the June 17 meeting.

A handful of the actions taken on Monday are listed below.

How much is that dog park in the window?

City Council voted 6-3 Monday to declare Coronado Dog Park nonessential, the first step in putting the property up for sale. Council also approved 7-2 a resolution to make sure that all revenue from the sale is reinvested into parks around the area.

A handful of residents in the area spoke in opposition to the sale, citing a lack of green spaces in the area.

“As a dog owner, this is the closest, most spacious park,” said Juliann Salinas during public comment. “For the first time in several years, we’ve been able to use this public space and it has been wonderful. ... I’m deeply concerned about the loss of yet another public space.”

In August 2022, the city closed the nearby Coronado Park, where dozens of people had camped, some of them for years. On Monday, Chief Administrative Officer Samantha Sengel said the plan for the park was to build a fire station.

Doreen McKnight, president of the Wells Park Neighborhood Association, said she appreciated the legislation to keep the money in the area but was concerned about “the timeline.”

District 2 Councilor Joaquín Baca introduced the reinvestment resolution.

“We can make sure to keep the community whole in terms of green space, trees, parks,” Baca said.

The park, located at Second and McKnight, was appraised for $975,000.

The nearest park is Wells Park, which had a groundbreaking last winter. The $7.7 million expansion project will double the size of the park and add new athletic courts and a dog park.

The project is expected to be completed early next year.

Ranked-choice voting? Voted down

A proposed ordinance to bring ranked-choice voting to Albuquerque failed on a 6-3 vote. Ranked-choice voting, which has been floated as an alternative to a proposed charter amendment to reduce required vote thresholds from 50% to 40%, allows voters to rank candidates from favorite to least favorite, rather than selecting one candidate over the others.

In the language of the bill, it was stated that argued that ranked-choice voting, which has been adopated by a handful of other state municipalities, could help avoid expensive runoff elections.

But ultimately, Councilors Tammy Fiebelkorn, Nichole Rogers and Baca were the only councilors who voted in favor of the measure.

About those charter amendments ...

Four proposed charter amendments were deferred to the June 17 City Council meeting after a second public hearing on Monday.

They include a proposition to reduce the vote threshold for mayor and City Council from 50% to 40%; another affecting the hiring and firing of the city attorney and city clerk; one to change the removal process for the chief of police and fire chief; and a final proposal to handle vacancies on a committee that handles separation-of-powers issues between the Mayor’s Office and the City Council.

City Council President Dan Lewis said the proposals have “taken shape because of the feedback, input and discussion” over the past weeks.

The proposals have been amended over the past weeks. On Monday, language on one of the charter amendments — one that would change how the fire chief and police chief can be removed — was added to clarify that the mayor can remove either , for any reason.

City Council would be able to remove either the police chief or the fire chief with a vote and cause determined by the Office of the Inspector General.

Lewis said this change addressed concerns that the proposals made it too difficult to remove a chief.

Another amendment, proposed by Councilor Klarissa Peña, tackled another issue raised by the administration — a limit on how long someone can remain in an interim position. Originally, the language limited it to 90 days.

That was later extended to 180 days. But on Monday, another change increased that to 270 days, after CAO Sengel said national searches to fill roles like the Chief of Police can often stretch nine months long.

If approved by Council, the charter amendments will head to voters in November in the form of a ballot question.