The first half of the September 13 Sandoval County commission meeting included many presenters, and also many comments from various commission members. Commissioner Jay Block urged Sandoval County citizens to ignore Governor Michelle Lujan-Grisham’s 30-day emergency ban on carrying guns in Bernalillo County; Commissioner Katherine A. Bruch celebrated the Valles Caldera; Mike Baker, Chief Public Officer for Rio Rancho Public Schools, discussed upcoming education-related bonds; and Jamie Silva-Steele, CEO of Sandoval Regional Medical Center (SRMC), talked about the center’s latest Community Health Needs Assessment and other related topics, leading the public to discuss the recent nurses’ union strike.
Voting to Vote Against the Vote
The first half of the Sept. 13 Sandoval County commission meeting included many presenters, and also many comments from various commission members. Commissioner Jay Block urged Sandoval County citizens to ignore Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s 30-day emergency ban on carrying guns in Bernalillo County; Commissioner Katherine A. Bruch celebrated the Valles Caldera; Mike Baker, Chief Public Officer for Rio Rancho Public Schools, discussed upcoming education-related bonds; and Jamie Silva-Steele, CEO of Sandoval Regional Medical Center (SRMC), talked about the center’s latest Community Health Needs Assessment and other related topics, leading the public to discuss the recent nurses’ union strike.
Voting to Vote Against the Vote
It was in the second half of that same meeting, however, that things got eventful, despite many items on the agenda being shrouded in at-times-opaque language and several subjects obscured by political monologues that were not always on-topic and/or not always grounded in verifiable accounts of actual events.
For example, after a brief discussion of a resolution “Supporting Referendum Petitions on Bills Passed by the 2023 Legislature,” Commissioner Jay Block spent time running through anecdotes about crimes allegedly committed by transgender individuals and accounts of fourth-graders being told to fill out questionnaires but not tell their parents about it.
The discussion was over a proposed proclamation that expressed support for Sandoval County residents in their efforts to overturn several bills passed by the Legislature earlier this year. The Referendum Project, a statewide effort to put certain pieces of legislation on the ballot for voters to decide, is backed by county residents who frequently speak at commission meetings.
The Referendum Project targets six ”liberal” bills they cite as examples of government overreach, including HB-7, which positively affirms gender care for those legally old enough to receive it, and SB-397, which creates school-based health centers.
Block enthusiastically supports the effort, seconding it just after its introduction by chairman David Heil. Bruch did not support it, despite saying that, while she does really believe the resolution may be about protecting people, though not specifying how, she has constituents that do not think the way she thought some people in the meeting room might, and so, ultimately, “This doesn’t serve us.”
In his comments, Block arguably oversimplified this vote, saying that since the vote was just about people being able to vote, literally anyone opposing it is “a fascist.” This inflammatory statement caused Commissioner Bruch to stand up and walk out of the meeting; and as a result, the vote was 3-1 with Commissioner Joshua Jones, a Democrat, voting against it.
Later in the meeting, other resolutions heard included one about soon setting Sandoval County’s property tax rates; one about $19 million for a new magistrate court facility; another about $18 million for a new district court facility; and another about potentially privatizing the county landfill, a landfill already turning a profit, and that, out of 394,000 visits, has only ever had four negative incidents worth reporting.
The next Sandoval County Commission Meeting will be at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, September 27, in the County Commission Chambers on Odelia Road, and will be viewable online, live and afterward.