A citizen-journalist sent the photograph below to the Citizen.Taken yesterday around 7 p.m., it shows an open letter to the residents of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, posted on a utility pole near the Healing Waters Plaza in downtown T or C.
The letter makes serious allegations of incompetence, negligence and perhaps illegality involving the municipal government’s management of the city’s water and wastewater departments. Every resident is highly aware of the decrepitude of city’s water and wastewater infrastructure, made evident by onminpresent leaks gushing water in the streets.The letter is neither signed nor dated, but it appears to have been written by someone with an insider’s knowledge of the mismanagement of these critical utilities that is taking place behind the scenes.
I cannot vouch for the accuracy of these wide-ranging charges, but, if even half of them are true, they raise serious and even alarming questions about the safety and sanitation of T or C’s municipal water and wastewater systems. I have chosen to post the photo of the letter to make the community aware that the systems’ problems may run deeper than is generally known and to encourage residents to press the city administration and city commission for truthful answers. Perhaps individuals who possess first-hand knowledge relevant to the needed civic investigation to uncover the truth about the management of the water and wastewater departments will step forward to publicly share it in the comments section below.
I can firm up and confirm some of what is written by the anonymous person.
1. Firm-up: Two reliable sources have told me raw sewage is going into the Rio Grande. One told me it was going in close to T or C Rotary Park and the other person told me it was going in the Rio Grande in Williamsburg along Riverside Lane, where Val Verde intersects that street. The first person said he reported it to the EPA many times and a Shelly Lemon, with the NM Water Quality Control Commission, not the EPA, was evidently contacted by the EPA to look into this. It is a fact that the state of NM is among three states in the union that do not have “primacy,” that is, the EPA’s confidence to oversee effluent emissions, that is National Pollutant Discharge Elimination permits.
2. Fact: Last January, during the session in which local elected officials met with state representatives to ask for capital outlay money, then-City Manager Swingle and Alfredo Holguin with Wilson & Co (the city’s on-call eng. firm) said the city needed $1.5 million in emergency funding for the wastewater system because the discharge into the Rio Grande was barely meeting EPA effluent standards.
3. Fact: When Swingle was city manager (May 2021 to May 2023) he said the water department was down to two employees and should be about eight to 10 employees. Current City Manager Angela Gonzales more vague stated about two months ago that the water department had too few employees and other city staff had volunteered to help them.
4. Fact: It is true that in the last 18 months there has been three different w/ww department heads. Jesse Cole, a man whose last name was English and now Arnulfo Castaneda.
5. Fact: Swingle said during meetings that SmithCo had been hired to help with water repairs. Fact: previous City Manager Morris Madrid also told city commissioners during meetings that he had hired private workers to help with water repairs. I met some of them on Veater Street on a few occasions. Morris also said, and this is about three years ago, that there were 2 water dept. employees.
6. Fact: about 4 months ago, during a city meeting, Arnulfo Castaneda said he was the only licensed operator. I think he said some were going for their license.
7. Fact: during a city meeting Swingle said too many water calls were going into SCRDA, Sierra County Regional Dispatch Authority, which cost the city for each call, the amount unstated, and he was switching those calls to go to the water/wastewater department.
Met a woman posting these at the dog park today. She had attended the last city council meeting and was very upset that nothing was said about safety measures not being taken and her husband is presently in the hospital and has been for some time. She did not give her name but obviously taking the time to write, print and post in public places is giving her some sense that she is making a difference. She did not say why her husband is hospitalized or even what hospital he is in. I feel for her.
Posting something anonymously — while it may state a list of facts and problems — makes it difficult to address making change, if that person (or persons) is not willing to account for themselves. As someone who has for many years stood at the podium to make public comment to bring ideas and or challenge issues before our city commission or tried to engage others in numerous ways, I am appalled and deeply sadden by the lack of involvement and concern of my fellow citizens. Wastewater is just one of a long list of problems facing out community. There is also the waste of water — leaks and more — and the city’s solution is to charge us all megabucks to put “smart meters” on our water meters as though that will fix their NEGLECT of decades to address an aging infrastructure. There’s more. But I’ll leave it at that.
You must take into account the level of vitriol that can be directed at people who want to speak out in TorC. I myself would also carefully consider going public with knowledge. Too much “good ole boy” stuff in that town.
I did read the post on FB before it was removed, and my very first thought was being an anonymous letter will make it difficult to accept or prove it’s credibility and there are some very serious accusations in the letter.
I understand the writer may fear repercussions if he or she is a current city employee or just a fellow resident.
I cannot factually state that any or all of the accusations are true or false but several of the accusations are serious enough in my mind to turn to our City Commission for their comments. I think a very large turnout at the next city commission meeting on Sept. 6th with numerous citizens using their 3 minutes of public comment to demand a detailed explanation of the accusations is in order.
Perhaps if enough citizens show up and speak during public comment our commissioners will respond to the comments.
If our commissioners can’t provide a detailed response regarding the accusations then that would certainly in my opinion warrant a State or even Federal investigation as EPA and OSHA violations are Federal.
Personally, what bothers me the most is that I could easily believe most of these accusations based on my interactions with city leadership and some of our municipal departments.
My lack of confidence in our city leadership is based on all of the times I have seen our commissioners ignore or violate city ordinances, weather intentionally or out of ignorance I can’t say but I can say they have and continue to do so.
I will give the city the benefit of the doubt especially since the letter is anonymous, but I am planning to be at the city commission meeting on Sept. 6 at 9:00 AM, to learn more, why not join me?
The open letter was published in the print edition of the Sierra County Sentinel today (August 25). It was signed by Jenifer Meinke of Truth or Consequences.