The Edgewood Commission moved through its agenda quickly and approved road maintenance and the purchase of a new water truck before there was some confusion among commissioners regarding planning and zoning fees and the town’s organizational chart.
During the commission’s regular meeting May 14, Brad Hill, manager of the Planning and Zoning Department, presented town commissioners with a resolution of fees for the department. Part of the resolution was establishing a monthly compensation of $400 to planning and zoning commissioners — a separate commission that is responsible for administering a variety of ordinances and policies adopted by the town commission.
“I have served on planning and zoning and I believe I can speak from a voice of experience,” said Edgewood resident Cheryl Huppertz. “The way I looked at it was a volunteer position. A stipend is just, you know, saying thank you and to help pay for a little gas. But giving the commissioners $400 a month is more like paying them to do the job instead of serving our community. Currently, they meet only once a month. Those meetings are anywhere from probably two to three hours. So let’s say you had three hours a month that would be like making $133 an hour to be on the team. They need to be wanting to serve.”
Hill said the commissioners go through sign ordinances, grading and drainage ordinances and subdivision ordinances. They also go through appeals from abatement decisions.
“So there’s that on their plate as well,” Hill said. “This community is really blessed right now with very competent, engaged and serious commissioners. I want you to understand that this is not coming to a meeting and spending two hours and going home. They’re very conscientious about the minutes. They’re very conscientious about findings of fact and conclusions of law. There are multiple tasks that they are given beyond just the regular planning and zoning meeting.”
Edgewood Commissioner Jerry Powers agreed with Hill and said there is a lot involved with the duties of the Planning and Zoning Commission. The commission changed the resolution to say stipend instead of compensation and moved forward with approval.
Who is in charge of the town?
While reviewing the town organization chart draft, Commissioner Sterling Donner said he has been looking at other organizational charts from towns like Truth or Consequences and Tucumcari.
“The commission reports to the people and then the town manager or city manager reports to us and everything else falls under the town manager, I am not sure why we’re different than everyone else,” Donner said.
Powers said he discussed this with the town’s attorney and the law has changed over the years. He presented a commission and manager statutes document that states the town or city manager is to employ and discharge all persons engaged in administrative service of the municipality.
“The phrase ‘persons engaged in the administrative service of the municipality’ can reasonably be interpreted to refer to employees who carry out the daily operations of the municipality and to exclude appointed municipal officers. The city manager does not have the authority to supervise, employ or discharge other appointed municipal officers,” the document stated.
The document also stated that commission duties consist of passing all ordinances and other measures conducive to the welfare of the municipality, performing all acts required for the general welfare of the municipality and in addition to the office of the manager, creating all offices necessary for the proper carrying on of the work of the municipality.
Donner said if the manager is the one who oversees the day-to-day operations and manages the staff, that needs to be made clear.
“I think we need to make sure we remember that consistently,” Donner said. “There were some things that were brought up this past week, I won’t go into a whole lot of detail regarding those. I think we need to clarify what the commission oversight is, I think there is some confusion there that needs to be fixed. I have spoken to a few of the staff and some of the things I was told were very concerning and I think those things need to stop. We need to make sure we are diligent and that anything that is staff-related runs through her.”
Powers suggested creating a resolution for clarity with Donner so that the duty of oversight is clear and understandable. Donner agreed with Powers and the commission approved to bring this item back at the first meeting in June so there can be more review and research.
“I just feel that the commission as a whole is overstepping our boundaries and demanding things that we have no business demanding, and it has to stop,” Donner said. “I am sick and tired of dealing with the same issues over and over.”
Road maintenance and new water truck
The commission also approved road maintenance for Kennedy Road and Fall Road and the purchase of a new water truck for the Road Department. This truck would cost $245,350 and replace the town’s current truck, which is in bad condition and rusting.