Southern New Mexico Common Cause
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
· Meeting Location: J.W. Flours Restaurant, Las Cruces, NM 88001
· Members Attending:
Mary Ballard, John Bloom, Steve Carter, Lynn Ellins, Ron Gurley, Jim Kadlecek, John Lazaruk, Mike McCamley, and Charles Welch
Members Not Attending:
Jane Asche, Phil Banks, Gus Bigelow, Alex Burr, Steve Fischmann, Rose Garcia, Delores Halls, Woodie Jenkins, Vicki Simons, Vanessa Quiroz and Tamie Smith
1. Call to Order: Lynn Ellins called the meeting to order at 11:38 AM.
2. Introductions and Agenda Approval/Changes:
Introductions were made or all knew each other.
The meeting Agenda was then approved by voice vote.
3. Approval of July Meeting Minutes:
The July meeting minutes as amended were approved by voice vote.
4. Announcement: J. Kent Evans will not be here to speak on Public Finance of Elections at this meeting due to other commitments. Maybe we should try and invite Max Britt and maybe Shirley Baca to the September meeting to be here / speak on Public Financing of elections.
5. Projects:
A. Board of County Commissioners - (Charlie Welch)
· Charlie Welch tried to get a copy of the County’s budget from the elections Bureau. A copy was not available due to the fact that each office submitted their budget request in a different format. May make a recommendation / proposal that the DAC budget process be standardized.
· At the last Commission meeting a question was raised about one item on the Consent Agenda. The question asked why that item was “hiding” in Agenda items. A contract wasn’t being awarded to the lowest bidder. The issue was about bonding.
· DAC will become a member of the South Central Transportation Region.
· DAC withdrew from the COG (Congress of Governments).
· Ron Gurley added that the Workforce Investment Board re-awarded / reassigned the administrative duty of fiscal agent for the handling of funds to NMSU. The board (CEOs of member organizations) overturned this decision. But in the final outcome it remained as before with NMSU as the fiscal agent. There is litigation pending against them about a “contract” with the Board. Jim Kadlecek would like to research the letter overturning that decision and all other background. As far as ethics is concerned, it should be made public and released.
B. City Council – No Report
C. Board of Education (LCPS Board) – No Report.
D. NMSU Board of Regents - No meeting / No Report but a discussion was held concerning the President of the Board of Regents and the pending Common Cause litigation.
E. ETZ Commission – (Lynn Ellins) – No Report
F. Planning and Zoning Commission – (Lynn Ellins)
· The meeting was held in Vado.
· The major topic of discussion was the background of the Re-zoning of the Vado area... The discussion boiled down to adequate “Sewers.” The Re-zoning issue passed the Commission on a 3 to 2 vote. Process remained the prime concern and anything that isn’t in the “Record” shouldn’t be considered.
6. New Business
A. Jim Kadlecek reported that the attached written report was the result / summation of individual research and work conducted on the DAC Budget process by SNMCC committee. There was no meeting held by the committee to coordinate the items on the report. (See attached report.) John Lazaruk submitted the attached NACSLB RECOMMENDED PRACTICES that are important to look at and compare to DAC practices. Jim Kadlecek stated that there are 10 Areas of Inquiry to focus on to examine the DAC Budgets. Also the State DFA is proposing to cut CDBG funds from DAC because the current funds are not completely used; Grant Administration isn’t up to practice standards; and there is no performance check on the funds assigned. A DAC Advisory Council and State and Local Budgeting should become more involved. We should ask, under the FOI, what projects the DAC is administering. He then went over the 10 Areas of Concern and a discussion was held about those 10 Areas. The Budget Committee will learn the DAC budget process and then will make recommendations. Still a search project should be undertaken and, at that time, offer suggestions.
B. Lynn Ellins, the new interim Voting Chief for DAC, stated that he and his people were soliciting inputs about the voting process. Ron Gurley stated that the training of poll personnel (poll workers) should be revamped. We must find out who is available to train, develop the training objectives and then develop the poll worker training. Then a discussion of the voting process was conducted by Lynn Ellins.
7. Old Business – None
8. Other- None
9. Next Regular Meeting: September 20, 2006
10. Adjournment: Lynn Ellins adjourned the meeting at 12:50 PM
Respectfully Submitted
Michael McCamley
SNMCC Board Secretary
Date Approved and Signed