Southern New Mexico Common Cause
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
· Meeting Location: A Taste of Home Restaurant, Las Cruces, NM 88001
· Members Attending: (12)
Mary Ballard, John Bloom, Alex Burr, Steve Carter, Lynn Ellins, Steve Fischmann, Dolores Halls, Woodie Jenkins, Jim Kadlecek, John Lazaruk, Mike McCamley and Tamie Smith.
Members Not Attending: (6)
Phil Banks, Gus Bigelow, Rose Garcia, Ron Gurley, Vicki Simons and Charles Welch.
Guests
Mrs Jenkins
1. Call to Order: Lynn Ellins called the meeting to order at 11:44 AM.
2. Approval of April Meeting Minutes:
The May 2007 meeting minutes were approved as amended by voice vote.
3. Announcements: None
4. Projects:
A. Board of County Commissioners - None
B. City Council (LAS CRUCES) - None.
C. Board of Education (LCPS) - None
D. NMSU Board of Regents – (John Bloom) See Attached Report. The meeting was without approval of the agenda. Lara Coniff said that the entry of “Other” in the Regents minutes inbcluded time for public input. All New Mexico Universities and many others do allow public input (with entries that say so). (Lynn Ellins) We will go over everything with the Regents. He also advised we ask for time on their Agenda. (John Bloom) He said to try it and “speak up.” It was advised to try to have time on the Regents Agenda in September.
5. New Business
A. Report on Annual Meeting - (Mike McCamley) See attached form. 52 attended, counting Gary King and Tamie Smith. Gary King was not charged and Tamie Smith did not eat. We covered all expenses with Common Cause New Mexico help. We collected $760 [cash and checks] that was taken to CCNM by Steve Carter. The talk by Gary King was excellent and covered the topic.
B. Report on State Meeting – (Alex Burr) There were three interviews for the Executive Director of Common Cause New Mexico. A unanimous decision by the Board of CCNM selected Lena Nuenz for the position. She was born in AZ. Her work in CA and CO helped her during the interview. There was no nominating committee. The Board wanted it by choice. (Jim Kadlecek) The goal of the State Ethics Committee may be what CCNM wants. Matt Brix was a Great Executive Director of CCNM. He will be an asset to the Ethics Committee. Maybe we should host various Local Legislators to get them briefed the issues and on how / what SNMCC thinks.
C. Budget Project – (Jim Kadlecek) The DAC budget has language that only CPAs might understand. If the DAC budget were like the CLC budget, it would be written for the people / public to understand. There is no information on performance in the DAC Budget. [i.e. number of arrests] This may be due to the many independently “elected” officials at Dona Ana County. (John Lazaruk) We looked at many county budgets from all over. The publications in the index of the “National Association of Counties” (NAC) were used by the Committee. DFA states the Laws for counties and gives a guide. Each county can do more. (Jim Kadlecek) DAC gives only 4-6 week period for policy-makers to see budget. It is an accounting document or so it seems. That is how it is used or at least how it is looked at. There are past performance measures for each item in the City of Las Cruces Budget. They can be used as a model for the current budget. (Jim Kadlecek) We should bring together the Master Plan together with Budget Comprehensive Planning. Anyone who has interests in [DAC] Budgets should join the committee. We are trying to get a session with the DAC Finance Manager or Managers. The committee will continue with the recommendation about Health Care. (Steve Carter) Mountain View Hospital is going about a plan to limit your ability to choose by buying Doctor’s practices. The goal of Mountain View Hospital is to limit the number of Doctors who can practice in the Hospital. There is a nurse shortage that everyone should be familiar with. (Woodie Jenkins) All independently elected county [DAC] officials should be included in any discussion or session. Independently elected officials can’t be leveraged into any Comprehensive Budgeting. (Jim Kadlecek) Public Input Guidance may be the easiest thing to change. The Committee has more work to be done.
6. New Business
A. (Steve Fischmann) The Board personal may want to be on the State Board. It was moved, seconded and passed by voice vote to appoint Steve Fischmann to replace Jim Kadlecek as a member of the state CCNM board.
B. (Dolores Halls) Interim Legislative Committees don’t come down here much anymore. A general discussion ensued covering which ones came down and which ones don’t anymore [recently].
7. Other - (Tamie Smith) Safe and Sane Fireworks meeting and The ETA/ETZ meeting is tonight at 5:00 PM.
8. Adjournment - Lynn Ellins adjourned the meeting at 1:11 PM
Respectfully Submitted,
Michael McCamley
SNMCC Board Secretary
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Date Approved and Signed