Last night’s Regular Town Council Meeting, and earlier happenings over the last week, are briefly captured here for your review in this news brief. Again, this is created by the Town of Taos to assist media, and area constituents, with staying up on all that’s occurring in the town. If you would like more information about any of these briefs, if you’re interested in something that doesn’t appear here, or if you have someone who would like to be added to this distribution…email or call us. Thank you, Cathy Connelly, Public Relations Coordinator 751-2001.

1) Upcoming Events/Meetings:

  • Monday, October 29th, 4:30 p.m., Town Hall Conference Room, Special Meeting – Preliminary agenda (official one will be out tomorrow, Thursday, 10/25/07 – items could be added) right now includes

a) house keeping matters (grants, contracts, etc.),

b) consideration and possible action to be taken regarding the Town Manager (out of executive session), and

c) police and fire department discussions about competitiveness/compensation (see item 3 below).

The Executive Session is also on Monday night’s schedule – item on agenda is “Town Manager’s performance based on the performance evaluation criteria pursuant to NMSA 1978 10-15-1-H2”.Point of procedure: The Council will convene its public Special Meeting to talk about its public items; break into Executive Session to discuss personnel matters (no public allowed); and then immediately after Executive Session, reconvene the public special meeting to discuss whatever actions they may or may not take as a result of their Executive Session.

  • 12 noon, October 30th, Town of Taos Parks and Recreation Committee meeting, Youth & FamilyCenter on #585
  • 9 a.m., October 31st – Joint Town/County Meeting, Town Council Chambers
  • 3-5 p.m., October 31st – Halloween at Town Hall. The Town of Taos invites all Taos area children to come and ‘trick or treat’ in its hallowed halls as a safe, daylight venue for this fun annual tradition. Parents are encouraged to bring children to try their costumed, candy-collecting-luck office to office and meet some of the scariest government representatives imaginable (Did I say that?). Of course I meant scary as in our costumes….
  • 10:30 a.m., November 2nd – Opening ceremony of the first Taos permanent Homeless Shelter (for single men). Event is at the shelter, 109 Albright, right out front of Taos County Planning.
  • November 3rd weekend – Dixon Studio Tour
  • The week of November 5th – curbside pick up for FREE by Town of Taos Streets Department of all organic ‘green’ yard waste including leaves, grass, branches, etc. Must be bagged or bundled and placed curbside.
  • Friday, November 9th – Town of Taos offices closed – Veteran’s Day recognition.
  • 1:30 p.m., November 6th – Council Briefing Meeting, Town Council Chambers
  • 9:30 a.m., November 13 – Council Workshop Meeting, Town Council Chambers
  • November 14th – Taos Storyteller Theater – special evening with filmmaker Chris Eskaby (including a film), put on by the Santa Fe Film Festival. Town of Taos is major advertising sponsor of this year’s festival efforts. For details/tickets go to
  • 5 to 7 p.m., December 8, Lighting of Ledoux Street
  • December 11th Town of Taos Council Public Forum, Town Council Chambers

2)Update on TaosPlaza Area Public Restrooms

  1. Town of Taos Public Works is meeting with the Allstate contractor this Thursday to try and iron out contractual snags. If resolved, restroom/police office annex should be up near Alley Cantina by January 1, 2008;
  2. Old CountyCourthouse on Plaza – all Town/County actions now moving forward together to begin construction of restrooms in early January and finish by February 29th, 2008;
  3. Taos Plaza Theater – owner Behrstock’s internal delays have put back the schedule for the construction/availability of these restrooms which were previously hoped for in January, 2008. No precise timeline provided at this time; d) Existing porta potties will remain in TaosPlaza area until at least one permanent restroom solution is realized – in the interim, temporary screening and/or moving is anticipated by Public Works.

3)Chile Line Public Transportation – Winter Schedule, NCRTD Connects, and Added Stop in Place Now (see attached schedules) – ACT One (next to Kit Carson Electric on Cruz Alta) is a new stop added to the Chile Line routes. Winter schedule/hours have begun this week. Refreshed Chile Line connections/locations/timing now in place so that North Central Regional Transit District’s (NCRTD’s) new transit service effective hooks up with Taos’ – both lines supporting each other. The Chile Line has recently won a New Mexico Department of Transportation honor– “2007 New Mexico Section 5311 Rural Transit System of the Year”. Way to go Public Works, Transportation Division under the Directorship of French Espinoza and Supervision of Fran Suazo!!

4)Town of Taos Police: Council was presented with today’s reality that the Department’s hourly pay scale continues to be under the area average when it comes to compensation for both certified and non-certified officers. Council was told by the Town Manager that this discrepancy could be immediately rectified within the existing 2007-2008 Town budget and hourly salaries increased if the Council wished to do so. This issue will be discussed in greater detail, with the addition of the Town of Taos Fire Department’s salary comparisons, at Monday’s special Council meeting. Interim Police Chief Syling presented an overview of salary comparisons at the Council request. He said that many things go into the requirement and retention of officers – and that Taos competes well on many levels in these other areas. However, his Department is still faced with New Mexico State Police recruitment on the pay scale issue that out strips anything he can offer. In order to rectify this situation, Monday’s meeting will get into a more thorough discussion of all the issues. Part of this overall discussion regarding Town police and fire is a consultant study to be out soon on how to address the overall picture of the Town’s ‘pay and classification’ issues and ways to bring them into balance internally and externally.

5)‘Crafters’ May Face New Policy at Town of Taos Venues – A presentation during the citizen forum period last night by area business representatives resulted in the Council’s determination that they need to examine the Town’s policies regarding for-profit arts and crafts fairs being scheduled throughout the year at Taos Plaza and Kit Carson Park. Business representatives asserted that the commercial ‘arts and crafts’ fairs take away from their own businesses’ bottom line, don’t generate the tourism promised to the area, and don’t pay to the Town the same level of gross receipts taxes (GRT) local permanent businesses do.A work study session will be scheduled on this topic during November with all stakeholders present to discuss this matter and determine a Town of Taos policy set by Council moving forward.

6)Grantmakers in the Arts Remains ‘Big Hit’ – More to Come…Lots of positive feedback from area service and business representatives about the 300 Grantmakers here in Taos for their annual conference. Great, engaging people – interested in Taos and all it offers. They’re also spending their dollars here too. A completely different group – but 300 again – in negotiations now with Town Conventions and Meetings Department for April 2008. Keep them coming!

7)Presentation by Council Member Erlinda Gonzales and Miranda Quintana, Youth & Family Center management, about their action oriented report from their attendance at the recent National League of Cities’ Youth, Families and Education Summit. Initiatives in Taos they’ll be pursuing out of the conference include a Master Plan to organize and focus new efforts on reducing youth delinquency, obesity, drop-out rates, and other youth problems. The Summit also provided a national perspective on many of the stellar programs already underway in the Town of Taos – programs that compare well nationally when it comes to our innovation and positive inroads.

8)Town of Taos Public Library Expansion – Design Request for Proposal (RFP) is out for this planned 14,000 ft. redesign/expansion of our great library. To view the proposal, go to the front index page of the Town’s web site and scroll down a bit to “Raps” in red. Next big effort on this project is focused on getting the money to build the expansion. Write your state legislator – the session is coming up beginning of the year when funding priorities will be designated.

9)Two Finalists for Planning Department Director: Michael Hirschman, AICP, AndersonIN, BS Public Administration, 10 years experience in building/planning/zoning; Walter E. Reeves, Jr. AICP, Farmington, NM, 24 years planning and development—lead planner, senior planner, development services administration. In-person interviews with two finalists will occur in approximately next two weeks – then a single recommendation to Council.

10)Record Turn Outs Already Reported for Originals 2007, New Mexico Women in the Arts – at the Harwood and MillicentRogersMuseums now through December 30, 2007. Town is a major advertising sponsor of this event. If you haven’t gone, do so – representatives of 18 countries and visitors from every U.S. state (except for four) have attended, with record numbers of museum-goers logged in. Plus, impressive art sales of the Originals 2007 works, and private gallery sales in town linked to event attendance have occurred since its September 29th kick off. Weekly weekend events continue – lectures, programs for children, etc. Go to the web sites for the Harwood, and Millicent Rogers for details.

11)Taos Marketing Entities United for Joint Focus – Destination Taos, Griffin & Associates and individual Taos businesses/nonprofits are working together to jointly focus a marketing/advertising and free media program for the area’s tourism. Goal is a 5% increase in overall ‘heads on beds’ by June 2008. The current action plan for now through spring will be available next week.

12)LUDC Outreach Continues – If you haven’t commented, you need to now about the Town’s revision of its Land Use Development Code. Say what you want the future of Taos to be in the context of what’s allowed to be built – what it looks like, how it works, and what it encourages. Either call Matthew Foster, Long-Range Planner, and 751-2037 and set up a meeting for your group, or log and provide input – but do it now. The Council also sanctioned and encouraged the LUDC Revision Committee, represented by Maya West at the Council meeting, to pursue its own review and focused input into the LUDC revision process with the PlaceMakers consulting team.

13)Environmental Impact Study (EIS) by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for cross-wind runway at TaosRegionalAirport. The first ‘Section 106’ meeting occurred last week among the stakeholders of this proposed runway addition – these section hearings focused on the proposed mitigations for the resulting impacts of such a development. Result: Mid-November a conference call will occur between the stakeholders to set a second public hearing.

14)New Town employees welcomed into the Executive Department: Executive Assistant Carmen Gonzales and Exec Admin Assistant Floater Tammie Romero. If you call the Mayor’s office, or that of the Town Manager, you’ll probably talk with one of these new staff members – please welcome them.

15)Youth & Family Department honored by the Town as its shining ‘Star Department’. Brian Greer, Director of the Youth & FamilyCenter, and his entire department were recognized for their fine work.

16)Team of the Quarter, Town of Taos, went to its Human Resources Department – Elected by Town staff, this department was selected for a variety of outstanding reasons including their good work while lacking a permanent Director for the last six months.

17)Matters brought up from “Mayor and Council” at the meeting: The Department Directors’ classified or non-classified employment discussion will be put back on a future agenda for discussion. Discussion also hit on the current process of a consulting firm which is evaluating the overall classification and benefits issues within the Town of Taos among all its employees. A proposal will be forthcoming from the consultant on the issues that exist and proposed solutions for improving parity and equity with regard to staff compensation both between Departments, and between the Town of Taos and other communities.