Santa Fe City councilor questions benefit of belonging to LANL coalition

By Daniel J. Chacón dchacon@sfnewmexican.com

July 3, 2020

City Councilor Renee Villarreal questioned whether LANL coalition’s priorities took into account city resolutions 'indicating our stance on the nonproliferation of weapons, reducing plutonium pit productions' and 'environmental justice accountability.' Luis Sánchez Saturno/New Mexican file photo

Prove it.

That was the message from Santa Fe City Councilor Renee Villarreal at Wednesday night’s Quality of Life Committee meeting, when officials were asked to approve proposed amendments to a joint powers agreement that established the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities in 2011.

The city of Santa Fe is among the nine cities, towns and tribal governments that make up the coalition.

“I think in the past, some of us on the council have been skeptical about the role of this entity and what the coalition actually does for our communities and the region and how specifically the city benefits being part of the coalition,” Villarreal said.

The coalition describes itself as a conduit for Northern New Mexico communities to have a say in decision-making on regional economic development and nuclear cleanup efforts at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Villarreal questioned whether the coalition’s priorities took into account city resolutions “indicating our stance on the nonproliferation of weapons, reducing plutonium pit productions” and “environmental justice accountability.”

“I’ve never understood how those have had any weight or value based on the coalition’s priorities,” she said. “That’s always been an issue for me.”

Villarreal also requested specifics on the proposed changes to the joint powers agreement, which neither Kyle Mason, who is the city’s emergency management director, nor City Councilor Michael Garcia, who serves on the coalition’s board, could explain.

Other questions also couldn’t be answered. As a result, the committee moved the amended agreement forward but without a recommendation.

“Personally, I wouldn’t recommend it,” Villarreal said.

Mason, the city staffer who presented the proposal to the committee, deferred nearly all questions to Garcia.

“I think I’m the newest member on the coalition,” said Garcia, who was elected in November, “so I’m still learning in regards to historical actions and the current actions of the coalition.”

Garcia suggested inviting Eric Vasquez, the coalition’s executive director, to future meetings.

Vasquez said Thursday he was unaware of the questions that surfaced at the committee meeting Wednesday.

Vasquez took over the top job at the coalition after a controversy emerged two years ago involving improper reimbursements for travel and entertainment expenses.

Amendments to the joint powers agreement are designed to prevent the type of embarrassing violations that thrust the coalition into the spotlight.

“It’s basically addressing a lot of the concerns that came out from a couple of years ago when all that stuff went down,” Vasquez said.

Of the nine member agencies, only the city of Santa Fe and the pueblos of Jemez and Ohkay Owingeh haven’t signed the amended joint wpowers agreement, he said.

Villarreal noted the proposal didn’t specify what financial commitment, if any, the city would have to make. But most of her questions centered on the agency’s effectiveness. She said the agency hasn’t presented the city of Santa Fe any reports since she was elected to the City Council.

“I’ve never seen it — ever — in my time on the council, so it would be helpful if there’s things that show why it’s important we’re part of it and where we actually have an important role to play in influencing policy decisions at LANL and with [the U.S. Department of Energy],” she said.

Historically, the coalition received about $200,000 a year in public money — about half from member agencies and the other half from a five-year Energy Department grant that has since come under scrutiny.

In October, the Energy Department’s inspector general recommended the federal agency seek “appropriate reimbursement” of up to $300,000 from the coalition, saying the organization failed to properly account for its spending.

A report from the Energy Department’s investigative arm found the coalition “comingled department funds with funds received from other sources and subsequently engaged in [lobbying] activities prohibited by the U.S. Code and the terms of the grant agreement.”

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