By Rodd Cayton, Route 66 Independent — After months of uncertainty, false starts and conflicting ordinances, town commissioners in Edgewood gave in and approved a new ordinance to fund a new fire service agreement with Santa Fe County in June.
The Route 66 Independent previously reported that the county rejected town commissioners’ changes to an agreement the parties had already reached. The initial payment dispute ended a 21-year agreement between the town and county which arose after town commissioners stopped paying the county for fire service. The two entities began negotiating anew in May after it was discovered that Town Commissioner Stephen Murillo had directed town staff to rewrite portions of a previously-agreed version which the county later rejected. With the spectre of a July 1 end of county-provided service looming over those talks, commissioners had to take action by their mid-July meeting to meet legal implementation deadlines. They approved the deal on June 16. Subsequent Town Commission meetings have seen residents get angry with members and express worries about loss of insurance coverage and steep drops in the value of their homes.
Because town officials had previously said an agreement was in place only to find out it was not, the Route 66 Independent reached out to the county to clarify. “No further approvals are required,” county spokesperson Stephanie Stancil told The Independent. “The JPA has been signed and approved and now the ordinance has also been approved by the Town Commission. Nothing else is needed for Santa Fe County to continue providing uninterrupted fire and EMS services.”
Throughout the negotiations, some town commissioners have openly discussed potentially starting a municipal fire department or contracting for the service elsewhere, which may still be in the works but the new agreement calls for a five-year notice from the town to cancel county service. The handling of the situation has been cited as a factor in the launch of the Reboot Edgewood group, which has proposed disincorporating the town and returning local government functions to the county.