By Rodd Cayton, City Desk ABQ
The Bernalillo County Commission has a few more days to convince the New Mexico Department of Justice that commissioners didn’t break state law when they went into a closed-door meeting.
Earlier this month, the department’s Governmental Counsel and Accountability Division sent a letter to commissioners asking for an explanation about why they used an executive session to discuss whether County Treasurer Tim Eichenberg broke hiring rules in naming former former county clerk Linda Stover his deputy.
The department began looking into the matter after receiving a complaint from the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, which alleged the County Commission violated the state Open Meetings Act (OMA).
The foundation felt commissioners were not specific enough in advertising the discussion on the agenda, the foundation’s legal director Amanda Lavin told City Desk ABQ.
“NMFOG is glad to see the NMDOJ is looking into Bernalillo County’s compliance with the open meetings act,” Lavin said Tuesday afternoon by email. “In order for there to be accountability in government, the public needs to be able to trust that their government only holds private meetings to discuss public business when the law explicitly allows for such private meetings. It’s not clear that Bernalillo County Commissioners followed the law here, and the NMDOJ’s investigation will hopefully bring more details to light.”
The letter from New Mexico Assistant Attorney General Michael Kiehne directs the county to submit to the Governmental Counsel and Accountability Division a written explanation of its decision to enter into a closed session.
“If the information requested is not received, GCA will conclude, based on the complaint, that an OMA violation occurred. Once that determination is made, the Commission will be required to cure the violation,” Kiehne wrote.
The initial one-week deadline of Feb. 21 was pushed back to this Friday at the county’s request, county Spokesperson Tia Bland said.