The Town of Edgewood has had a long-standing custom of allowing both Public Comment and Councilor Comment at ALL regular public meetings of the town’s governing body. However, under the Bassett administration, that custom was chipped away and the public was limited to two minutes while town staff invoked an intimidating countdown clock projected on the wall of the meeting chambers. More recently, under the reign of Acting Mayor John Abrams, even the pretense of wanting public input was removed. After first unilaterally cancelling all regular town meetings for two months, Abrams, then (without a vote of the governing body) completely removed both Public Comment and Councilor Comment from the agenda over repeated objections by governing body members Audrey Jaramillo and Sherry Abraham. He now seeks to limit public opinion only to a specific topic on the agenda, to marginally fulfill obligations under state law.
One has to wonder, what information or criticisms is Abrams afraid will come out? The severity of the matter is made all the clearer when we are reminded of how the public has been systematically shut out of our local government.
More than two years ago, local newspaper The Independent featured a piece by its editor Leota Harriman (01-18-2019). She was spurred to write her editorial after observing then-recent efforts for excessive restrictions on public comment, poor behavior by several elected officials, and the frustrated outbursts of members of the public. Harriman encouraged more government transparency, suggesting that all public documents should be made available on the town’s website. She also advocated for longer public comment periods and the ability to yield individual comment time to another speaker.
READ: Editorial: Edgewood, Lead by Example
But Edgewood’s local government has been stymied for two years by ‘leadership’ that does not value public or councilor opinions when they differ from their own. Such ‘leaders’ fail to understand the very purpose of public debate is to bring a multitude of ideas to the forefront where elected officials can then debate merits and find the best solutions for a given issue.
How can the town properly function in the best interest of its citizens if elected officials cannot hear from the public? How indeed, when those same elected officials are barred from speaking on behalf of the public? It’s not just absurd, it’s un-American.
Our democratic republic functions precisely because of public input and involvement. It is totalitarian governments that refuse public input and demand subservience to a single dictator or ideology. That sort of disregard for citizens is not what our country or our town were founded on.
The lack of open and responsible government has been a growing problem in Edgewood over the past few years. We have seen violations of the NM Open Meetings Act, failure to follow court rulings, illegal town meetings, and most recently, illegal removal of an elected governing body member (based solely on the acting mayor’s opinion). It’s a serious matter that requires the community to act, to speak out, and to elect commissioners who not only work for and respect the citizens of Edgewood, but will uphold and follow Town ordinances, and State, and Federal laws.
We need Open and Responsible local government in Edgewood. We need people willing to serve honestly and faithfully for the betterment of the entire Edgewood community.
