Should the city continue supporting the municipal court?

During last week’s public hearing attendees raised questions regarding the municipal court caseload, the magistrate court’s ability to take on more cases and how the funding would be used if the municipal court was dissolved.

Mayor Ravi Bhasker said the city has spent a million dollars over the last 10 years supporting the court but he questioned the court’s effectiveness on persistent issues like code violations and stray dogs. Bhasker said he was also concerned about the city’s future budget.

“What I would pledge is to use that money to get another code enforcement officer and also help people clean up,” Bhasker said “I think a lot of people just can’t do it. They’re just poor. They don’t have the equipment.”

Bhasker said if the municipal court is eliminated, cases would go to the magistrate court which is financially supported by the state. He said he has heard a concern the magistrate court is already at capacity but believed the city could always bring back the municipal court in the future.

Municipal Judge Joseph Gutierrez said the court addresses a range of local problems, such as code violations, animal control and property maintenance. The court’s ability to enforce local ordinances helps maintain community standards, said Gutierrez.

“If you drive around, you see the issue. There’s a lot of issues here, with the debris, things falling apart,” Gutierrez said.

He said the abandoned building behind John Brooks Grocery has caught on fire multiple times and has not been brought to his court. This strains city resources especially the fire department, he said.

Gutierrez said he has spoken to the Magistrate Judge Felix Saavedra who told him magistrate court is already busy enough. Gutierrez said he wasn’t sure why there has been a steady decrease of citations from the police department, code enforcement officer and animal control. He said in 2016 under Police Chief Mike Winders his court processed 2,313 citations and last year under Police Chief Angel Garcia he processed 1,350.

City of Socorro Code Enforcement Officer, Chris Carrillo said since he started in his position the city has removed 100 tons of junk in people’s yards, averaging at 70,000 pounds a year. He said he didn’t need to cite the property behind John Brooks because he was able to work with the owners to remove the building and the efforts to clean up the debris are ongoing.

“My philosophy for code enforcement is to work with the community, not against it,” Carrillo said.

“So the absolute last resort for me would be to write a citation.”

In doing research into alternatives to the magistrate court, one idea was to have an administrative officer that would hear all the cases, Carrillo said.

“I don’t believe it’s not one person doing their job. I think it’s tough for Municipal Court with the process,” Carrillo said, “ I think we have to rewrite the process, if possible. I think municipal court’s hands are tied with that.”

He said citations are just one tool he uses to address code enforcement issues.

“I’m not going to cite people just for the sake of citing people. Of course, if you’re not going to work with me, I will cite you,” Carrillo said.

Bhasker said the committee will meet again to take a vote on their recommendation and at the next city meeting on Oct.7 the city council will vote on keeping or dissolving the court. If they choose to dissolve it will have to then be approved by the New Mexico Supreme Court.