Residents question Marshal’s visibility in community

Magdalena residents voiced their concerns about the Magdalena Marshal’s Department at the October 14 regular Magdalena Village meeting.

Before the approval of the department reports, Village Trustee Donna Dawson asked for clarification on the September Marshal department reports.

“It shows that the uncertified officer has driven more miles around this village than the certified ones,” Dawson said, “Both officers Waterman and Michael Zamora’s mileage is less than 300 and Mr. Felix says it was over 2000. Aren’t the certified officers supposed to be there, be on duty?”

Mayor Richard Rumph said that Robert Felix, the uncertified officer, has been on extra patrols.

“The Marshal (Zamora) has been tied up with paperwork, and Officer Waterman’s on easy work status after his heart surgery,” Rumpf said.

During the law enforcement recruitment and retention stipend fund appropriation of $56,250 for the fiscal year 2025 agenda item, Dawson asked for clarification on how much money has been used.

Michael Steininger, finance officer, explained there were two separate law enforcement grants.

“One is in the third year, which is this, which is the stipend in the recruitment, that money has just been received. That’s the one that needs to be moved. That one, until the resolution is passed, has no disbursements going out on it. The one that has the money still going out is the second installment of the recruitment grant. That one will have one more year to go, but the stipend, this is the third and final year of that one, unless the legislature makes changes.” Steininger said.

Rumpf said they’ve asked to increase their salary by six dollars with the final installment.

“If there’s any money left at the end of the year of stipends, this is for recruiting. We have two certified officers with 20 and 25 years in law enforcement. Yeah, it’d be nice to keep them,” Rumpf said.

The Village Council approved the law enforcement recruitment and retention stipend, with Village Trustees Jim Nelson and Michael Thompson voting in favor and Donna Dawson against. Trustee Clark Brown was not in attendance.

Four Magdalena residents raised concerns about the Marshal’s visibility, reachability and accountability in their monthly reports during public comment.

“So respectfully, just in discussion of the detention funding. Is there a scope of work for this? You know, we seem to not have a whole lot of visibility with our law enforcement. And so for $56,000 and our Marshal is doing paperwork, and somebody is on medical leave. How are we handling that?” Athena Gassoumis said.

The Mayor said Marshal Zamora goes out there when he can, and Captain Waterman is on light duty for now.

“It’s a rural area. Michael likes to sleep occasionally and being called out on the phone at three in the morning when he’s not on duty. 911 is to provide the fastest response that goes for fire, ambulance and police.” Rumpf said.

Catherine DeMaria said with the previous Magdalena Marshal, Larry Cearley, he always made himself available by phone.

“We could call Larry Cearley because he believed in community policing, and he was there in 30 seconds flat,” DeMaria said.

Rumpf said the laws and procedures have changed. He said he didn’t understand why people refused to call 911.

“You call 911, period,” Rumpf said.

Bill Webb said he worked in law enforcement for 32 years and understood the challenges. He asked if there was coverage for before and after their shifts or a procedure in place for after-hours.

“It’s called 911 no, no, we don’t officially. that’s why you call 911,” Rumpf said.

Rumpf said hate and lies were being spread in the village, as well as misinformation in the newspaper. He said he was never invited to a meeting.

“I was not invited. The marshals were not invited. The Marshal went down and met with the sheriff, and it was basically a waste of time,” Rumpf said. “There are ‘other agendas’ out there, and I’m tired of it; our marshals are doing their job to the best of their ability with the time they have; call 911.”

Teri Winchester said she was concerned the council approved Marshal Zamora’s report, which only reported one day of patrolling. The report in the packet shows a log on September 9 with 261 miles driven for the whole month.

“They received in retention stipends, $100,000 a piece over the last two years, and now you’ve just approved $56,000 to be split between the two.” Winchester said, “But this is always going to show what he did for the month. I mean, I feel like if you’re going to give him a retention in that note, at least document, at least put on paper what you’re doing.”

The Mayor agreed to talk to Marshal Zamora about his reports.

“I’ll have him write down what he’s doing in the office for doing reports,” Rumpf said, “I’ll make sure to put every little detail down there.”

Nov. 5 meeting

In previous Socorro County Commission meetings, Ray Martinez, chair requested a meeting with all law enforcement agencies in the Magdalena area to work on solutions.

This week, in an email, County Manger Andrew Lotrich confirmed a meeting with Rumpf to discuss opportunities to provide better law enforcement coverage in Magdalena. Lotrich said the goal wasn’t to point fingers but to improve the ability to coordinate services among the law enforcement agencies.

The meeting is scheduled in Magdalena at 10 a.m. on November 5. Lotrich said Rumpf, Chairman Martinez, and Sheriff Armijo have confirmed they will be in attendance.

Lotrich will also be in attendance. The Marshal’s department has also been invited to attend.