Rumpf breaks ties

Mayor Richard Rumpf broke ties at the Magdalena village meeting last week over two agenda items: one to approve a conference in Las Vegas and another to increase the starting pay for the marshal’s department.

On the discussion of sending Paulettica Monte, an uncertified village school security officer, to the National School Safety Conference held in Las Vegas, Nevada, Trustee Donna Dawson asked why Monte had not been terminated when she didn’t pass the certification to be a deputy.

Rumpf responded that Monte was moved to serve as a school security officer using state funding. When school is not in session, she works as “another set of eyes” in the village who can contact certified officers if there is a problem.

Trustees Michael Thompson and Dawson voted no, with Clark Brown and Jim Nelson voting yes. Rumpf said he thought it was a worthwhile project for the school and village and broke the tie by voting yes to send Monte to the conference.

Rumpf broke a second tie in the policy decision regarding the approval of starting pay for a new certified deputy marshal. He said the suggestion made for the wage was to start at $26 to $27 an hour for an incoming certified officer.

“I just seen Farmington has an ad out for certified officers transferring over there. They’re offering $30 an hour to start and $5,000 bonus after a year,” Rumpf said.

Deputy Clerk, Carleen Gomez said she didn’t think they should compare themselves to bigger cities, “a city that size has that money coming in.”

After a split vote of trustees Nelson and Brown with a yes, Dawson and Thompson voted no. Rumpf said he would let the motion fail.

“I would not take a pay cut to come to Magdalena, especially with the atmosphere here against the marshals and law enforcement,” Rumpf said. “I’m going to let it fail. You guys, it’s your decision, so you’re going to have to deal with it. We can look at it again when the budget comes up. I don’t want to hear anything about not getting any more officers or anything.”

Public input

During public input, Magdalena resident Teri Winchester said she was concerned about the misinformation about the school security guard position and the conference.

She told the mayor she spoke with Magdalena superintendent Dr. Glen Haven about Monte and he said there is no Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the school and the village and contrary to Rumpf’s report that she has a relationship with the kids, Monte was asked to sit outside and is not allowed in the school.

Winchester reported that she also spoke with Socorro City Police, which require security guards to be certified by the state, with specific training and testing.

“So if you want to continue her as a school security guard, she should be required to do that. I was also told that under the City of Socorro Police Department regulations If you fail the psych test; you are terminated. You’re not given a second chance to do it.” Winchester said.

Winchester also said she looked into comparable security officer positions in New Mexico, and the closest thing she could find was a Department of Transportation courtesy patrol officer who serves as traffic control. She said they do not wear police uniforms and do not drive vehicles marked as police cars.

Rumpf said they haven’t had a chance to change it yet.

“Okay, it’s up to the board. I’ll talk to the marshal, and see if he wants to proceed with this, if not, we’ll terminate her,” Rumpf said. “This is Magdalena. We make the decisions here for what we should do, and yes, we probably should do some more paperwork and maybe better certification.”

Winchester asked why they would approve to send Monte to Las Vegas for a conference but did not send her to the local Socorro County school active shooter drill.

“Why are we sending her all the way to Las Vegas to speak to people who are above her in her job qualifications, but you can’t send her to the active shooter training which is what her job is and where she’s going to meet the people that she will be working with,” Winchester said.

Rumpf said he couldn’t speak to why the marshal didn’t attend that training but that there are many shooter trainings offered and he has been to several himself.

Other business

Rumpf reported that the airport landing pad construction was finished, and the University of New Mexico Flight Life helicopter used it two weeks ago.

The trustees approved $30,500 to replace a computer operating system and software damaged by power surges. Rumpf said they need the system back up because it requires utility workers to manually turn the wells on and off. He said they would look into insurance money and possibly submit a claim to Socorro Electric Co-op.

Trustees also approved $782.50 for the bike run and car show, and the librarian was raised to $15.91 an hour. An application for project funds for Tenth Street was also approved.