Carol Romero-Wirth, a leader for Santa Fe

Ifirst met Carol RomeroWirth, candidate for City Council in District 2, in 1993 just after her son, Alex, was born. We were new board members for Literacy Volunteers of Santa Fe, the nonprofit at Santa Fe Community College.

Literacy Volunteers is dedicated to providing free tutoring to adults in reading, writing and speaking English. Carol and I knew the importance of literacy and believed in the nonprofit’s objectives to strengthen our community, families and workforce through English proficiency. Carol quickly rose to become board president, a position she held for two years. As president, she worked tirelessly on policy issues and financial development strategies to strengthen the organization.

Carol went on to law school at The University of New Mexico after her board service ended. Her daughter, Elena, was born at the end of her second year of law school. I was impressed with her ability to handle the demands of law school and of her young family. I know Carol has the stamina to actively participate in lengthy council meetings and meet the demanding committee meeting schedules of councilors while remaining responsive to her constituents.

Carol has been an active and engaged member of the Santa Fe community for the last 30 years. She was the president on the boards of her children’s schools and served the broader community as a board member at the Santa Fe Community Foundation, the New Mexico Environmental Law Center and Breakthrough Santa Fe, a noprofit helping middle school students in public schools hone their academic skills for college. She was also a member of the advisory group that laid the foundation for Communities in Schools of New Mexico.

Carol has been interested in environmental and natural resource issues throughout her career. I had a recent opportunity to work with her as she sought advice and research from me and other water experts in New Mexico for a paper she co-wrote with Susan Kelly, a former director of the Utton Transboundary Resources Center at The University of New Mexico. The Utton Center is a resource for the public in water, natural resources and environmental issues in New Mexico and the Southwest.

The paper, “Water Rights Management in New Mexico and Along the Middle Rio Grande: Is AWRM (Active Water Resource Management) Sufficient?” can be found online in Water Matters ,a resource publication for New Mexico policymakers and others to provide authoritative and independent information on the state’s water issues.

Carol’s educational background, professional experience and community knowledge will provide a solid foundation from which to address the issues that face the city. We are extraordinarily lucky to have someone of Carol’s caliber running for City Council.

Vickie Gabin is a retired water rights attorney.

I know Carol has the stamina to actively participate in lengthy council meetings and meet the demanding committee meeting schedules of councilors while remaining responsive to her constituents.