Two Peñasco residents vie for District 5 seat
Candidates debate in online forum
Candidates for District 5 of the Taos County Board of Commissioners faced off on Thursday (April 14) during a forum held by the Taos County Democratic Party. Cristobal Duran and Ronald Mascareñas are both vying to fill the District 5 County Commission seat currently held by Commissioner Candyce O’Donnell, who’s term will end this year.
During the forum, moderated by Taos County Democratic Party Treasurer and Campaign Director George Brown, Duran and Mascareñas answered a number of questions about Taos County and how they envision its future.
As the forum began, Brown reminded viewers there is no Republican candidate for the seat, “so the individual who wins the primary on June 7 will be your next county commissioner from District 5,” he said.
Duran opened the forum by saying he would bring his experience as a “proven community leader and combat veteran” to the area. As the current vice-chair of Kit Carson Electric Cooperative, he said he understands the diverse needs of the district and the county. He wants to implement an “economic development plan which includes branding Taos County as 100 percent renewable energy and addressing the recycling needs of the district.” He also said he would promote a more “aggressive” affordable housing agenda and focus on improving road and healthcare maintenance.
Mascareñas also cited his experience as a community leader and a born-and-raised Peñasco resident. He explained that his experience with major corporations, including 25 years employed with Intel, would help provide insight in overseeing local infrastructure projects. Among his top priorities, Mascareñas listed raising wages for county employees, improving roads and finishing previously proposed projects, such as the Veterans’ Cemetery on County Road 110.
Brown also asked how each candidate would work together with the rest of the commission, help the sheriff’s department to provide law enforcement coverage to the entire county and develop affordable housing.
Brown explained to the candidates that while 40 percent of District 5 voters live along the High Road to Taos (State Road 75), 60 percent of the district’s voters live much closer to town. After redistricting last year, District 5 now covers the areas of Cañon, Pilar, Rio Lucio, Vadito, Placitas, Chamisal, Peñasco, Rodarte, Las Trampas, El Valle, Llano, Cruz Alta, Picuris and Taos Canyon.
Both Mascareñas and Duran acknowledged the range of needs across the county. “It’s very different what the needs are in the Peñasco area compared to what the needs are in Taos, what the needs are in Valle Escondido or down in Pilar,” said Mascareñas. “The key is listening to all the folks, seeing what the needs are and prioritizing them.”
Duran said serving on the commission means working together with the municipality and tribal government that overlap with the district. He also stressed the importance of talking to constituents to develop plans. “They’re the ones that this office belongs to. It doesn’t belong to the commission, it belongs to the people,” he said.
When asked how they would tackle the ongoing issue of affordable housing, Mascareñas said that while there were a lot of rental properties that are used for housing in Taos County “we don’t really have anything for a family to invest in long term, so that’s something that needs to be worked on.”
He acknowledged that, with the price of building materials going up, “it’s almost impossible to build affordable homes,” but said he would look toward partnerships with contractors, suppliers and the municipalities within the county. “It’s going to be a joint effort to make this happen,” he said.
Duran also agreed new partnerships need to be made at all levels of government. “We need to talk to the local resources here and work with our local developers,” he said, adding that this could include talking with Los Alamos National Laboratories and Sandia Laboratories “to look to more energy-efficient housing and smart-homes… If the county, municipalities and tribal government and the state and federal legislators get together, we can create affordable housing in the area.”
Both men agreed that the sheriff’s office will require additional funding to cover the southern part of the county and that the various community centers in the county need more funding and maintenance.
Mascareñas also said Holy Cross Medical Center needs to be improved. “The way our hospital is functioning, a lot of people have concerns,” he said. “Right now we are a critical care facility, that means under critical circumstances you go there and get shipped out. That needs to be looked at.” He mentioned the large elderly population in the area. “We don’t have the best situation for our elderly parents or grandparents to get care here. So we need to look at that and figure out what we need to do with this hospital.”
Duran said the issue of economic development needs to be looked at more closely. “Taos County is in a prime state where, coming this summer, we’re going to be 100 percent renewable, using our own energy to sustain ourselves going forward,” he said referencing the KCEC solar array. “We have a prime opportunity to attract economic development with the renewable aspect to create more jobs in the area — jobs that bring our kids home… We are at a crucial point where we could attract a lot of economic development that would be beneficial to Taos County.”