City declines to release names on panel

Foundation for Open Government official says process should be open

The city of Santa Fe cited a state procurement law to avoid disclosing any details from the 21 proposals for the city-owned midtown campus, and city officials have asked the applicants not to disclose details, either.

The city wants all proposal details to remain within an evaluations committee composed of city staff members. That group recently narrowed the field of seven master developers to three applicants.

The committee now is trying to determine which master developer to suggest to the City Council.

But just who is serving on that key committee making? The city won’t say.

“Our project manager [Daniel Hernandez] requests privacy to reduce the outside pressure,” city spokeswoman Lilia Chacon said. “It would be best for their ability to work impartially if their names were not out there and subject to every kind of group trying to influence them.”

The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government faulted the city’s reasoning.

“What they call outside pressure, we call democracy,” said Melanie J. Majors, the foundation’s executive director. “Privacy around this whole selection process has been a problem. Their concern with undue influence is not sufficient. They are public employees. The public has a right to know.”

The city’s solicitation for requests for expressions of interest issued in July spells out the compositions of the evaluation committee but also amended that with verbiage that says: “The city reserves the right to determine and/ or alter the membership and number of members of the committee.”

Based on the initial 2019 roster, the committee includes Economic Development Director Rich Brown, Planning

Manager Noah Berke, Public Works Director Regina Wheeler, Affordable Housing Director Alexandra Ladd and Arts and Culture Director Pauline Kanako Kamiyama. The city has not confirmed any committee members by name.

The 2019 document also spells out two additional staff members from the Economic Development Department and one each from Planning and Public Works, but that has changed as the original composition was nine members and the evaluation committee now has 11.