Candidate points to his accomplishments in office

On Tuesday November 2nd, voters will go to the polls and elect an entirely new Governing Body for the Town of Edgewood. This new Governing Body will consist of five elected Commissioners who will then hire a Manager who will be the Town’s new Chief Executive. This is known as a Commission/manager form of government.

My name is John Bassett and I am running for Commissioner in the Fourth District, an area that straddles both sides of Interstate 40 and Old 66. This district includes residential areas along with commercial and special use areas.

For the last five years I have been honored to serve as Mayor for the Town of Edgewood. I would like to share with you several examples of the accomplishments achieved during that period that demonstrate how successful my administration was and let you know what sort of priorities I would pursue if elected as commissioner.

First and foremost we remade the Town of Edgewood government facilities to better serve the people of Edgewood. We took the northern building at Edgewood Elementary School and repurposed it into a newer and much larger town Library and offices for our Administrative staff. The old main Fire Station was repurposed into a newer and much larger station for our Police Department. Their old station on Municipal Way was then repurposed into an office and courtroom for our Municipal Judges and their staff.

The Town was approached by the folks at the First Choice Clinic who were looking for help to build a new, larger clinic to better serve their clients. Working together, the Town and First Choice made many trips to Santa Fe where we partnered with Santa Fe County, the State Land Office, and even the Central New Mexico Electric Cooperative to get the new clinic built next to the new Fire Station on Municipal Way.

Next, the Town’s Road Department. I made it a priority to obtain newer, better equipment along with the additional personnel to run it. In the last five years the Town purchased an additional water truck, another motor grader, two new rollers, two pintle hitch trailers to haul that equipment, and several pickup trucks. By the end of this year we hope to have two complete grading crews working to improve our roadway network.

We also paved roads during my tenure. Horton Road, north and south of West Dinkle Road was paved for the first time as was Entrada Del Norte. We also rebuilt and repaved the sinkhole at the southeast corner of Church Street and 344 so it no longer ponds water and sinks down whenever we have a large rain event. That project also repaved about 500 feet of Church Street going east towards Walmart.

The Police Department is another success story I’m very proud of. During my administration we hired more officers, updated their station and the equipment they need to do their jobs. In Ron Crow and Darrel Sanchez we found two great Chiefs. We established the first Sargent positions to provide additional supervisory personnel on all shifts. Today the Edgewood Police Department is considered one of the finest small police departments in the entire State of New Mexico. This was confirmed when Edgewood was named the fifth safest city in New Mexico in 2019 and still ranks in the top ten in 2021.

Because of these successes, I decided to run for one of these new commission positions and try to use the lessons I’ve learned to help make the next five years as successful as the past five were.

The first thing I want is to obtain the necessary additional funding required to pave Church Street between Quail Trail and Williams Ranch Road. This road is heavily travelled including by 18 wheelers who use the road to access Walmart from the east.

First Choice has two projects the Town should get behind. Their Behavioral Health Clinic and their Wellness Center. The pandemic upset plans for both of these projects. The time has come to get both projects restarted and completed.

During my time as Mayor we achieved a great many things, Edgewood is my hometown; I’ve lived here all my life and I want to build on that success so that Edgewood can be the best town possible. Expanded early voting begins on October 16th at the Town Office, Election Day is November 2nd. I respectfully ask for your vote. Thank you.

John Bassett

Candidate for District 4 Commissioner