Town council candidates discuss the future of Taos
The four candidates who hope to fill the next two town open council positions for the Town of Taos discussed their views on the area’s future in a forum Monday night (Jan. 31) hosted by the Taos News and the Taos County Chamber of Commerce.
Taos News Editor John Miller moderated the discussion and asked questions covering the expansion of the Taos Regional Airport, the closure of the Taos Recycling Center, the town’s relationship to Taos Pueblo and the state of town infrastructure. At many points, candidates Jessica Herrera, Corilia Ortega, Billy Romero and Marietta Fambro gave responses that showed how they might vote differently on important questions if elected.
The first two questions of the evening came from Lilith Safford, a senior at Taos High School and member of TrueKids1, who asked about how the town could better engage with young voters.
Herrera — who has no previous political experience but has lived in Taos throughout her life — began by saying she hoped to stimulate more conversations about politics through local media and do a better job of “letting everyone know what’s going on.”
Ortega, also a born-and-raised Taoseña and another a newcomer to politics, said she hopes to “educate people and try to make them see what is going to happen within the city.”
“As a young person, it’s your right to be involved,” Romero said, highlighting the importance of gathering feedback from young voters to help generate fresh ideas. Romero owns and operates Romero Rio Grande Propane and formerly served on the Town of Taos Planning and Zoning Committee.
Fambro, the town’s current finance director, said “we should go back to basics” and look at new ways of getting information out to the public.
Romero said that trade jobs, like plumbing and electrical work, would always offer steady jobs in Taos and one path for young people to build careers in their hometown. He said that young people should also have access to affordable housing. “We need to make sure a certain percentage of building are left for workforce ownership,” answered Romero. Fambro agreed.
“It starts with working with UNM-Taos,” added Fambro. “Not everyone is going to get a Master’s Degree. We need plumbers
and electricians… we need smart growth,” she said.
Affordable housing was mentioned several times by the candidates in response to various questions. Fambro said it would be important for the Town of Taos to continue to closely regulate shortterm rentals, which was limited to 120 by a town ordinance that went into affect last year.
Herrera also acknowledged the problem of affordable housing. She suggested keeping rent prices lower by placing historic landmarks in neighborhoods.
Ortega, who has a master’s degree in clinical psychology and a background in violence prevention and farming, said her focus would be on a “community-wide” initiative and encouraged locals who own property to “not sell your land.”
She proposed a lottery system for short-term rental licenses that would give preference to local property owners. “AirBnB has a place in our town,” she said, but distinguished between an AirBnB host and a “second or third home rental.”
Romero said he worked on the issue of affordable housing and short-term rentals during his time on the Planning and Zoning Committee. He proposed that shortterm rental owners with multiple licenses begin paying commercial rates to maintain their properties. Romero said he would continue the moratorium on the number of AirBnBs allowed in town.
When asked about the expansion of the Taos Regional Airport, candidates gave various answers, ranging from near-full support to complete skepticism.
Ortega, who referenced the airport twice before being asked about its role in Taos, said she felt
the town’s work toward financing the airport was untimely at the expense of struggling businesses who needed help at that time of the pandemic. “New traffic from the airport goes straight to the ski valley,” she said.
“I don’t think it’s a benefit to the daily Taoseño,” she added later. “I love an airport… I’m an avid traveller… But we are talking about community priorities during a pandemic.”
Romero, who admitted he owns property out in the area said he felt there was a long term benefit to expanding the airport “if we can get the infrastructure in place.” He said he expects to see jobs created from the expansion. “I think we will look back and say ‘Yes, this
was a good decision.’”
Fambro agreed with Romero’s statement that it would take time for Taoseños to see a change. “It will take a while for the average person to benefit, not until 5-10 years down the road,” she said. However, she pointed out that approximately 95 percent of the funding for new expansion has come from the Federal Aviation Administration and the state.
She said the town and county don’t work together well enough and said she would like to see the two governmental bodies come together to face the issue. “We’ve got to get the right people in the room together,” she said.
Herrera said simply she thought it was “good for the people, with all the revenue that’s going to come in.”
The future of Kit Carson Park also came up. Herrera said she felt the town “should be more involved in peoples’ health, wellbeing and safety more than in the entertainment business.”
Ortega said she feels the park is a community space that “should be open and available to the community.” She said neighbors’ considerations should be taken into account when deciding to have an event. She proposed bringing back a recreation advisory board to help handle the issue. “At the end of the day… events should be accessible to those who live within city limits,” she added.
Romero said the issue was “Tough… I support a lot of concerts that have gone on in the park.” However, he said having an event last more than two days was problematic, and it was necessary to shut down the music at a certain time. Overall, he said he supported two-day events. “When it’s set for more than one day, [tourists] tend to stay for more than one day and visit the beauty of Taos,” he said.
Fambro admitted the events have had both a positive and negative effect for locals. She said the town’s gross receipts taxes were “15 to 20 percent higher when we do have these events,” but said “it does tax our infrastructure.” She said more ways to utilize the stage need to be investigated, such as high school graduations and other youth events.
The forum ran past the scheduled 7:30 p.m. end time and concluded at 8 p.m.