New Taos mayor, councilors, re-elected municipal judge take office
A new mayor of Taos, two new town councilors and a re-elected municipal judge were sworn in Friday afternoon (April 1) in the first in-person Taos Town Council meeting to be held at Town Hall on Civic Plaza Drive in two years.
Councilman Nathaniel Evans introduced each of the newlyelected candidates, beginning with Pascual Maestas, who beat three candidates in this year’s election in a landslide victory, unseating twoterm mayor Dan Barrone.
“We’re looking forward to making great progress, great change, with great partnerships,” Maestas said after being sworn in alongside his wife and young son. At 34, Maestas is said to be the youngest mayor in the town’s history.
Richard Chavez, the town’s municipal judge for 32 years, won re-election this year. He swore in each candidate, including Maestas and new councilmembers Marietta Fambro, formerly the town’s finance director, and Corilia Ortega, program coordinator for Alanzia Agri-Cultura de Taos. Fambro and Ortega join Evans and Darien Fernandez on the town council.
Town Hall was packed for the special meeting, with every seat filled and a large crowd at the back of the room. Many town staff members, county politicians and members of the public were in attendance.
In a brief interview with the Taos News immediately following the council meeting, Mayor Maestas said he is planning to get to work right away making changes that he believes are long overdue for the town.
“I’m feeling very good — excited, hopeful, ready to get to work,” he said.
He said he plans to join other towns throughout the state in aligning future municipal elections with the November general election, a move intended to simplify election schedules for voters. “That will be on the April 12 agenda,” he said.
“The next big thing is the budget,” Maestas continued. “We’ve got a lot of employees that are in desperate need of raises. And we’ve got, just today, recreational marijuana coming in, so we’re going to take a look at what those GRTs [gross receipts tax] look like. It’s going to be an interesting budget cycle.”
Continuing to comment on the historic legalization of recreational marijuana in New Mexico, Maestas said he hopes the town will encourage “strong businesses to come to Taos” that will “employ locals and contribute to the GRTs.” Mayor Maestas said the key to establishing a recreational marijuana industry in Taos is “balance.”
Village mayors and council members for the Village of Questa and the Village of Taos Ski Valley also took office April 1.
The next Town of Taos council meeting will be held at Town Hall April 12.