Ski valley contemplates county-run elections

May need to opt in to Local Election Act or wait until 2024 to elect new mayor

New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver’s office has weighed in on the Village of Taos Ski Valley’s mayoral election conundrum, telling the municipality to opt in to the statewide consolidated local election process in November 2023 if it wants to elect a mayor as soon as possible. Otherwise, the village would have to wait until its next municipal officers election in March 2024.

Mayor Neal King died Aug. 22, leaving Councilor and Mayor Pro-tem Tom Wittman to fill in for most mayoral duties until a replacement was appointed. But a few days later, the village council declined to appoint Wittman to the position of mayor because another councilman would then have to be appointed to fill Wittman’s vacant council seat. The open seat could also have been filled by any registered voter residing in the valley, where just 70 people voted in the March mayoral contest to usher King back into the office.

Wittman’s mayoral appointment would have created a situation in which three-fifths of the council would have been appointed. Councilor Brent Knox was appointed to fill Neal King’s council seat after King won the position of mayor in the March council election.

“If we appoint you [as mayor], then we will be appointing another councilor,” Knox said at the time. “And I was appointed, so we would have three appointed elected officials on the council in the village government.”

After Councilor Chris Stagg, who is also a Taos Ski Resort vice president, made a motion to appoint Wittman as mayor during a special election Aug. 26, there was silence for 15 seconds until Wittman himself seconded Stagg’s motion. But Councilor Brent Knox joined Caldwell in advocating for a special mayoral election, and the two ultimately voted against Stagg and Wittman. Although Wittman suggested he could vote again as mayor pro-tem in order to break the tie, without a real mayor to cast a fifth vote, Stagg’s motion failed.

Roughly two weeks after the Aug. 26 meeting, Wittman unilaterally fired longtime village legal counsel Susan Baker, who told the Taos News that she had a difference of opinion with Wittman on two issues, one of which was his interpretation of state election law.

In a statement made to the paper, Baker confirmed that, “[Wittman] and I disagreed about interpretation of the Election

Code and Taos Ski Valley, Inc.’s installation of water pipes and meters on behalf of the village.”

“In late June, the Village Council renewed my contract as village attorney by unanimous vote,” Baker said. “My contract and applicable law required thirty-days notice and a majority vote of the Village Council to terminate me. On Sept. 15, the mayor pro-tem ‘fired’ me without consulting the Village Council. We have now reached a settlement, so that I cannot comment further.”

In an email Tuesday night (Oct. 25), Wittman said he stands by what he previously told the Taos News, writing that “her termination had nothing to do with her interpretation of the election law.” He did not respond to questions regarding the Ski Valley corporation’s role in several major water infrastructure projects.

“Will not engage with you anymore on our former contract employee, Susan Baker,” Wittman stated in his brief response.

At its regular meeting on Tuesday (Oct. 25), Village Clerk Ann Marie Wooldridge relayed official word on what the village’s options are for identifying a new mayor through direct election. She confirmed what some village officials suspected: The state’s 2019 election reforms preclude municipalities like Taos Ski Valley from holding a special election for anything that isn’t a ballot question.

The Taos News reached out to Toulouse Oliver’s office multiple times earlier this month requesting comment, but didn’t receive a response. District 15 state Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto did not respond to an interview request regarding the 2019 “Elections Law 50-year Tune Up” bill he carried, which specifies that special local elections may only be held on ballot questions.

“Mayor Pro-tem Wittman and I were very pleased to have had the occasion to speak with Charles Romero in the Secretary of State’s office, and he really helped clarify a lot of things — namely, a couple of statutes that I believe I showed to the councilors before,” Wooldridge told councilors on Tuesday, adding that current state law only allows the council to appoint a new mayor, not hold a special election. Or the village can wait until the next election cycle.

Because the village is one of the minority municipalities in New Mexico that has not opted into the regular local elections process, which is run by counties across the state in odd-numbered years, the next municipal officers election the village may hold would take place in March 2024.

“If the council wishes, we can adopt by ordinance to opt in to the Local Election Act, which came about several years ago, where municipalities participate in November of odd-numbered-years elections and put their candidates on the ballot,” Wooldridge said. “This election will be run by the county with our candidates.”

“Charles was very specific about the person who gets elected when we change our election cycle to November,” Wittman interjected. “The person that gets elected in November of ‘23 will have a full four-year term. They will not serve out the remainder of Neal’s term. I think that’s a good news story. So until then, you’re kind of stuck with me as a Mayor Pro-tem and I’m not going anywhere. I’m honored to serve the village as an acting mayor.”

One goal of the 2019 election reforms bill was to consolidate election times across the state in November in hopes of increasing voter participation. Opting in to the Local Election Act also puts the cost-burden of running elections on counties.

“The truth is, the way the statute’s written, it’s a real burden to stay in March, we have to pay for the election” and recounts, Stagg said.

Wittman said he has asked Wooldridge to prepare an agenda item for a future meeting so councilors may consider adopting an ordinance to opt in to the Local Election Act. The village must notify the secretary of state of its intention to join the consolidated election by June 30.