Legal dispute may jeopardize Gila water project

A dispute over alleged Open Meetings Act violations by the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission has put the state “in grave and immediate jeopardy” of missing a federal deadline for funding for a southwestern New Mexico water project, attorneys for the state said in a motion filed in state district court on Friday. A Santa Fe district judge Thursday issued a temporary restraining order against further action by the Stream Commission on a proposal that New Mexico accept federal money to pay for water development projects on the Gila River. The restraining order was needed, Judge Raymond Ortiz ruled, to give time for the court to sort out allegations that a commission subcommittee has been violating New Mexico’s open meetings law. The allegations came in an Oct. 15 lawsuit by Norm Gaume, an engineer who once headed the state agency he is now suing. Gaume alleges that a board subcommittee made key decisions about the Gila River project in secret meetings, with no notice or opportunity for public participation. State lawyers deny the charge, saying the subcommittee was not subject to the Open Meetings Act because it did not represent a quorum of the commission. Keitha Leonard and Dominique Work, attorneys for the state, said the court’s restraining order in response to Gaume’s suit forced cancellation of a public meeting that had been scheduled for Monday and could lead to further meeting cancellations that jeopardize the state’s ability to meet a Dec. 31 federal deadline. Lawyers for both sides are scheduled to meet in Ortiz’s courtroom Thursday afternoon to argue whether the restraining order should be extended, modified or set aside...more