Change in mayor's status on ballot

Source: Albuquerque Journal, N.self storageM.Jan. 17--In the hubbub over the three-way race for the up-for-grabs mayor's gavel, the Santa Fe City Charter amendment to make that position full time is flying somewhat under the radar.But a group called "Vote for 9 for a Full Time Mayor" is looking to change that.It launched its website, santafemayor.com, on Thursday in the first step of a campaign designed to raise awareness about the issue and promote its passage, said organization secretary Paul Hultin."Because it is a complicated issue, we think we need to have a group that can provide information and a place where people can go to get information," he said. "If people don't understand something, they'reprobably not going to vote for it."Under the charter amendment that voters will decide during the March 4, nonpartisan election, the mayor would become full time in 2018, earning a salary of $74,000 until an independent salary commission is established to determine an amount.The amendment would give the mayor supervisory authority over the city manager, city attorney and city clerk, as well as the power to hire and fire the three positions.A second proposal on the ballot would give the mayor a vote on all issues before the city council, which would be effective immediately. The mayor now only votes in case of a tie vote among the eight councilors or when a special majority is required for passage in rare circumstances.Vote for 9 is a political committee and, as such, had to file with the city clerk's office and to report financial statements.Its other officers listed are co-chairpersons Patricio Serna, a retired state Supreme Court Justice who was the Charter Review Commission chairman, and local activist Deborah Potter; and treasurer Nancy Long, who was the vice-chairman of the Charter Review Commission."We're a grassroots organization," he said. "We expect we will receive some contributions."There is no mechanism to do that online, but membe迷利倉s of the organization will be actively out and about in the community talking with organizations to spread the message, Hultin said.In addition, the group plans to advertise, depending on how much money is raised."We want to let people know why it's a good idea to have a full-time mayor," Hultin said. "We want to let people know what we believe the benefits of it are."The issue was brought up at a mayoral forum earlier this week and candidates Patti Bushee and Javier Gonzales both said they favored a strong-mayor form of government. Fellow candidate Bill Dimas did not attend the forum and could not be reached for comment."The first thing you're going to get to do is vote to have your mayor be able to vote on every issue and I agree with that," Bushee said. "I do believe a strong mayor is a good thing. What I like, though, is the compromise that I was able to come up with that allows for, if we have a real rogue situation where we maybe have a mayor and a city manager maybe not working out very well, we have a six-vote majority (of city councilors) that could actually fire that ... city manager."Gonzales said a strong, full-time mayor will benefit the city."Santa Fe needs a mayor to represent their voice in every vote they take," he said.With a city the size of Santa Fe, that's important, he said, as is being in place full time."The reality is that we have a city where our total revenues are over $360 million," Gonzales said. "We have more than 1,500 employees. If you had a business or an operation with that large a revenue or that number of employees, you would want to make sure you were putting in your time and effort full time to making sure the issues are addressed. So having a full-time mayor in this city, the time has come to make that happen."Copyright: ___ (c)2014 the Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N.M.) Visit the Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N.M.) at .abqjournal.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉