ToadBook

So a few of us were sitting around talking about the Village of Bosque Farms and all of the good things that could be legally completed by someone of Erica DesMet's energy and organization.

Here is a list that we came up with and maybe this will help the Council to do something useful.

• Write Ordinances. Not ordinances that impact one person (the Mayor) or ordinances that consolidate power in the Three. Real Ordinances that impact daily life. One Example: We have heard that there is a request animal control ordinances. One of us lives next to an animal horder and yet there are no ordinances that address that. That is a good place to start.

• Find new businesses. Drive along main street - how many businesses are there? Not many. Yet Gross Receipt Taxes benefit our Village greatly. -- Some of the things the three could do: Rewrite ordinances to make our place more attractive to businesses. Lower Gross Receipt Taxes so it is more attractive to set up and shop here. Develop an incubation place to allow small businesses to have an office and grow with support. Call the State Economics office to see if they can offer help.

• Budget wisely and Hire people. Did you know that the Council cut several main office positions in order to move money? Did you know there isn't a planning and zoning officer? Let's be clear - the Mayor hires but he needs the budget line item for it. -- Some of the positions they could hire include a planning and zoning officer. A deputy clerk was supposed be hired and rumor has it the PD gave up a position to make that happen. This summer the three told the Clerk Administrator to hire an OMA person (Open Meetings Act person) to fill out requests. (When one of us asked why this wasn't done yet - the answer was No budget.)

• Write an RFP with the engineers and get the bids going on the second donut. The funding has been awarded for this. They have been told they can't change the purpose of the funding so let's do the work to get the donut. That would be nice to not have to worry about pooping in a bucket.

• Budget and find money for the grinder pumps they keep yelling about.

• Take an ethics class. Possibly go back to training. (rumor has it that Councilor Desmet didn't get her certificate for completing her training for being a councilor)... hmmm That makes sense based on behavior seen these past two years.

• Get an attorney and Follow the attorney's advice. That is what a Village attorney does - reads ordinances and ensures they don't violate state laws and - stops the council or mayor from breaking the law - answers legal questions - among other things. The three could stop assuming they know everything and stop following the one person who knows the least and follow legal advice from someone hired to protect the Village. That is probably money well spent at this time.

So why start a blog that is so specific that it won't grow much beyond the 5,000 residents and some former residents of Bosque Farms?

Reason One: Education.

It is hoped that you can read this and see for yourself the laws, ordinances, Constitutional and ethical considerations that are so casually overlooked in Council meetings and outside of Council meetings.

It is hoped that this reaches at least one Councilor who will then be more of an individual than an adherent or devotee to the lies they currently believe.

It is hoped that at least one Councilor has some strength to act independently and stand up and say 'stop swearing, stop yelling, stop chasing away employees'.

Some of us are tired of watching the revolving door in the personnel office as employees come in, do the best they can and are chased off. We want you to know the truth. We speak to the employees and we know what they have said.

Some of us are tired of hearing the yelling, interrupting, blaming, and lies. We attend council meetings and we are embarrassed by the council. The Councilor who yells, the Councilors who sit and let her. We keep hoping for decorum and manners and we are hoping for better.

Interesting words. Go look them up.

Our Ordinance

§ 2-2-9 Removal from office. Any person elected or appointed to an elective office of the municipality may be removed for malfeasance in office by the District Court upon complaint of the Mayor or Council of the municipality. Any such officer shall be entitled to a hearing at a time fixed by the Court after not less than 10 days' notice of such proceedings by service, as in the case of summons in civil actions, with a copy of the complaint filed in the proceedings.

So if the Mayor has complained (has he?) then it's time for the hearing ten days later for the Councilor who has demonstrated malfeasance. Each one of the Three who have demonstrated malfeasance.

I read this to say once a complaint has been made the District Court can remove this person until the hearing.

So, I guess it's time to admit that Councilor Zamora isn't any better and isn't going to get any better.

I had hoped. I had hoped he would go to training and his basic ethics would kick in. So many spoke highly of him and now not so much.

I had hoped that once he understood how important the work he does up on the stand is - that he would take it seriously and not just be a follower.

I had hoped that once he understood the budget, understood his role as a councilor, understood he didn't need to participate in rolling quorums and unethical behavior that he would stand up and be better.

I had hoped....

Interesting. After a recent post recapping a meeting - Ms. Desmet promised to one person she would spend money in a certain way.

"I promise I will find money for a shade!!! I promise!"

That's a quote copied directly from her.

Let's hit the truth button on this.

The ONLY way the Council has any authority is with the vote by the Council when the Council meets as a whole and even then it takes a majority vote.

And even with that - the Council has to stick to the approved budget. If you change the budget it must be done by budget resolution.

Her promises are worth nada.

But there is more to this - Pledging resources outside of standard legal means has a lot of other issues. It's against the law. The Governmental Conduct Act - the thing you learn about in the training the state provides - says you are NOT allowed to use your office to benefit private people.

This also opens you up for quid pro quo. (more on this in another post). But if you promise to spend money then it has the appearance of impropriety - bribery, quid pro quo, are all things that happen when an active councilor starts offering to spend money on specific projects.

How does Councilor Desmet not know this? Didn't she go to training??

Apologies are Needed

Let's hit the Truth Button long and hard on this topic!

There is a darling elderly lady who has stopped going to Council Meetings and who had her heart broken at a Council Meeting.

The public who boo-ed her down and yelled at her to sit down and shut up should be ashamed.

How embarrassing that some people think it's ok to behave this way. My momma taught me to treat elderly with respect

The Councilor who pumped her fist and encouraged the poor behavior directed against this lady should have charges filed against her. (2-2-2 among other state laws) (Ahem... cough cough... DeSmet)

No! I haven't forgotten and neither has this darling older lady who has been a mainstay in Bosque Farms.

And what prompted this behavior? What did she say that was so despicable that it resulted in being boo-ed, yelled at to sit down and shut up?

This lady said essentially 'why can't we all get along?' She called upon everyone's better nature to be better!

There are no words for this. And if you are one of those people who behaved so terribly Apologize Now!

This lady has lived here her whole life. She has dedicated countless hours to attending meetings, running elections, supporting the PD, refereeing, donating to local organizations (Scouts etc), etc etc etc

I guess we should have known what kind of government we were in for when this happened.

This author requested a copy of emails from and to several people. It looks like E. Desmet requested info from Ms. Martinez and then sent it on to another person (Quinton Webb is an Officer at BFPD)

BUT WAIT!

Does anyone remember the news article about E. Desmet and the open meetings act? The local rag requested phone records and E. Desmet said ‘oh no, I never use my personal phone’

E Desmet doesn’t have a phone provided by the Village of Bosque Farms.

I’ll leave it to you to figure out the truth here. You are smart readers!

One More! Look at this email! Carefully!

Ignore the spelling errors. Everyone is allowed a bad day once.

This was back in June! Yet it's STILL Importantly.

He says he’s been asking for an EMS workshop for 6 months. Sounds good right?

Yet at one point during the past 6 months there was EMS service and the Council chased the EMT person off. In a meeting.

So has he been asking for a workshop on this for six months?

And let’s look at this – He was only informed of a meeting LAST NIGHT (which would be June 8th) that Peralta was going to cancel EMS Services for us.

So has he been asking for a workshop on this for six months?

From his first meeting he attended? He asked for this? That would be supposedly when he started as Councilor. None of it really hits the truth button does it?

One more little point – what J. Bruhn doesn’t tell you is that he stood up at a meeting in Peralta on June 8th and spoke about how he understood and supported Peralta’s decision to cancel our MOU.

How is he representing us?

One day he’s going after the Volunteer for EMT for Bosque Farms and the next week (give or take) he’s saying ‘This is a matter of life and death.’

One night he says ‘oh yes, Peralta Council – cancel our MOU and we support this decision’ and the next he says ‘This is a matter of life and death’.

Does this make sense?

Who is he representing? Maybe it’s Peralta he’s representing.