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Santa Teresa Incorporation Efforts Halted

The effort to incorporate Santa Teresa was halted after the Doña Ana County Commission determined the proponents of the incorporation haven’t met all of the legal steps needed to continue.

Santa Teresa Incorporation efforts were complicated because the area proposed for incorporation is within 5 miles of the city of Sunland Park, because of that Santa Teresa is considered an urbanized territory of the city of Sunland Park.

In order for that area to be incorporated, residents from Santa Teresa needed to prove they met one of three legal steps: The city of Sunland Park passing a resolution approving the incorporation, the residents of the territory unsuccessfully petitioning Sunland Park for annexation, or residents of the territory to be annexed conclusively proving that Sunland Park couldn’t provide public services.

Brad Springer, legal counsel for the city of Sunland Park, said the territory needed to attempt to be annexed before it could prove that Sunland Park was unable to provide public services, and pointed to a previous State Supreme Court decision.

“It is the state’s policy,” Springer said. “To discourage splinter communities, or a proliferation of neighboring independent municipal bodies whose competing needs would divide tax revenues, multiply services, create confusion and factionalism among our citizens. And destroy the very harmony that should exist between people of diverse backgrounds, and socio-economic strata within our state.”

Enrique Palomares, legal counsel for the residents of Santa Teresa, argued that residents did not need to attempt to be annexed before proving that Sunland Park was unable to provide public services  .

“Our position is that that effort to describe the territory proposed to be incorporated,” Palomares said. “Resulted in an inartfully drafted statute to describe the territory proposed to be incorporated.”

In a 4-0 vote, the County Commission determined that in order to prove services couldn’t be provided, residents of Santa Teresa had to petition for annexation. Commissioner David Garcia recused himself from the vote because both areas are in his district.

Commissioner Billy Garret says the commission made the decision based on the reading of the law.

“It’s the way the law is written,” Garret said. “It’s very simple. This has nothing to do with the merits of the issue. It simply has to do with conformance with the law, and I’m looking at it very narrowly. And I don’t think it’s my job to reinterpret and put new words into the law. The law says the residents of the area to be annexed, not to be incorporated.”

Mary Gonzalez, a Santa Teresa resident whose been working on the incorporation effort was disappointed.

“It came as a shock,” Gonzalez said. “Of course we weren’t being annexed, once we moved forward and we were not going to allow for them to annex us. Then of course everything switched, but I think we can move forward, take another avenue. But there will be serious discussion of what other avenues we have.”

Gonzalez says they will not stop the effort for incorporation.

Samantha Sonner was a multimedia reporter for KRWG- TV/FM.