County staff responding to a water leak at the former Blue Monkey salon and cosmetology school Tuesday morning found the interior trashed, covered in vulgar graffiti and reeking of hair dye that had been splattered over the walls and floors.

"The county hates tattooed freaks and their daughters, I gave them bad highlights on purpose," and "We put a voodoo hex on this property" were among the phrases written across the walls of the former salon. Others contained expletives and sexually explicit remarks directed at County Commissioner Harry Montoya. Crumpled beer cans, shards of broken mirrors and beauty-supplies littered the floor.

Two inches of frigid water covered floors in the rear portion of building. Frank Jaramillo, director of operations for Santa Fe County, said the water appeared to have come from a busted water line in one of the buildings bathrooms.

The Montezuma Avenue building was slated to be torn down later this month to make room for the construction of a new district court house. But Jaramillo said the county will have to clean up the mess first because the hair dyes are an environmental hazard.

County spokesman Stephen Ulibarri said the cleanup would probably cost "upward of $5,000." Santa Fe Police Deputy Chief Benjie Montaño said whoever vandalized the building caused about $40,000 worth of damage that could result in a felony charge of criminal damage to property for anyone convicted of the crime.

Montaño said Tuesday that there were no signs of forced entry into the building, and police haven't identified any suspects.

But two former employees told The New Mexican some of the vandalism took place during an anger-and-alcohol-fueled good-bye party held at the former salon Friday night.

Hannah Griffin, a former part-time employee of the Blue Monkey, said she and her husband and 1-year-old son left when things "started getting rowdy," but after some of the graffiti aimed at Montoya had already been written on the wall.

"I believe the feeling was that since they were tearing down the building anyway, it didn't matter what happened to it," Griffin said. "I had a friend tell me he drove by at 1 a.m., and it looked like it was still raging."

Griffin said when she drove by Saturday to look in the windows, she saw the damage that county workers would discover Tuesday morning, which prompted her to remove her business card from the door. "To see a place you've been close with so torn up was really sad," she said. "It was not the way an outstanding salon should go out. I was hoping we could go out on top."

Serena Reike, who attended the salon's beauty school and worked there as a receptionist and a stylist, said the place was "kinda thrashed" when she left the party around 6 p.m. Friday. "But I guess it got more thrashed after I left," she said.

The 19-year-old Santa Fe native said the Blue Monkey gave her a start and did some really great things for her. She was sorry to see it close. "The whole thing really sucks, and I wish things could have turned out better," Reike said. "But I'm not gonna wreck the joint and be really mad at everybody. ... I'm in a different head space than the people that decided they needed to vandalize the salon."

The Blue Monkey officially closed Jan. 15 after the Barker family, which owns Barker Realty and owned the Blue Monkey building, sold the property to the county for $2.4 million, about $1 million more than its appraised value. The county plans to build a courthouse on the property.

Nicole Carter, owner of the Blue Monkey, has been vocal about her dissatisfaction with the county's offer of $110,000 to relocate her salon and beauty school. Carter told The New Mexican last week that the money wouldn't have been enough to cover the cost of renovating an existing downtown space, and she would be filing for bankruptcy and leaving town. Carter couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday.

A sign on the front door of the former salon informs clients the Blue Monkey closed as a direct result of having to move out of the Montezuma Avenue building. "If you are as angry as we are, please let Harry Montoya know," reads the sign, which also gives Montoya's cell phone number.

Montoya said he doesn't know why he was personally targeted in the graffiti on the wall or the sign on the door except he was quoted in a Santa Fe Reporter story about the salon closing.

Montoya, whose district includes the part of the city where the salon was located, said he thought negotiations were going smoothly with Carter until read in The Reporter that she planned to file bankruptcy and move to Arizona.

Ulibarri said the $110,000 the county offered Carter was in response to a settlement proposed by Carter's attorney.

Montoya said he had never spoken directly to Carter but had received five phone messages from someone identifying himself as a former employee of the salon "blaming me for him losing his job and asking me when I was going to hire him."

Montoya said he didn't return the "derogatory and disturbing" phone calls because he didn't want to engage in a discussion with someone accusing him of something that was out of his control.

Many residents have been critical of the county's $55 million courthouse. Local architects and others have criticized the massive scale — most of it stands about 52 feet high — and have called the building's proposed design inefficient.

The county maintains the project doesn't need to comply with city building codes that limit building heights in the Guadalupe-area neighborhood to about 21 feet. City officials disagree and have said the city might have some legal redress but no action has been taken.

Ulibarri said plans for the building haven't been finalized yet.

He said the county is "moving forward" with design changes so the building can qualify for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification.

The county will hold a working session with the designers and a group of local architects at 3 p.m. Friday in the Commission Chambers, 102 Grant Ave.

Contact Phaedra Haywood at 986-3068 or phaywood@sfnewmexican.com.