Santa Fe County released e-mails Monday that link New Mexico House Speaker Ben Luján to allegations that public resources were used to pave the parking lot at Sacred Heart Catholic Church near his home in Nambé.

The e-mail exchange was prompted by Tom Berg, a Nambé resident who noticed the work going on at the church earlier this month and sent County Commissioner Harry Montoya an inquiry.

"Just wondering what the deal is with a bunch of county trucks and equipment paving the Nambé church parking lot," Berg wrote in an e-mail he sent May 17.

Montoya forwarded the e-mail to Public Works Director James Lujan with the following message:

"Please let me know what is happening here."

James Lujan wrote in his reply:

"If you recall at the ribbon cutting for the low water crossing on CR-84, we were asked by House Speaker Ben Lujan to place millings in the parking lot of the church. You were in agreement so I had the crew schedule it. I understand the they (sic) got to in the few working days. I believe the work is complete."

James Lujan was placed on administrative leave May 21.

Berg — who said concern over an apparent lack of separation between church and state prompted him to ask what was going on — said Monday that he had yet to hear back from Montoya.

When first asked by a reporter about the incident May 21, Speaker Ben Luján — who said Sacred Heart Catholic Church is one of several he attends in the area — denied knowing anything about what was going on in the parking lot.

"I saw them doing the job last week, and I thought it was very nice of the county," Ben Luján said at the time. "That is the extent of what I know. I did not ask them to go pave that parking lot at all."

On Monday, after being asked about the content of the e-mails, Ben Luján amended his statement somewhat, saying he had told someone — he couldn't remember whom — to "look into maybe putting some (millings) in to that Nambé Church."

"All I did was say you might look into that," Ben Luján said Monday. "I did not say to do it or not to do it."

Asked why he hadn't mentioned his suggestion the first time he was interviewed, Ben Luján said he thought he had.

"I told you I had not told them to pave," Ben Luján said. "I thought I told you about the millings."

Millings are ground-up bits of asphalt produced when old asphalt is scraped off existing roads to prepare the surface for repaving.

Assistant County Manager Penny Ellis-Green wrote in an e-mail Monday that the church parking lot was "paved with millings," a job that required about $5,500 worth of county time, materials and equipment.

Montoya said Monday that the speaker "made the request," and added that everything in the e-mail was pretty accurate.

"He asked James and I," Montoya said. "We were both together. I told him we could look into it. There was nothing definitive in terms of a yes or a no."

Ben Lujan and Montoya both said they count on staff to determine whether a request is legal or not.

"I was in agreement in terms of looking into the request," Montoya said. "I don't authorize requests. I rely on staff to make the final determination as to whether or not its an appropriate request."

Ellis-Green said there is no form or document required to trigger a county crew to perform a job and that the authorization is normally given verbally to the road maintenance or projects manager.

Montoya — who said he attends Sacred Heart the first Sunday of each month — said he is in discussion with church officials about the possibility of reimbursing the county for the cost of the job.

The allegations regarding the church parking-lot paving are the latest in an ongoing Sheriff's Department investigation into the county Public Works Department.

The investigation began several weeks ago after county officials notified law enforcement that an employee had tipped them to possible wrongdoing.

The focus of the investigation has been on determining if contractors hired by the county committed a crime by not completing work to bid specifications and/or by charging the county for materials and equipment in cases where county's own equipment and materials were used to perform the job.

Investigators have also been trying to determine if any employees knew about or benefited from the alleged fraud.

News of the investigation has loosened the tongues of several people in the community who have called The New Mexican to report paving jobs they believe are suspect or to discuss their experiences with people involved in the investigation.

State Department of Transportation employee Richard Salazar said Monday that he worked under James Lujan at the county Public Works Department in 2003, and that Lujan was in the habit of peeking at bids for county tree-trimming contracts before the bidding process was over.

"He was my direct supervisor," Salazar said. "When Mr. Lujan would call me into his office to see who was bidding and how much they bid, I thought that was the end of it and it wouldn't leave his desk," Salazar said.

"But it turns out one company kept getting the contract," he said. "Then I find out it was one of his friends."

Salazar — who said he was fired from the county in 2004 after he began asking questions — said he could not remember the name of the company that was awarded the bids. Lujan could not be reached for comment.

Advantage Asphalt — one of the firms being investigated in the sheriff's probe of the Public Works Department — has a $200,000 on-call contract to perform tree trimming for Santa Fe County through the year 2013.

That same company has been awarded about $7 million worth of work by Santa Fe County in the past 18 months, and has open contracts with the city of Santa Fe worth another $4.2 million.

City Councilor Matthew Ortiz, an attorney who represents Advantage Asphalt, said the firm's owner, Anthony Montoya, "does not wish to speak to The New Mexican at this point."

"We are trying to respect the investigation and the process," Ortiz said.

County Commission candidate Jon Paul Romero, who is seeking to replace Montoya as the representative for District 1, said he worked with Advantage Asphalt while employed at the Rancho Viejo subdivision — and the company has donated to his campaign.

"They always did quality work while I was out there," Romero said.

Ike Pino, a former Santa Fe city manager who recently left a management job at SunCor New Mexico, which owns the home-building business in Rancho Viejo, said he was told by the company not to comment on issues related to the development.

Pino recently accepted a job as administrative services director for the city of Santa Fe.

Advantage Asphalt has liens on more than a dozen properties in the subdivision. The liens claim an outstanding balance of about $1.1 million is owed to Advantage Asphalt.

Mike Richards, director of homebuilder operations at SunCor, said he also couldn't comment but said Advantage Asphalt has done "quite a large quantity" of work for the firm and that the company is involved in an "ongoing dispute" with the contractor.

Sheriff Greg Solano said last week that he had requested a meeting with the state Attorney General's Office to discuss the church parking-lot issue.

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