Coss defends naming teenager to panel

Some question mayor's choice of inexperienced members

Julie Ann Grimm | The New Mexican

10/17/2007 -

Mayor David Coss has not always been a crowd-pleaser with his decisions about city boards and committees.

He backpedaled early in his term after trying to oust nearly the entire Planning Commission. Earlier this month, he took another risk by appointing a teenager to the same commission, which reviews real-estate development projects.

But the mayor is standing by his appointment of 19-year-old Shayna Lewis. He said Wednesday that he's likely to continue naming young people to city posts.

Lewis served on the mayor's Youth Advisory Board and is a supervisor at Youthworks, a nonprofit that puts troubled teens to work on river restoration and other manual labor projects.

The teen-ager, who is both Piaute and Pima, was born and raised in Santa Fe and Pojoaque Pueblo. She dropped out of Santa Fe Indian School during 10th grade and went down what she said was a bad path.

"For a while there, I knew I was not doing good, and I knew that I needed to change," she said.

Now, she's four tests away from her general equivalency diploma and plans to enroll at The University of New Mexico next year to begin studying business. "This is just another challenge I need to meet to be something even better than what I am now," she said.

Lewis attended her first commission meeting Oct. 4, a rousting five and half hours of deliberations over lot splits and zoning variances. She's not worried she'll get bored with the commission.

"I am really excited," said Lewis, who Wednesday was wrapping up a four-day leadership training camp in the Manzano Mountains. "If they want to build a building in my town, I can be a part of deciding whether it's going to help my community or it's going to take away from my community."

With the City Council's approval, Lewis joined eight others on the board that helps apply city land-use rules on new developments.

"I made sure we had all the technical expertise on the Planning Commission in addition to our staff," the mayor said. "I think it's good to have people who are not builders, not real-estate agents, not engineers, people who are just regular Santa Feans. In this case, it's a very young Santa Fean. I think it's very appropriate, and I would start thinking about appointing even more young Santa Feans."

One city councilor, however, said she didn't speak out at a City Council meeting when Lewis's appointment was confirmed, but she doesn't think the teen is a good fit.

"I think that it would be possible to find young people who have more of a background in that area than the person they picked," said Councilor Karen Heldmeyer, who served on the Planning Commission prior to her election to the council. "It strikes me as putting that person at a disadvantage if they have neither the kind of life experience or a background in some of the issues that the commission will consider."

Community activist Gloria Mendoza, who frequently attends meetings at City Hall, said she was upset when she heard about the appointment. "I know there are other applicants who were qualified," Mendoza said. "Why would they put somebody in there who knows zero? I would like to know what this whole thing is about. Is it to split the vote or what?"

The mayor said he informally gathers résumés of candidates to serve on appointed bodies including the commission, Historic Design Review Board and other city panels.

Controversy over Coss' wishes for the Planning Commission began shortly after he took office in early 2006 and asked for resignations from all of the then-commissioners except Estevan Gonzales. The mayor dropped the issue when he met resistance from commissioners and councilors, but has since tapped six new members as commission terms expired.

Four assumed their posts this summer — Angela Schackel Bordegaray, Matthew S. O'Reilly, John M. Salazar and John A. Romero.

Romero later resigned after getting a new job with the city of Albuquerque. Coss also proposed a replacement for Commissioner Harriet Heltman, whose reappointment councilors had rejected earlier this summer.

Coss got the green light in September for Lewis and Gloria Lopez to take seats on the commission until June 2009. The mayor said Wednesday that he is now pleased with the board's makeup.

Gonzales, who chairs the commission, said he supports the addition of Lewis and believes she is as capable of learning the city's development rules as anyone else on the board.

"Shayna Lewis has a good understanding of what the youth is interested in as our community grows," he said. "She has a great personality and a great outlook on things, and I am very proud to have her on the commission."

Tobe Bott-Lyons has been tutoring Lewis through the process of taking tests to earn her GED and is Lewis's supervisor at Youthworks. He said she has been through an impressive life turn-around and has a bright future.

"She is very passionate and articulate about this community and what it needs," he said. "It was a big risk on the mayor's part, but I think it was about time that we had somebody in City Hall really willing to invest in our youth like that."

Lewis said she will prove critics wrong. "I am not here just to mess around," she said. "I am not here just for it to look good on my résumé. I am actually here to make my community grow into something better than it is."

WHO'S ON THE PLANNING COMMISSION

• Chairman Estevan Gonzales is a telecommunications and real-estate consultant who is co-owner of Sky High Communications.

• Bonifacio Armijo runs Building Adventures Unlimited and has worked in custom-home construction and renovations for more than 30 years.

• Ken Hughes is a management analyst for the state Department of Finance and Administration and has taught graduate level course on growth and planning.

• Shayna Lewis is a supervisor at Youthworks, a job training program for at-risk youth.

• Gloria Lopez is a principal of the SER Career Academy High School.

• Matthew O'Reilly is a professional engineer and real-estate broker who directs development for Whole City Partners LLC.

• John Michael Salazar is a development-review specialist with the Santa Fe County Land Use Department.

• Angela Schackel Bordegaray manages the state Water Planning Program for the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer.

• Signe Lindell is director of the property-management division for Maria E. Sanchez Real Estate Corp.

Source: Résumés filed with city of Santa Fe