The Railyard master plan calls for a "diverse, people-oriented community place
Shortly before City Council on Wednesday evening approved the purchase of 22,000 square feet of office space in the Railyard, the council decided not to move forward with an investigation involving longtime Councilor Patti Bushee.
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Luis Stelzner, a lawyer with the Albuquerque firm that the city commissioned to investigate statements Railyard Co. Principal Steve Duran made about Bushee, told the council that he hadn't found anything more than what was printed in the newspapers over the past week. Last week, the city council approved a contract of up to $25,000 with Stelzner's firm to look into statements Duran made in a private city meeting in March. Duran claimed Bushee owed his brother money for plumbing work on her house from eight years ago.
Stelzner also told the council that both Bushee and Duran refused to interview with him, although Bushee says her lawyer sent a letter asking Stelzner to answer 54 questions before she'd agree to an interview. Stelzner said the council had a few options regarding Bushee: file a formal ethics complaint, bring it to law enforcement or do nothing.
"There's nothing there in my opinion," Councilor Bill Dimas told the council after Stelzner's presentation. "It's 'he said, she said' at this point. We are basically in the same spot as before. I would recommend we let it go by."
After Dimas made his recommendation, City Councilor Peter Ives told Mayor David Coss that he was a little confused on the specifics of the Dimas' motion.
"Well I don't think we need a motion to do nothing," Coss said.
Next up was the purchase of the Market Station space, which lay at the heart of the week-long investigation involving Bushee. Railyard Co., which owns the building, had long threatened to sue the city over delaying its construction of a parking garage underneath Market Station. As a condition of the city's purchase, Railyard Co. will drop the lawsuit threats.
Bushee has long characterized the move as a bailout to a company that's failed to deliver. Last week, she accused Duran of trying to keep her from voting on it. In the end, she recused herself.
"After all that had been said and done between [Duran and I], I don't know that I could have been unbiased," she says. "I didn't want to give anybody an opportunity to come back and sue the city."
The city intends to use the Market Station space by relocating government offices from the federal Post Office building. Proponents say the purchase gives the city an asset while bringing much-needed life to the ghost town atmosphere of the Railyard. But others say its a gift to a company with a reputation of playing dirty to get what it wants. Railyard Co. has been the subject of at least eight lawsuits since 2008 and its blemishes don't stop there.
The purchase will cost at least $5 million plus moving expenses. Over a period of 20 years, it comes to $150,000 more than what the city pays now to lease from the Post Office building, according to city documents presented to the council.
Bushee made her feelings about the project clear as she announced announced her recusal shortly before the vote. She mentioned other past city property purchases, including on Siler Road, where offices could be relocated.
"The costs that are in this proposal are considerable," she told the council. "They should be considered and debated as to not a settlement agreement but as to the best place to locate our staff."
After Bushee's statements, City Councilor Rebecca Wurzburger quickly snapped: "My understanding of a recusal is that one does not comment on the issue."
Bushee then sat with the audience to watch the vote. Right before the vote, Coss asked City Attorney Geno Zamora if recused members are allowed to stay in the chambers. After shuffling through the rules, Zamora said they weren't specific enough to make a recused councilor leave the room.
In the end, every councilor besides Bushee and Carmichael Dominguez, who wasn't there, approved the purchase.
Afterwards, Bushee said the most surprising part of the whole ordeal was learning that Duran made his statements about her back in March.
"No action was taken by the city attorney's office until just before there was to be a vote on [Railyard Co.]," she tells SFR.
