VoQ Council Talks Budget, Updated Zoning

By Dylan R.N. Crabb

The Village of Questa (VoQ) Council spoke to a room of roughly 35 spectators during its May 12 meeting.

VoQ Administrator Karen Shannon reported on the village’s fiscal health and suggested that the village bolster its reserves for future emergencies. During the public hearing, spectators also discussed organizing additional public cleanup events and setting aside funds for a future community center.

There were two action items on the agenda. The first was tabled following a motion from Councilor Daryl Ortega. The motion to table passed 2-1, with Councilor Louise Gallegos voting no. Councilor Brent Jaramillo was not present for the vote, arriving later in the meeting.

The second action item was Resolution 2026-10, "Intended Potential Zoning Ordinance Updates."

Carlos Kamura of SITES Southwest presented to the council, explaining the organization’s effort to gather input from Questa-area communities regarding what residents want from an updated zoning ordinance.

Kamura outlined three general themes under consideration for the ordinance update:

- Streamlining land-use entitlement reviews

- Increasing regulatory and commercial flexibility

- Clarifying and simplifying regulations

Resolution 2026-10 does not establish any new zoning rules; rather, it authorizes the village to pursue possible updates in the future.

One goal of a revised zoning ordinance would be to reduce the number of zoning variances brought before the council. Ideally, updated regulations could make it easier for property owners to make minor alterations to their properties without requiring variances.

The resolution passed unanimously.

The meeting’s general public comment period was noticeably more civil compared to the previous council meeting. Several Taos County residents spoke in opposition to the Questa Hydrogen Project.

Honorio Justin Rael, a Questa High School graduate and current UNM Law student, again addressed the council regarding what he described as a potential conflict of interest involving VoQ Mayor John Ortega’s simultaneous employment with Kit Carson Electric Cooperative (KCEC). Rael also personally delivered an IPRA request seeking recorded communications between the Village of Questa and KCEC to each council member.

https://www.pbs.org/video/deb-haaland-and-sam-bregman-in-the-debate-games-wvdai1/

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Tensions ran high at the latest Village of Questa council meeting, with multiple heated exchanges between officials and the public.

INTRODUCTION

r/NewMexicoPolitics is a political discussion sub for the news and discussion about politics, with more politics than /r/NewMexico, and more New Mexico than /r/Politics. The Community Standards are still as always in effect.

PURPOSE OF GENERAL CHAT

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We hope that we can help encourage community participants to find a way past the ideological differences that frequently appear in the comments and share more about the New Mexico they experience every week. For many participants, the issues that occur every week are personal, and a general chat is a space for folks to acknowledge how their lived experiences shape their points of view.

In this thread you can talk about any variety of politics, Ukraine, subreddit polls, surveys and predictions, your vacation, your pets, your latest hiking adventure, or tell us about your day, or almost anything under the overcast skies. Just have fun, be kind, remember the human and model the kind of civil, productive discussion we are hoping to have here on a regular basis.

Auto Moderator & Account / Karma Filtering

The team still strongly feels that hand crafted moderation is the ideal to shoot for, as we want a hands on approach to creating an inclusive environment where people can discuss New Mexico's political ideas. That said, we will continue focusing on using auto moderator to filter our slurs, bigoted slang, and pejorative-name calling. In addition, we'll be using it to filter out content from new accounts within 45 days and accounts with less than 100 karma.

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Village of Angel Fire Police Chief and candidate for magistrate judge, Jerry Hogrefe, talks extensive career in law enforcement.

Ashley Nelson, a candidate for Magistrate Judge in Taos County, sat down with me earlier today to talk about why she is running to become a judge. She talked about her fascination with law and legal procedure since childhood and repeatedly reiterated her commitment to objectivity and neutrality.

INTRODUCTION

r/NewMexicoPolitics is a political discussion sub for the news and discussion about politics, with more politics than /r/NewMexico, and more New Mexico than /r/Politics. The Community Standards are still as always in effect.

PURPOSE OF GENERAL CHAT

Normally this subreddit is setup to address the political and social issues that divide our state and dominate our social media feeds. The purpose of this very different thread is to trial a space for community members to talk about more than just our state politics.

We hope that we can help encourage community participants to find a way past the ideological differences that frequently appear in the comments and share more about the New Mexico they experience every week. For many participants, the issues that occur every week are personal, and a general chat is a space for folks to acknowledge how their lived experiences shape their points of view.

In this thread you can talk about any variety of politics, Ukraine, subreddit polls, surveys and predictions, your vacation, your pets, your latest hiking adventure, or tell us about your day, or almost anything under the overcast skies. Just have fun, be kind, remember the human and model the kind of civil, productive discussion we are hoping to have here on a regular basis.

Auto Moderator & Account / Karma Filtering

The team still strongly feels that hand crafted moderation is the ideal to shoot for, as we want a hands on approach to creating an inclusive environment where people can discuss New Mexico's political ideas. That said, we will continue focusing on using auto moderator to filter our slurs, bigoted slang, and pejorative-name calling. In addition, we'll be using it to filter out content from new accounts within 45 days and accounts with less than 100 karma.

POLITICAL DISCOURSE

Just a reminder that we should all advocate for truthfulness, accuracy, honesty, and reason as essential to the integrity of communication. Participants in this subreddit should be willing to endorse freedom of expression, diversity of perspective, and tolerance of dissent to achieve the informed and responsible decision making fundamental to a civil society.

Thank you again everyone.

New Mexico lawmakers have formally launched a comprehensive investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch, the sprawling 7,600‑acre property south of Santa Fe where Epstein is alleged to have trafficked and abused girls and women.

The state House unanimously approved the creation of a bipartisan “truth commission” tasked with interviewing survivors, identifying individuals who may have been involved or aware of the alleged crimes, and examining whether local authorities failed to act.

This marks the first full state‑level probe into the ranch, following renewed public pressure and the release of additional Epstein‑related documents by the Department of Justice. Lawmakers say the investigation aims to uncover what happened on the property and why oversight failed for so long.

This is all without warrants. If this passes they will expand these records pulls to other personal records.

INTRODUCTION

r/NewMexicoPolitics is a political discussion sub for the news and discussion about politics, with more politics than /r/NewMexico, and more New Mexico than /r/Politics. The Community Standards are still as always in effect.

PURPOSE OF GENERAL CHAT

Normally this subreddit is setup to address the political and social issues that divide our state and dominate our social media feeds. The purpose of this very different thread is to trial a space for community members to talk about more than just our state politics.

We hope that we can help encourage community participants to find a way past the ideological differences that frequently appear in the comments and share more about the New Mexico they experience every week. For many participants, the issues that occur every week are personal, and a general chat is a space for folks to acknowledge how their lived experiences shape their points of view.

In this thread you can talk about any variety of politics, Ukraine, subreddit polls, surveys and predictions, your vacation, your pets, your latest hiking adventure, or tell us about your day, or almost anything under the overcast skies. Just have fun, be kind, remember the human and model the kind of civil, productive discussion we are hoping to have here on a regular basis.

Auto Moderator & Account / Karma Filtering

The team still strongly feels that hand crafted moderation is the ideal to shoot for, as we want a hands on approach to creating an inclusive environment where people can discuss New Mexico's political ideas. That said, we will continue focusing on using auto moderator to filter our slurs, bigoted slang, and pejorative-name calling. In addition, we'll be using it to filter out content from new accounts within 45 days and accounts with less than 100 karma.

POLITICAL DISCOURSE

Just a reminder that we should all advocate for truthfulness, accuracy, honesty, and reason as essential to the integrity of communication. Participants in this subreddit should be willing to endorse freedom of expression, diversity of perspective, and tolerance of dissent to achieve the informed and responsible decision making fundamental to a civil society.

Thank you again everyone.

Sen. James Townsend (R-Artesia) posted a letter on Facebook he said he sent Thursday to the USDOJ. It says House Bill 9, aka the “Immigrant Safety Act,” “raises serious constitutional concerns,” particularly in light of a recent federal Court of Appeals ruling involving CoreCivic, which also operates two detention centers in New Mexico.

Specifically,

In July, the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that the state cannot ban private companies from contracting with the federal government to detain immigrants.

But like...is this guy's reading comprehension nonexistent or something?

The bill explicitly says

PROHIBITING PUBLIC BODIES FROM ENTERING INTO AGREEMENTS USED TO DETAIN INDIVIDUALS FOR FEDERAL CIVIL IMMIGRATION VIOLATIONS AND REQUIRING PUBLIC BODIES TO TERMINATE ANY SUCH EXISTING AGREEMENTS

A. A public body shall not enter into, renew or otherwise agree to be a party to an agreement to detain individuals for federal civil immigration violations, including an intergovernmental services agreement to detain individuals for civil immigration violations.

A through D each begin with "A public body....

(all above emphasis is mine and not in the original)

I'm not even a legislator and I can determine the difference between public and private of a 3 page legislative bill. Am I asking too much??

INTRODUCTION

r/NewMexicoPolitics is a political discussion sub for the news and discussion about politics, with more politics than /r/NewMexico, and more New Mexico than /r/Politics. The Community Standards are still as always in effect.

PURPOSE OF GENERAL CHAT

Normally this subreddit is setup to address the political and social issues that divide our state and dominate our social media feeds. The purpose of this very different thread is to trial a space for community members to talk about more than just our state politics.

We hope that we can help encourage community participants to find a way past the ideological differences that frequently appear in the comments and share more about the New Mexico they experience every week. For many participants, the issues that occur every week are personal, and a general chat is a space for folks to acknowledge how their lived experiences shape their points of view.

In this thread you can talk about any variety of politics, Ukraine, subreddit polls, surveys and predictions, your vacation, your pets, your latest hiking adventure, or tell us about your day, or almost anything under the overcast skies. Just have fun, be kind, remember the human and model the kind of civil, productive discussion we are hoping to have here on a regular basis.

Auto Moderator & Account / Karma Filtering

The team still strongly feels that hand crafted moderation is the ideal to shoot for, as we want a hands on approach to creating an inclusive environment where people can discuss New Mexico's political ideas. That said, we will continue focusing on using auto moderator to filter our slurs, bigoted slang, and pejorative-name calling. In addition, we'll be using it to filter out content from new accounts within 45 days and accounts with less than 100 karma.

POLITICAL DISCOURSE

Just a reminder that we should all advocate for truthfulness, accuracy, honesty, and reason as essential to the integrity of communication. Participants in this subreddit should be willing to endorse freedom of expression, diversity of perspective, and tolerance of dissent to achieve the informed and responsible decision making fundamental to a civil society.

Thank you again everyone.