Otero County Attorney RB Nichols Responds to Dispatch Authority Controversy

The controversy around the city of Alamogordo’s City Commission vote, of 4 to 3, to withdraw from the Tularosa Basin Regional Dispatch Authority received a harsh response from the Otero County Commissioner Amy Barela as reported by NewMexicoConservativeNews.com on Wednesday. Now the Otero County Attorney has reached out to our news team and also responded. 

As some background the Tularosa Basin Regional Dispatch Authority was established in 2022 through a joint powers agreement between the city and Otero County, to provides emergency communication functions for agencies in Alamogordo, Tularosa, Cloudcroft and all rural areas in the county. This agency was supposed to be a model of intergovernmental coordination and collaboration to save taxpayers money and provide better cross functional emergency services.

However the city of Alamogordo’s staff presented to the City Commissioners that “since early in its formation it has been enveloped in controversy, has had a host is staffing difficulties and questions the effectiveness of leadership by the executive director.”  According to staff; worse a question of power and governance authority with the county commissioner’s interpretation that they have ultimate power to usurp the authority of the governing council was asserted. 

Otero County Attorney R.B. Nichols responded…

”Mr. Edwards,

In response to your article about the City meeting last night I would like to provide some additional information and documents for your consideration.

The City left out a great deal about their failures to adhere to the JPA, many of which were deliberate and intentional such as refusing to commit to funding

their share of the budget. Interestingly, the 34 pages of positive letters of support included with my letter and follow on letters of support were left out of the

information provided by the City for the City Commission’s and public’s consideration. For transparency there were two emails sent to the board that were negative

towards the director. I have not included those but I can if requested. I believe the sentiment of those emails was captured by the information provided at the meeting

last night and I am seeking to provide you with the other side of the story.

Here is a link to a transcript from the last TBRDA meting (please note that speakers are not always identified and/or sometimes incorrectly identified.

I’m happy to clarify speakers if you provide time stamps). https://otter.ai/u/cS0YeK20qCbufIEIl-QuXb8pp7U?utm_source=copy_url

Please reach out if you have questions after reviewing the attachments and transcript. I’m happy to provide details on how we arrived at this point.

Very respectfully,

R. B. Nichols

rnichols@co.otero.nm.us

Mr. Nichols in his response included the contact for the dispatch department leader, his letter of recommendation for contract renewal, the job description of the Executive Director, and a letter of support. See below…

The Contract for the ED Link https://drive.google.com/file/d/1apxVzrKnbF7CvByObw0piQm_BtJcV5HS/view?…

R B Nichols Letter of recommendation for the ED   https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xA97y2tAgXLyvb-5VqIcLWi2KtMPxbG3/view?…

Job Description 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1otEhPTM5FELoPDLEajkm-jyiZkyyXT-d/view?usp=drivesdk

More News from Alamogordo

• Otero County Commissioner Responds to Alamogordo Withdrawal from Dispatch Authority Commissioner Amy Barela Responds
• Split 4 to 3 Vote Alamogordo Withdraws from Tularosa Dispatch Authority City withdraws from regional dispatch authority which has been embedded with controversy.