Voters got the opportunity to hear candidates for Española City Council and mayor answer questions and share their plans with the public Saturday, during the candidate forum at Northern New Mexico College’s Nick Salazar Center for the Arts.

The Española Valley Chamber of Commerce, Rio Grande SUN, KDCE Radio and Los Alamos Daily Post hosted the forum, which ran about four hours. There were three moderators: Adam Enciñas from KDCE, Jennifer Garcia from the Rio Grande SUN and Carol Clark from the Los Alamos Daily Post.

During that time, candidates were asked a series of questions in the following categories:

• Visions

• Leadership

• Budgets and finances and

• Community development They were also asked a series of five questions labeled “tough” questions, which included queries such as: “What tough decisions are you wiling to make that may be unpopular?” “What criteria will you use to hire the next city manager?” and “Drugs and homelessness are to major issues the city faces. What is your vision for tackling these complicated issues?”

The following city council candidates attended: Jacob Torres and Aaron Salazar (incumbent), District 1; Michelle Martinez and Stephen Salazar, District 2; and Floyd Archuleta and Manuel Martinez, District 3. Municipal judge candidates Joseph W. Madrid (incumbent) and his challenger District 1 City Councilor Peggy Sue Martinez also answered questions.

By participating in the forum, candidates were given the opportunity to share with those in attendance, their vision for the city if they’re elected, how they will resolve conflicts on the city council and what methods they’d use to advocate for, and generate new revenue for the city, while ensuring that residents and small businesses are not overburdened.

Candidates for municipal judger also got the opportunity to answer questions that would give voters insight into how they would handle their duties if they are elected.

Madrid said he was inspired to run for judge because he grew up in a household in which is father, a former New Mexico State Police officer became a magistrate judge.

“Growing up in the life showed me I can do good for my community and I can do that from the bench,” he said.

He cited his experience as a court clerk in former municipal judge Stephen Salazar’s courtroom as a great help to him because it allowed him to gain onthe- job experience that he uses today.

Peggy Sue Martinez cited her community outreach work as an asset to her as a municipal judge candidate. She wants to utilize the judge’s position to get youth “on the good side of things” and not have them go through the court system.

“… That’s why I decided to run for this position, because that’s where I feel I’m the strongest, with community outreach,” she said.

Peggy Sue Martinez said she has connections through Española Elementary and Los Niños Kindergarten and she works well with the counselors there.

Mayor

Mayoral candidates Dennis Tim Salazar, Joann Salazar and incumbent John Ramon Vigil were also asked a series of questions in the same categories: visions, leadership, budgets and finances and community development. While they all seemed to agree that the city needs help when it comes to attracting businesses and getting cleaned up, they did not agree on one of the questions regarding the budget and it caused a bit of back-and-forth arguing. The question, “Given a $4 million budget deficit, how will you prioritize spending to address the most pressing needs of the community with your fellow council members?”

Vigil responded by saying that he didn’t know where the $4 million figure came from and called it inaccurate. He also claimed it was “political propaganda” put out to the media by his opponent. He didn’t clarify which opponent he thought it was.

“I really want to know where this comes from because I understand this was a typographical error,” Vigil said.

He’s trying to get to the bottom of the $4 million figure and said if that was the case, the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration would have already stepped in and taken over the municipality’s budget and finances.

“So this is completely political propaganda put out by the opposing faction and I completely disagree with this,” Vigil said. “We need to reach out to DFA and DFA will tell you it’s completely outlandish.”

Dennis Tim Salazar said he didn’t understand the claim and it completely confused him.

“Political propaganda under the mayor’s own administration,” he said.

He also said the next administration is going to have to separate itself from the current administration’s downfalls.

“Never in my entire time as a city councilor, have I seen anything like this,” Dennis Tim Salazar said. “Under other administrations, they’ve been able to balance the budget.”

Joann Salazar said they can’t spend what they don’t have.

“If it’s not $4 million, it’s close enough,” she said. “It was $2 million two or three weeks ago. If it’s $2 million, it’s $2 million, if it’s $4 million, it’s still a deficit.”

Each candidate was given two minutes to answer each question that was asked.