BY LISA SHIN
Los Alamos

Dear County Council:  

Our State Auditor Joseph Maestas recently wrote the Mayor and Members of the Village Council of Cuba the following:  

The special audit reflects serious failures by the Village’s elected governing body to uphold its oaths of office, its fiduciary obligations, and its fundamental duty to uphold the public trust….As elected officials, you are entrusted with the lawful, ethical, and responsible stewardship of public funds. The conditions documented in the Village of Cuba special audit represent a substantial departure from those obligations and expose the Village to serious risk affecting its financial stability, institutional credibility, and operational integrity.  

Given that recent projects—such as CB Fox, Time Out Pizza, and now Hilltop—are being granted nearly $10M in public funds, I echo the State Auditor’s concerns for Los Alamos County.  

Questions:     

1.  Is there a true public benefit or does this mostly benefit the Developers’ pocketbooks?   In this case, the 400 Trinity Drive Hilltop Owners are asking for nearly $3M in free money and a $1M interest-free loan (which amounts to at least $585K in interest savings over 10 years) to generate just 3 new jobs.   

2.  What is being done to prevent LEDA/MRA from becoming a political slush fund for the well-connected?  How are we guarding against the corruption, favoritism, and nepotism that occurred with LEDA in Alamogordo?   

3.  Where are the line items in the 2026/2027 budget for these interest-free loans and free money (LEDA/MRA funds) given to profit-driven Developers?   What is the cap for LEDA/MRA funding?   Are these funds included in County Manager Anne Laurent’s annual budget of $25M?   Citizens should be aware that her annual salary is $274,769.   

4.  What is being done to ensure that LEDA/MRA funds are not used to put existing businesses at risk or to directly compete with our local entrepreneurs?    The public deserves answers regarding Allan Saenz’ concerns.

5.  What is being done to ensure the public is not liable for business failures and loan defaults?   Our NM Legislative Finance Committee showed that nearly one-third of LEDA recipients failed to meet their job creation requirements.   What happens if projects fail to meet their anticipated job creation, lodgers’ tax, and GRT revenue targets?    Will Los Alamos County demand reimbursement if Developers fail to meet their obligations?   

For the past 2 years, I have advocated for a citizen-led MRA Commission to avoid exactly what we are witnessing now.   

• Millions in public funds are being negotiated behind closed doors between County staff and property Developers, with no scrutiny or oversight.  
• Documents associated with these private Zoom meetings are unavailable to the public, even through IPRA requests.   
• There is no meaningful public input or engagement.  As James Rickman put it, “the results of these actions and discussions are being announced to the public at the Eleventh Hour, after they are already ‘done deals.’   “

An MRA Commission functions to ensure independent oversight, transparency, and accountability over public funds.   Early in the process, small businesses, property owners, stakeholders, and residents would have an opportunity to provide direct input and revise agreements before they are presented to the Council.  All meetings would be subject to the NM Open Meetings Act.  So far, the 2026 Council Candidates who support an MRA Commission are Councilor Melanee Hand, Chris Luchini, Eric Stromberg, and Jason Chappel.  This shows that they are 100% committed to transparency and the lawful, ethical, and responsible stewardship of public funds.    

Letters to the editor represent the opinions of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or editorial stance of the Los Alamos Reporter. The Reporter assumes no responsibility or liability for the factual accuracy of statements made by contributors.