It was a no vote for a vote of no confidence leveled against the Albuquerque Police Chief at Wednesday’s City Council meeting.

Councilor Louie Sanchez sponsored the declaration of no confidence but withdrew it after a lengthy discussion. This was his third attempt at getting the message off the council table and into the mayor’s office.

Police Chief Harold Medina has been under the microscope for several reasons. In January, news dropped that there was a federal investigation into several APD officers who were implicated in a DWI scandal where nearly 200 cases were dismissed. Five officers resigned before attending Internal Affairs interviews. More questions arose after Medina was involved in a crash in his department vehicle while fleeing gunfire at the intersection of Central Avenue and Alvarado Drive with his wife in the car. 

Prior to the no-confidence vote, officers from the Crash Review Board told the council that Medina’s crash was non-preventable.

Nevermind

Sanchez first asked for a deferral for his declaration saying that while something needs to change at the city’s police department, some time is needed to answer the questions raised by the council. Councilor Nichole Rogers questioned whether this was a human resource issue and if there was a process to evaluate department leaders. City administrators said there was and they would get her the information.

Councilor Klarissa Peña commented on Sanchez’s no-confidence declaration. She said she did not support a deferral and they should just vote it up or down. She said she looks for due process when making a decision and much of the declaration was based on public outcry, was subjective and not based on facts.

She said the allegations of unchecked corruption, profound lack of leadership and mismanagement of the police department are not substantiated. 

“Where are the facts?” Peña asked. “I have seen some successes come out of this chief.”

She asked who put this memo together without facts, to which council staff replied that they assisted with the writing but it was done at the direction of Councilor Sanchez. Peña said she had human resource questions about the council approving this message and City Attorney Lauren Keefe said there were HR implications and those are best discussed in executive session.

The motion to defer failed on a 5 to 4 vote. This would normally prompt a call for the vote to be taken and not deferred.

Sanchez then motioned to have his message of no confidence withdrawn, instead of facing a vote. 

“What I heard was this needs a little bit more work, so I am going to withdraw it,” he said. 

Councilors unanimously approved a withdrawal of the motion.

If the message of no confidence had been approved, it would bear no weight and would have just been sent to Mayor Tim Keller’s office. It is a first step in the process leading up to a removal vote. Voters changed the city charter to give the council the power to remove a police chief and it must be done by a vote of two-thirds — or six votes.

Other business:

• Councilors filed a grant application from the State Outdoor Recreation Division for expanding and improving disc golf facilities.
• Councilors authorized the sale of almost $112 million in general obligation bonds to finance city projects relating to public safety, seniors, homelessness and community enhancement, parks and recreation, transportation and many other projects approved by the voters.
• Councilors approved an alignment of the Rio Grande Trail which is the state’s portion of a roughly 500-mile trail plan from Colorado to Texas for hiking, biking and horseback riding along the river. There are currently only about 88 miles completed with six state parks on board. The city is looking to align the Paseo del Bosque trail with the state’s larger Rio Grande Trail plan.

They also approved the filing of an application from the Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund for a grant to purchase the 640-acre Northern Sand Dunes property to be part of the Open Space Division. The property is privately owned, vacant and located on the city’s Westside, southwest of the Shooting Range Park. The property was recently appraised for $550,000, according to city documents.