Sue Moran of Tierra Grande writes in with a legitimate question:

I did not know that the DeBacas owned land near the area. However, I understand they have owned it for many, many years. Regardless of all that, does it not stand that any place the hospital is located – people who own the surrounding land will stand to benefit from the hospital. So. . . . . . what is the point?

This is merely an issue of conflict of interest.

There are plenty of people who own land near the proposed hospital site, and no doubt there would be others who own land near other sites. All nearby landowners would benefit.

The question is about how actively involved any landowner is in shaping our government’s decisions about the hospital. It’s the landowner’s right to be involved, but it’s also the right of the public to know about it.

All government decisions deserve to be scrutinized in terms of potential conflicts of interest. That’s why Valencia! has written about many conflicts of interest:

Commissioner Ron Gentry owns land adjacent to the site of the proposed metal recycling plant in Rio Communities.

Commissioner Pedro Rael’s former law partner is the attorney for the plaintiffs in the hospital lawsuit.

Commissioner Georgia Otero-Kirkham is Rep. Elias Barela’s first cousin.

Commissioner Don Holliday’s business builds fences for the county.

Commissioner David Medina thus far remains unscathed by conflict of interest concerns.

The point is we’ll continue to openly address conflicts of interest in all issues, as long as the person or entity involved is actively working to shape the decisions.

The Valley Improvement Association, or VIA, which is nonprofit corporation managing property in the areas most commonly referred to as Rio Communities and Rio del Oro, has appeared on Valencia! various times in what are sometimes critical articles.

We wanted to take a brief moment to explain why we would care to focus any attention the VIA.

Valencia! sees its job as taking a critical look at government in Valencia County, publishing what other publications — needless to name — won’t.

We often choose to first stand on the side of the people, asking questions and gathering information on behalf of the citizens of Valencia County, before we stand on the side of government, merely listening to and conveying the official government position on issues.

That’s not to say the people are never wrong. They are, and when they’re wrong, we’ll say so.

What role does VIA play in our loosely-worded mission statement?

We view the Valley Improvement Association as more than just a nonprofit corporation. It’s a pseudo-government, having the kind of jurisdiction over properties and people lives that every one of Valencia County’s governments has.

For example, take the article on Las Maravillas we recently published. In that story, it’s clear VIA does many of the things that governments do — it provides amenities, or what a government might call services, to members, or what a government might call constituents, after assessments are paid, or what a government might call taxes.

In our best judgment, VIA looks and acts like a government, even though it’s not legally defined that way.

We call it a pseudo-government and we’ll continue to take as critical a look at it as we would any government in Valencia County.

American Iron and Metal wants to build a metal recycling plant in the Rio Grande Industrial Park. The facility will be located just more than a mile from Rio Communities, and it’s got some residents upset, so upset that two of them filed an appeal of the Valencia County Planning and Zoning Commission’s approval of the company’s preliminary site plans.

On Wednesday, the company will come before the county commission to argue why the planning and zoning commission was right. Regardless of the arguments it makes, the company has already beaten the appeal — and it has nothing to do with arguments over the legitimacy of zoning or site plans.

Last week, when the county commission considered delaying this week’s public hearing on the issue, the lawyer for the plant did something smart: He chopped the commission in half.

Commissioners Pedro Rael and Don Holliday, based on their comments last week, are going to vote in favor of the metal plant. Rael’s vote is less certain, but he thinks the appellants don’t even have a right to bring the appeal. Unless the appellants can find residents who live within view of the plant to the public hearing, they’ve got no chance with Rael. Holliday on the other hand was much more blunt. He said he thinks the appellants and county are doing nothing but holding up a good business and new jobs.

Commissioner Ron Gentry, obviously, will vote against the metal plant. He’s been outspoken against it, even if he won’t admit it. He’s also the only person who owns land next to the proposed construction site. Last week, the lawyer for American Iron and Metal tried to get Gentry to recuse himself because of that fact. The lawyer might try again, but he may not even need to with the way the votes have already lined up.

Commissioner Georgia Otero-Kirkham is out of the vote. She recused herself last week on such a small thing as delaying the hearing. She essentially argued that she does, in fact, have a conflict of interest. It would be very unusual if, after recusing herself last week, she now chose to vote.

Medina didn’t speak up last week but voted against Rizzo’s request for a delayed public hearing. He might be undecided on the metal plant, the zoning, and the site plans.

The vote on the appeal takes place next week, after this week’s public hearing. The motion will likely be along the lines of accepting the appellants’ arguments, which stops the metal recycling plant from moving forward. But with the commission chopped in half, two to two, with Otero-Kirkham out and assuming Medina is in opposition to the plant, that kills the appeal by a tie.

The metal plant wins, unless the appellants or others decide to challenge it at a higher level, say, in court.

Valencia! reported this week that the Valencia County Action Commitee (VCAC) and a related group calling itself Citizens for Change placed a new large sign calling for a four-lane Highway 47 and a bridge across the Rio Grande, between Los Chavez and Tome-Adelino.

VCAC also has been intimately involved in fighting to get the county hospital built and is responsible for the pro-hospital signs around the county.

What VCAC managed to do this week with its new push for the four-lane Highway 47 and bridge is shift the hospital debate away from an argument for healthcare to a debate over development.

It’s the worst decision the pro-hospital movement could have made, because now the hospital opposition is reframing the debate. Up to this point, the pro-hospital movement, which includes VCAC, has successfully painted the plaintiffs who filed the hospital lawsuit and their supporters as anti-hospital and, by implication, anti-healthcare. But the debate was reframed this week, with the anti-hospital locals transforming themselves into a pro-agriculture movement, with the help of the ill-conceived four-lane and bridge attack on the historic community of Tome-Adelino.

Should this new pro-agriculture movement stick with its message and target that message to the agricultural communities, they could successfully sway more public opinion against the hospital.

Public opinion might not matter so much soon, however. The New Mexico Court of Appeals is “ready” to schedule and hear the county hospital appeal.