Civil engineer Karen Perez brings knowledge, common sense to county commission

Karen Perez’s résumé made her a strong candidate for the Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners.

She has bachelor’s degrees in political science and agricultural engineering and a master’s degree in civil engineering. She is fluent in Spanish and English and also speaks some Russian, Arabic and Japanese. She spent time in the Peace Corps building water systems in Ecuador and Honduras, then came to New Mexico State University to become an engineer. For the past 14 years, she has been designing and overseeing construction of water systems in Doña Ana County and has worked intimately with county government.

But it’s not until you speak with Perez that you begin to understand the depth of her knowledge, her abilities to practically apply it and clearly communicate it and her desire to put aside politics and focus on policy and common sense.

Perez, a 43-year-old Democrat, was elected to represent District 3 in November, replacing Republican Paul Curry. When she takes office in January, she’ll also become the chairwoman of the commission. To take the politics out of the process, commissioners set up a rotating schedule two years ago for who leads the commission, and it happens to be the District 3 commissioner’s turn.

Perez, who represents several of the counties’ colonias in addition to south and east neighborhoods in Las Cruces, probably lines up philosophically with Commissioner Oscar Vasquez Butler, but she seems to have a desire to openly discuss and find compromise that matches that of Commissioner Bill McCamley.

That in itself will create an interesting dynamic. Butler and McCamley, both Democrats, often find themselves at odds. Butler is more liberal and more of a party player. McCamley is a moderate who more often works outside political lines.

“If we don’t kill each other first, it’s a good group with diverse viewpoints,” Perez said of the commission. “I think there are times I’ll agree with Butler and I think there are times I’ll vote with other people.”

Commissioner Kent Evans, who will be the group’s only Republican once Perez takes office, believes that.

“I really think I’m going to be able to work with her,” he said. “I expect her to be her own person.”

Butler has often been the lone voice of opposition on some issues during the past year while the other four commissioners – two Democrats and two Republicans – found compromise. Perez’s philosophical similarities with Butler will likely give those viewpoints more attention, and may also push Butler to compromise more often.

For example, Butler fought in October a proposal to allow voters to decide whether to raise the gross receipts tax to help fund Spaceport America. In a confrontational manner Butler argued, without convincing the other commissioners, that the county should spend its money on more immediate problems and that the tax would simply be funding trips into space for the rich.

Butler cast the only vote against allowing voters to decide.

Perez said that was the wrong approach, but she also sympathizes with many of Butler’s concerns.

“That isn’t a decision I think I should take out of people’s hands. That’s way overstepping,” Perez said. “But when are we going to get a return on the spaceport? Potentially in 10-15 years. Look at Santa Teresa.”

Perez was referring to another long-term project in which the county has invested millions – development of the desert west of Sunland Park. After years of legal wrangling between the county and Sunland Park, the Verde Group is set to begin rapid development in the near future, but it will have taken the county more than a decade to see a return on its investment.

It’s hard to sell a project like that to people in Hatch, Perez said. The county has been telling them for years it will see a return on its investment of their tax dollars in another community, and will use that money to improve infrastructure and services throughout the county.

They’re still waiting.

Many in the south county view the spaceport as the same type of project. Evans, McCamley and Commissioner Dolores Saldaña-Caviness support the spaceport and are looking toward the potential future rewards, but Perez said she struggles with that.

“I think about now, I think about the day-to-day needs of people,” Perez said. “How do you treat water so you have potable water?”

McCamley urged Perez to also consider “having the vision” to think long-term.

“She’s very capable, extremely capable. My only hope is that she, like the rest of the commission, has the ability to look at long-term issues and not just short term issues,” he said. “I think she has the ability to do that, and I just hope that turns out to be the case.”

Perez leans heavily on studies and data. She is concerned that, though studies have answered many questions about the spaceport, others can’t currently be answered, because it’s a venture that’s never been attempted.

Many of those questions relate to what Perez calls the “transitional impact:” While the public awaits a return on its investment, how will it deal with the taxing of its infrastructure by an increase in “imported people” sent here to build the facility and use it? How will the county deal with other infrastructure issues while it is investing money in this project but isn’t yet seeing a return? Until NMSU’s aerospace engineering program grows, will the spaceport draw resources away from White Sands Missile Range, Holloman Air Force Base, the NASA White Sands Test Facility and other important resources?

Some of these questions have been raised by Butler, but in a standoffish manner. Perez said these are questions that can probably be addressed, but there needs to be open discussion about them and the formulation of a plan.

Perez said she will work to find compromise.

She took the first step by suggesting a joint meeting of all three county commissions – Doña Ana, Otero and Sierra – that are considering asking voters to raise taxes for the spaceport. That meeting, which will also include state officials, will likely be held in January.

“I won’t get in the way of voters, but I think all three counties need to get together and discuss whether this is a crapshoot they want to take,” she said.

Perez has intimate knowledge of the Santa Teresa project that might color her view of the spaceport. She worked for the company that was building, in the late 1990s, a water line for Sunland Park as part of a race between the city and county to snatch control of water in the area.

That issue exploded when the county passed an ordinance limiting construction and ordered Perez’s company to stop building its line. When the Sunland Park mayor refused, he was arrested, though the charges were later dropped.

Perez saw the negative results of that breakdown in communication and compromise. Now that the city and county are working together, the Santa Teresa project is proceeding as it should have a decade ago.

She sees opportunities for similar partnerships with El Paso on water projects and with Las Cruces on enacting smarter growth policies. Perez said a primary cause of this summer’s flooding was not a lack of flood-control infrastructure, but too much silt in the river bed and arroyos caused by a lack of ordinances that would keep developers from stripping land and sending too much dirt into the area’s natural drainage system.

That silt clogged manmade drains and caused the flood-control system to be overwhelmed, Perez said.

The county, if it better controlled strip development, would spend less money and time scraping dirt off roads, she said. The money saved could be used to fix past mistakes and improve the situation. For example, Perez said the culverts that run under Interstate 10 near Vado are too small and need replaced.

It’s that sort of knowledge and experience that promises to make Perez a force on the commission from the moment she takes office.

“I think she’s very intelligent,” McCamley said. “I’m very confident she will be a positive personality within our discussions and our relationships.”