Staff Report

Melanee Hand is the newest member of the Los Alamos County Council. She will fill the seat left vacant by former Councilor James Robinson.

Hand was nominated to the seat during Tuesday night’s regular Council meeting, which was held virtually.

Eight candidates applied for the position.

The candidates were:

• Steven Booth;
• Brandi Engeman;
• Andrew Fraser;
• David Hampton;
• Melanee Hand;
• Keith Lepsch;
• Antonio Maggiore; and
• Aaron Walker.

Hand was nominated after two rounds of voting. In the first round, Councilors Denise Derkacs, Sara Scott and David Izraelevitz voted for Hand while Chair Randall Ryti voted for Lepsch, Councilor Sean Williams voted for Maggiore and Councilor David Reagor voted for Hampton.

In the second round, Ryti, Scott, Derkacs and Izraelevitz voted for Hand while Reagor voted for Hampton and Williams voted for Maggiore.

In other business, council did the following:

• Approved 5-2, with Ryti and Williams opposed, to acknowledge but take no further action on resident Anna Dillane’s petition to scrap the recent survey regarding the County’s nuisance codes and do another one. Dillane said the survey was biased and featured photographs of local homes that are easily identified.
  Williams moved to acknowledge the petition and request staff to investigate and research the matter and report back to council in 60 days, but his motion failed to pass 3-3. Reagor, Ryti and Williams voted for the motion while Derkacs, Izraelevitz and Scott were opposed.
• Approved 5-1, with Williams opposed, to acknowledge but take no further action on Dillane’s second petition, which called to fire/sanction the contractor that administered the survey, Polco.
• Approved 5-1, with Williams opposed, a budget revision to increase the budget for the golf course improvement project from approximately $1.7 million to $2.5 million.