Commission avoids contempt charges, possible jail time

Eichwald says he has jurisdication, but county may appeal

By Eric Maddy
The SCORE

Sandoval County commissioners avoided possble contempt of court charges that could have led to jail time and Judge George Eichwald may be off a controversial Placitas zoning case after court action Wednesday.

Eichwald had threatend to issue warrants for the arrest of any county commissioner who did not appear at the 1:30 p.m., but the point was rendered moot when all five attended.

Despite claims and case histories submitted by county attorney David Mathews, Eichwald also ruled that he does have jurisdiction to hear the case. But he gave the county and the proposed developers of the Wild Horse project an option to appeal that ruling and said he would not proceed further on the case until any decision on a possible appeal was made.

If the county or developer doesn't appeal, Eichwald said he would review audio tapes of the two Sandoval County Commission meetings as part of further investigation into the controversial case.

Mathews was not prepared to immediatly say if he would recommend appealing the case. He will most likely make a recommendation to the commission, who would then decide how to procede.

The county will have 30 days once Eichwald's order is filed to submit an appeal.

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