This is your weekly news roundup, which takes a quick look at some developments in government, politics, education, environment and other topics across El Paso.
El Paso Police Officers’ Wrongful Termination Lawsuit Dropped
A lawsuit filed by former El Paso police Officers John Surface and Adan Chavez in 2024 alleging wrongful termination, discrimination and retaliation has been dropped by a federal judge.
Surface and Chavez were fired from the El Paso Police Department in 2023 following their arrests on charges of official suppression stemming from allegations of sexual harassment of two female officers.
Surface and Chavez filed the lawsuit against the city and Chief Peter Pacillas alleging, in part, retaliation and discrimination for their firings. The lawsuit was dismissed Aug. 29 by Senior District Judge David Briones granting the city’s motion for summary judgement, court documents show. Court records also show Surface and Chavez filed a notice to appeal Sept. 26.
Briones dismissed remaining claims and closed the case with prejudice, meaning the Surface and Chavez cannot refile the same lawsuit.
The investigations and disciplinary process conducted by the city and Police Department, which included review by the civil service commission process and the department’s Discipline Review Board, was validated through the ruling, city officials said in a news release Wednesday.
“This decision is an important reminder that misconduct will not be tolerated,” Pacillas said in the news release. “The department remains focused on maintaining the public’s trust and ensuring that every member of our department is committed to uphold the highest professional standards.”
The firings followed multiple high-profile incidents involving El Paso police officers in recent years including arrests and firings for allegations of sexual harassment, sexual assault, family violence and official supression.
Paso del Norte Center Gifted Half Million to Fund Mental Health Services
The Paso del Norte Center, a regional center of the Meadow Mental Health Policy Institute, received a $500,000 donation from the Woody and Gayle Hunt Family Foundation to improve mental health care in El Paso, with a planned expansion into Southern New Mexico and Ciudad Juárez.
In 2020, El Paso had only 97 mental health providers for every 100,000 residents.
The center’s work includes integrating mental health care into primary care clinics. By implementing the Collaborative Care Model, primary care doctors can identify and address mental health needs early when they are most treatable, instead of waiting for serious symptoms, a Paso del Norte Center spokesperson said in an email. Between 2008 and 2021, the region saw a 63% increase in the number of people receiving mental health care through the Collaborative Care Model, according to the center.
READ MORE: Therapy on campus helps El Paso students
Mostly private gifts fund the Paso del Norte Center. Funds go toward providing telehealth programs to schools, bolstering the workforce and lobbying the state for policy and funding, such as in crisis intervention. Since 2024, youth crisis outreach teams have served more than 470 children and adolescents in the El Paso region.
“Right now, when a child is in crisis, most families have nowhere to turn other than the emergency room, which can be traumatizing in itself,” said a center representative. “This (outreach teams) not only helps children and their families have better outcomes, it reduces the strain on ERs as well as the foster care system.”
The Paso del Norte Center also works with partners on programs to grow the workforce, such as the creation of the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program at the University of Texas at El Paso. The first class graduated in 2022 and, since then, nearly 100 people have graduated – most of them from El Paso, bilingual and remaining in the area.
Artist Requests Volunteers for Santa Teresa Land Art Project
Salvadoran artist Josefina Paz would like a minimum of five volunteers per day to help with a land art project in the Chihuahuan Desert from Nov. 6 to 13. She plans to carve large-scale letters into the sands of Santa Teresa, New Mexico, to create a supportive message for migrants.
Paz, a doctoral student at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, said she came up with the idea during a months-long residency in Marfa and El Paso in fall 2024. Among her goals is to build awareness of migration and border issues and celebrate those who continue to fight for the lives and rights of the less fortunate.
She plans to inscribe “Should I go to where I came from or cry ten thousand years to bring the forest back?” in 50-by-40-inch letters that are no more than 3 inches deep. The message is based on some of the poetry she wrote during her initial borderland stay.
Volunteers will work mornings or later, weather permitting, to place letters, and then draw, carve and/or dig them based on the letters’ shadows on public land. She estimated the project’s cost at $5,000.
She said the art reflects the habitability and the hospitality of the United States as well as broader global issues like capitalism and “ego-politics,” where leaders prioritize personal goals over public good.
The land art “seeks to honor acts of resilience and solidarity that continue to shape life at the margins, more specifically at a place where countless people cross the desert in search of a better life,” Paz wrote in her call for volunteers. She has been in El Paso since Oct. 27 for final preparations before the project starts.
Photographers and videographers (camera and drone) will capture the work, which might be used for a short film about the project. People who want to volunteer or donate funds or items (hats, snacks, water, sunscreen, shovels, etc.) may contact Paz at 915-240-8076.
Have Your Say: City Seeks Input on Animal Services, Parks Master Plan
The city of El Paso is conducting two surveys to gather input from the community on the future of Animal Services and its parks master plan.
The city earlier this month opened a national search for a new director of Animal Services, which will be filled early next year. The bilingual survey takes less than 10 minutes to complete and asks participants to share their views on how to enhance shelter operations and adoption programs, expand community outreach and education, strengthen partnerships with rescue organizations and volunteers and improve transparency and customer service.
“This is more than a leadership search — it’s an opportunity to align the department’s work with the compassion, accountability, and innovation that our residents expect,” City Manager Dionne Mack said in a news release.
You can fill out the survey online here: Animal Services Community Survey.
Results will be reviewed by the Animal Shelter Advisory Committee and city leadership, and input will be used to inform the candidate interview process and the department’s long-term strategic direction, the city said in the news release.
The city is also seeking input on its Parks and Recreation Master Plan, a roadmap for the next decade on priorities, investments and improvements
“This survey gives residents a voice in determining how we can continue to provide high-quality spaces, programs, and experiences that improve the quality of life in El Paso,” Parks and Recreation Director Pablo Caballero said in a news release.
The survey, available in both English and Spanish, asks residents to share what they love most about local parks and recreation programs, what areas could be improved, and what new opportunities they would like to see in the future.
You can fill out the parks survey online here: City Parks Survey.
Sunland Park City Council Approves Annexation of Land
NEW MEXICO – The Sunland Park City Council approved the annexation this week of 534 acres of land adjacent to Pete Domenici Highway, which will make way for a housing development with 1,000 homes not far from the Santa Teresa industrial park.
The annexed land includes separate parcels north of Airport Road and south of Pete Domenici Highway. The housing development company brought forth a petition seeking to be annexed with the support of the “majority of local landowners”, Sunland Park city officials said in a news release.
“This annexation represents a forward-thinking investment in Sunland Park’s future,” Sunland Park City Manager Mario Juarez-Infante said in a news release. “It strengthens our tax base, creates new housing opportunities, and connects key corridors that will support both residents and businesses for years to come.”
The new housing development and expansion of Sunland Park comes amid booming growth in that area of southern Doña Ana County. Homebuilders are also building new housing nearby the annexed parcels, just south of Airport Road. And the Project Jupiter data center campus – which will include four data center buildings as well as a natural gas power plant and battery storage array – will be located just south of the housing development.
The annexation highlighted the increasingly acrimonious relationship between Doña Ana County leaders and the city of Sunland Park. Sunland Park city officials, for example, called for a delay to the vote on Project Jupiter in mid-September before the county board of commissioners approved the project a day later.
Doña Ana County commissioners expressed skepticism of Sunland Park’s annexation request before they ultimately voted to approve the request during a meeting Oct. 14 in Las Cruces. District 3 County Commissioner Shannon Reynolds called to delay approval of the request but didn’t garner enough support.
“I wish we had more authority to do something about it,” Reynolds said, suggesting the city’s annexation will disrupt plans to expand the Santa Teresa industrial park.
District 2 Commissioner Gloria Gameros, who represents Sunland Park and the surrounding area, said some residents in the annexed neighborhoods told her while she was campaigning that they didn’t want to be folded into Sunland Park’s jurisdiction.
“I don’t want to see more residential out there going toward the airport,” Gameros said during the Oct. 14 meeting. “I just feel industrial area should be industrial area.”
Sunland Park city officials said the majority of residents supported the annexation, however. Annexing the area will improve emergency services as well as bring in more tax revenue to fund projects in Sunland Park such as improving road infrastructure, a city spokeswoman said.
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