An Albuquerque resident who spoke to City Council aide Laura Rummler in late July said she was dismayed by the way she was spoken to by the city employee.
However, another citizen, who has dealt with the city in the ongoing debate over homelessness, isn’t surprised by the ill treatment.
The New Mexico Sun recently reported that Rummler, who works in Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn’s office, was dismissive and demeaning to policy expert Valere McFarland when McFarland called Fiebelkorn’s office July 25 to follow up on a previous message encouraging Mayor Tim Keller and the council. She asked them to suspend any consideration of zoning permit applications for the city’s tenuous plan for sanctioned homeless encampments across the city called “Safe Outdoor Spaces” (SOS).
McFarland detailed her thoughts in a May 12 memo to city officials.
“You can and should do better for what is the most beautiful city in the United States," she wrote. "Albuquerque is unmatched with its geographical beauty, location, perfect climate but, most of all, the generous hearts of its citizens. Why would you even consider such an unworkable from the get-go plan that threatens to harm the citizens who pay your salaries? Please slow down and consider plans that work.”
According to McFarland, Rummler said, “I know who you guys are. You want to put the homeless into concentration camps, away from the city, away from services, away from jobs.”
McFarland described the exchange in an email to Fiebelkorn and other city officials.
“Ms. Rummler thus called me a Nazi,” McFarland wrote. “I demand a formal apology from Ms. Rummler. I do not take this statement lightly. She should not be in a position of interacting with the public. I believe she needs to be disciplined, if not outright terminated for the comment she made to me and the unprofessional way in which [she] spoke to me.”
Colleen Aycock, an Albuquerque citizen advocate, said these kind of comments are not acceptable.
“This conduct is deplorable and should not be tolerated from any city employee, much less one who represents a city councilor elected to serve by listening to all ideas, and acting in, the best interest of all citizens,” Aycock told the New Mexico Sun.
She said such remarks are not really a surprise.
“Laura Rummler previously worked as policy analyst for Councilor Don Harris, District 9, and that should say it,” Aycock said.
She is a founding member of Women Taking Back Our Neighborhoods, which has opposed city efforts to expand sanctioned homeless camps. McFarland, a former Albuquerque resident who said she plans to return to the city, also is a member.
The citizen activist group was formed in 2018 with an expressed goal of informing the public and demanding greater accountability from elected officials and civic leaders to prevent crime and keep communities safe. Aycock has been notably public about her concerns about homeless encampments where drug use and dealing were common.
The New Mexico Sun previously reported that the city’s sanctioned encampments plan, first added to the Integrated Development Ordinance (IDO) albeit without budget and operational rules in place in early June, has faced citizen-led opposition. Councilors are now planning an Aug. 15 vote to remove the Safe Outdoor Spaces encampment scheme from the IDO.
Harris served 16 years on the council before choosing not to run for another term in 2021. Critics said he was not fully involved in city business in his later years on the council, including missing meetings and departing when some were still in progress.
Aycock said while she has mostly dealt with Rummler via emails, and said they were mostly routine, she was surprised when Rummler tried to take the reins during a 2021 meeting in the Foothills district to discuss neighborhood concerns. Samantha Martinez, a crime prevention specialist based in the Albuquerque Police Department crime prevention specialist, organized a meeting for the Foothills Area Command.
Aycock said it was a packed meeting, with 125-130 people in attendance, including members of Women Taking Back Our Neighborhoods. Rummler appeared to be upset they were present, she said, and made an announcement.
“She said this meeting was solely for people wanting to start neighborhood associations,” Aycock said.
That caused several members of the WTBON to leave, but Aycock said she and some of the group stuck around. Someone asked Rummler why she was involved in a police meeting, wondering what was her role.
She explained what a policy analyst was and said she worked for Councilor Harris. That caused someone to say it appeared she soon would be out of work, since Harris was not seeking re-election.
There were some candidates for the District 9 seat present, and Rummler said perhaps one of them would hire her. Aycock said that seemed out of place at such a meeting.
“And it was more tacky than unprofessional,” she said.
Fiebelkorn represents Albuquerque’s District 7 including the Mid-Heights, Uptown and parts of the near Northeast Heights. She was elected to the City Council in December.
Neither Fiebelkorn nor Rummler responded to emails requesting comments.