By Lynn Janes
On October 27, 2025, the candidate forum for the Silver City District 2 for the election on November 4, 2025, took place at the WNMU Besse Forward Global Resource center. The forum had Eric Ernest Vreeland, Jep Andrew Housley and incumbent Nicholas Prince facing off.
Nick Seibel, Silver City Daily Press publisher, moderated the forum. The candidates received questions from the audience, Facebook, and the Press writer Juno Ogle. Each would answer the same question and had two minutes.
Each started out with a three-minute opening statement.
Vreeland said he is a lifelong resident of Silver City and graduated from Silver High School in 2007. Prior to that he started working in the funeral service industry in 2005 accumulating 20 years' experience. After graduation he had served as a police officer before changing careers in 2012 and became employed by Freeport McMoRan for over 13 years. In 2024 he had established his own business. He has acted as a union representative, financial officer for Knights of Columbus and youth minister. Vreeland earned a bachelor's degree in business from Colorado Technical University in 2021. As a young business owner in Silver City, he recognizes the importance of supporting small business and fostering collaboration within the community.
Before deciding to run he had attended every council meeting over the past year to gain an understanding of the role, and it strongly influenced his decision.
Housley was born and raised locally but had left for a little while but came back to Silver City. His family has been in the area since 1941 and were Texaco distributors until they sold the business in 2004. He decided to run because this has been his hometown. "I believe in this town, and I know this is a great area and great community and I want the best for it. I want the community to prosper." Being a person that had been raised in small business he wants to see small businesses thrive. He understands how difficult that can be when they have to be the full-time secretary, president, treasurer and the whole works. "I want to see that prosperity come back to our community and the downtown to flourish again. Safety is a huge issue for me, and I know it is for the whole community. We want to see our streets safe."
Housley wants a place he won't be afraid to send his children downtown on their own. A place business owners can open their businesses and not have any worries about who will be coming in and what disruption they might encounter. "I want to see civility." He has watched the hometown values kind of slip away and people not being civil to one another anymore. Housley has taken the stance of bringing back civility not only in politics but in the community.
Prince gave a big thank you to his fellow candidates because the importance of public service could not be overstated. His education background has been in information systems, business and nanotechnology and he has technical service company, Binary Circuits, that he opened in 2013. The last four years have seen unprecedented change and not just in the city budget. Norms and expectations have been upended, and everyone has gone through great stress. "I am hoping in this election we can go through deep reflection as to what our community has been, where it is and where it could be. Factors range from pandemic burnout, where workers in every industry took a look around and changed jobs, homes, and lives. Others kept their teams and reaped the benefits bolstered by $4.6 trillion of federal spending. On council, "we were still allocating from the CARES Act through the beginning of this year. My first budget in May of 2022 was $11.7 million. This year, it's 17.6 million."
On the council they speak to each other, city management and citizens in attendance. He knows the meetings broadcast on various platforms but intentionally does not let it be a constraint on what he says. "I find more earnest dialogue that way."
Siebel said they would start with general questions. Why do you want to be a town councilor?
Prince said his first election was in 2018. Back then, they had not seen how much outside money and influence had moved, they looked at where they would grow. "One of the bigger reasons I'm still running for council is because I have so many folks who come up to me asking, what is it that we can do to solve some of the bigger systemic and complex social issues we have? I have people approach me with looks that are scary or as intimidating to me as it is for the folks who come out and reach out to me. Just being able to make sure then that I can find constructive ways to channel what the issues are that others in our community are experiencing into constructive processes and systems is one of the deeper, better, more meaningful jobs I feel like I've been able to contribute to in my life."
Housley had answered that in his opening statement. "The main reason I am running and want to be your next councilman is because I want to make a difference." Every position he has ever held had been to make a difference. He wants to see the city be what it was before, a place safe for kids and a place they want to be. He had left after high school but had come back. So many kids graduate and leave Silver City not ever wanting to come back. "That hurts my heart because I love this town. I came back because this is my home." By making a difference he hoped kids would want to come back and be part of the community. "There's a lot of differences that can be made, not only in those areas that I mentioned in my opening statement, but in housing and in helping people to find their niche in the community." He wants to help people find that middle ground and work together to make a difference.
Vreeland agreed with Housley about the reason for running for town council. "I do want to make a difference." He remembered being able to walk downtown and enjoy it. Tourists used to be able to do the same and right now they can't do that. "Silver City is not thriving, and we need to bring it up to par." They will need to find ways to keep and create more businesses so the town can survive. Vreeland posed a few questions: are we going to become a ghost town, thrive without Freeport McMoRan if mining closes? So many families leave because the town does not have the work to sustain them. "I am running to make a difference, higher workforce and make sure families can be sustained. Bisbee, Arizona had a planning act, which Silver City does not have and needs to.
Seibel had received several renditions of this question, so he combined them. What are the top issues of District 2 and do the issues of District 2 differ from the other districts?
Housley had gone around the district and met many people and the unhoused was one priority that kept coming up. This was a major issue that must be addressed and working together to find solutions. He didn't know the solution but said they all had to work together to find one. The other thing brought to him had to do with the condition of the roads, so infrastructure will be a concern. People want to see more businesses and have them thrive. A question brought up earlier addressed the mines and what would happen without them. Housley had been here when the mines shut down and had layoffs. He had seen Hudson Street full of cars and recreational vehicles for sale by people just trying to figure out how to make it. "I never want to see that again." They have to work together not only as a council but as a county to survive going forward and thrive.
Prince lined out the three broadest issues he recalled from the governor's visit that have been happening across the state. He listed housing, health care and public safety. In his district he had seen the need for more childcare just because half the population, especially in his district do not have the capacity to go into jobs that require extreme demand on their time without being able to ensure childcare. "We are seeing a loss of medical providers across the medical district and that has been really concerning and adding way more stress that we are not looking at." People have to commute long distances for d medical care. "We have to deal with some of the pent up huge challenges we're facing with concerns of poverty, and inequality. When it comes to the conversations about what we're doing about the unhoused, we have to hit the conversation about what we're going do about housing in this community." The community has had a lack of new housing being built in the last five or six years so they will need to make efforts towards making an easier atmosphere for construction groups and small businesses.
Vreeland had been talking to the people in the community, and he found three major pillars the people felt would be priorities. They want the roads maintained and upgraded, public safety including the unhoused and building a strong relationship with the university. These things had not been addressed in the district and provided some solutions but said no one would be the clear answer. "We have to work together."
This next question had been asked in different ways by the audience. As a council member what could you do or what should be done to encourage both debate and respect in council meetings?
Vreeland, "As a council member my belief is in transparency, honesty, integrity and accountability." When debating those things need to be followed. "You are not there as an individual you are there working as a team." That team effort makes the community run and prosper. A debate will be a debate but at the end of the day people have to be cordial with each other and work together. If divided, they can't agree and disrespectful people will not want to work together. "In my 13 years of working with Freeport, I found each individual is different ,and we all have our own opinions, but at some point, in time, there has to be a common ground between those opinions, and we have to come to that common ground and be able to move forward."
Prince said, "A lot of the processes that we have inherited on the council have been uncodified and arbitrary in my experience. When we are both looking at adjustments and new budgets where we're going to be authorizing between $70 and $80 million, we have arbitrary limits set by the current chair of three questions. When we're needing to work towards the types of compromises I would expect to see from a democratic body, where yes, we are a unified front and yes, we represent the town as a team. Each of our districts and each of our constituents has different needs and demands and I'm not convinced that we have to all be in agreement all of the time."
Prince continued, "Democracy is inherently messy and so working towards what the different types of compromising conversations we can have has so far been limited by the structure of our meetings. I expected us to have some process in place and at the bare minimum, Robert's Rules of Order had been passed as parliamentary procedure in this town since the territorial charter of 1878. That is something that until we had to go through some very complex decisions that were going to potentially affect the safety of constituents in our district, we wouldn't have ever really known that."
Housley said debate will be essential. "We will have to find a way to come to middle ground. I firmly believe that because I have had my mind changed by healthy debate." Civility must also be observed. "We can't stand in any position and be demanding or dictorial. It doesn't work and none of us likes it." They must have debate and observe Roberts Rules of Order. Decorum and civility will be a must. When civility goes out the window, and people become nasty and ugly nothing will be solved.
Seibel added to the question. Just out of curiosity, it seems like a lot of the decorum and working together is really sort of dictated by who the mayor is that's running the meeting and making things happen. I'm curious from each of you, there's four folks who are running for mayor. Who would you most like to serve with on the council as the mayor?
Prince said that would be more than a loaded question. "I don't believe we should have elected officials that are putting their fingers on the scale." He continued with a long explanation that didn't name anyone but described what he hoped to see.
Housley told Seibel he would not fall for that. Decorum will be set by the mayor, but each council member has the responsibility to follow decorum. "They should not have to have a mayor tell them how to behave."
Vreeland agreed with Housley. As a councilman he would work with whomever the people elected. He told Seibel he had asked an unfair question.
Ogle had a question for the candidates. Many people feel they have not been heard in local government. How would you make sure they had a voice?
Vreeland believes everyone should have a voice. He will have an open-door policy and wants to hear those voices. "One of the biggest parts of making voices heard is simply listening, we have to listen to one another and be able to understand the needs." Looking at the recent city council that he had been observing he didn't think the constituents had been heard. He encouraged people to contact him and see what resolution could be made and present them to the council.
Housley loves the diversity of District ; they have college students all the way to retirees, blue collar and white collar people. When you ask about the people that have been unheard, he had heard those people. "I have been out in the community for the last two months and talking to some, I've met a few that feel like they're being left out, feel like they're not being represented within their community. Unfortunately, if they don't take the daily press, don't watch the council meeting or go to the council meeting, they feel they have no idea what's happening within the community." These people have no idea what goes on in the council and some who don't know who represents the town as mayor. "I do agree that within the district, the constituent has the responsibility to be involved. I do believe that. But as a counselor, it is my responsibility to get with those constituents to make sure that they have the information." Housley didn't know if that meant town meetings, town halls or emails, He had heard people felt left out. "We have to get the right information, true information out there."
Prince said, "In good years, in presidential election years, we are lucky to get like a 50% turnout in the federal election. When I was elected four years ago, it was with 269 votes, and we've got 2,500 people in the district. I don't know how many folks understand how much comes through our local machine, our local municipality." The council decides everything from fire safety to public safety with our police department, how our streets are running, what's coming out of our water taps, how our sewer system is running. "These are all things that we have very strong opinions about when they're not working. People go about their day, raising children and going to work. Those people will be the ones that never have their voice heard and range from 18-50. I think that we are looking at those groups as being the ones that we need for the future of this town. Most folks do not want to get caught up in the minutiae and the details. Most folks do not have the time and energy to make it out to multiple meetings that happen after work." Prince said the effort and time required would be very limited and he felt quite a few people have not been left out.
Seibel had an audience question. The biggest question being faced in Silver City leadership will be the next town manager. He had a two -part question. What are some qualifications you would like to see in the next town manager? Would you support retaining a professional municipal talent recruiter to advise the council in the search?
Housley said the town manager would be a very specific job and a major one and they have to find someone qualified but would like to see someone in the area come first. He thought that hiring a consultant would be expensive and it would be something the council could do. "If you elect and trust your council members they will find the best candidate. Silver City is very unique and bringing someone in from far away has not worked out in the past." This has been seen at the hospital. The community has been tough to break into, and he said that as being someone that left and came back. A great town manager could be brought in but if their spouse hates it here, they will leave. He didn't really know if he would be for hiring a consultant and if it would be money well spent.
Prince reflected on the challenges with outside recruitment and listed the hospital, university and schools. "I think that our processes for determining who is going to be the best candidate, similar to some of the processes we would assume our democratic government would operate in, have not been very clear and when we have actually moved on this it is deja vu." Two years earlier they had started the work using a committee to develop a job description. He said it had fallen apart in the process and delayed due to letters received endorsing the delay of Brown's retirement. "This was done without consulting me on council and as far as I understand, none of the other members on council. I'm wondering, are we ready to start to trust the processes we can develop on council and to be able to push for it?" Prince ran out of time and Siebel asked if he would be for hiring a consultant firm for the search and he said yes.
Vreeland started by acknowledging the town would be losing 23 years' experience in this town manager that had done an extraordinary job. He would not be opposed to someone local being chosen for the position. "We need that individual to know exactly what they're doing when coming in and running our town." Vreeland had read the previous job description that had been done and felt it very well written. It will be a tough job and will have some big shoes to fill. He didn't stand for bringing in a firm to do the search. "I believe that the new city council and mayor can follow that job description and work together to come up with the right manager for the job, but we do need expertise." He agreed that Silver City not only would be unique but small so having someone that understands the community will be important.
An audience question that had come up in the last forum had also come up in this one. Do you believe that the town manager and finance director should be two separate positions? Why or why not?
Prince started with, "It is common in the field of urbanism and academic urban planning to recognize that when you have a town manager be the same person as the finance director, there are a lot of instances of financial malfeasance. There is a lot of difficulties in ascertaining which set of numbers are the most accurate ones." He said he had seen different numbers at different times of the year and needed to have a process of accountability and transparency. "When we have our manager running our finances, as well as in leading up the department head meetings, we have folks that are starting to get stuck in MBA thinking and business thinking when we're talking about major public services and major public institutions and I think that we lose a significant amount of quality because we have everything getting balanced inside of this actuarial game that is not what we're all looking for when we've got greater crises and emergencies in our community. No, I don't think we should have a finance director be the same as our town manager."
Vreeland didn't feel they needed the town manager to also be the finance director. A finance director needs to focus on the budget. The town manger needs to focus on the town and departments and have a clear overview of all. It should be two separate positions, so they always have a fresh eye looking at documents.
Housley pointed out that would be difficult question because the community has been spoiled by a town manager that has knowledge of finance and accounting. He thought they would have pros and cons separating those positions and saw both sides. The biggest problem will be the finances to hire a separate person and a qualified one. He didn't think it could be a yes or no question and would depend on the candidates.
The online audience had a question. What ideas do you have for making Silver City housing more affordable?
Vreeland said this has been a nationwide problem. Many families continue to face challenges in securing affordable housing. Younger residents increasingly relocate due to limited resources and opportunities. Seniors have been encountering issues that threaten their long-term residency. The essential workers struggle to remain in this community because of not being able to find housing. "This issue extends beyond housing. It directly affects the fabric of our community." His commitment will be to advance incentives for developers or nonprofit organizations to produce mixed income housing, support for first time home buyers and to safeguard seniors. "Affordable housing strengthens families, supports workforce sustainability, and fosters the city for future generations to continue to want to be here and for the future generation of this town."
Affordable housing has been a punchline everyone has heard. Housley didn't believe that would be something the council could do and not in their purview. He said he had good landlords and bad landlords through the years but would not want the government to be his landlord. He quoted what had been said by someone, "If you want to screw something up put the government in charge." Housley didn't want the government to be in the landlord business. "The best way that we have affordable housing within our community is to build our small businesses, to build our economy here in town so that we bring in more people that our businesses can afford more people so that they can afford those homes." He agreed that housing in Silver City had become outrageous and didn't know how people managed. Twenty years earlier a nice three-bedroom house would go for $575 a month and now that same house would be $2,100. Although ridiculous he didn't' feel that would be the council's responsibility. The council's responsibility will be to build the economy. "We should never be in the business of housing."
Prince could not solve the problem in two minutes allocated for the answer. He had a very long answer but spoke fast. Part of the problem has been supply. "We've had pressure come in from all directions, not just with a lot of folks leaving the cities to move out to the rural areas during the pandemic, not just with the emergence of short-term rentals, which we're reducing our stock by 160 units. Anybody can pull up Airbnb on their phones right now and take a look and see just how many units of housing we have as apartments that are now being used as short-term hotels, of which we were only getting 18% compliance on our lodgers' tax. We did not keep up with putting pressure on the folks that were taking our housing stock and giving that over then for luxury." Some people have 10-15 investment properties. Ten years ago, a home could be purchased for $110,000 and now the median house in the area lists at $370,000. "We have to start working on how distorted the market has gotten."
The next question came from the audience and came up a dozen times during the mayoral forum. What is your position on enforcement of the towns noise ordinance? How can you make that happen as a member of the council?
Prince noted the ordinance had been updated in 2022 as a broader nuisance ordinance. Many have been passed, and this one has not been enforced equally. "This is partially due to the cost of having everything from engineering and being able to bring cases in front of our court to which our current town manager has decided to not pursue as many cases due to the cost of administration and jailing required. I will also say that, you know, the noise ordinances, we live in a working town." A certain amount can be expected between 8 am and 8 pm. In having conversations about gunning engines and coal rolling they have not seen enforcement from the police. "I hope to get our departments to a position to where these ordinances are all going to be equally enforced."
Housley wanted to know if anyone knew what the noise ordinance said. He cited communication and making sure people know what that ordinance says. It should be enforced, absolutely but it also needs to be communicated to the public what it says. "I believe that we're good neighbors and we want to be good to our neighbors. I don't blast my music when I'm running downtown. I may have done that 35, 40 years ago, but not today because I have respect for my community and my neighbors." It does come down to law enforcement to enforce and that will be the bottom line. The council does have the oversight of that, and it needs to be communicated to the officers.
The sound ordinance does need to be enforced, and Vreeland added that the officers can't be everywhere. He did provide the idea of when they have problems in an area to install cameras to record the activity and take license plate numbers. Later the officers can address that issue with the offenders. He did feel the ordinance needed to be enforced.
Ogle had a question. She said this issue had not been addressed yet. The Stonegarden funds had become controversial. What is your opinion? Is it appropriate for the town to accept those funds? Should the town be more transparent about what kind of funds it accepts?
Vreeland pointed out Stonegarden funds had been used in the area for around twenty years and had never been an issue. "The federal government had turned it into an issue." When people hear the word federal, they equate that with control but in this instance that would not be the case. The grant provides funding for the local police officers. Some of that can be spent on equipment and he listed the other ways it helps the community. If managed properly it will mean safer neighborhoods, better communication and stronger partnership between local agencies. He wanted to be clear, "I do not believe in taking money without accountability. I believe in transparency in making every dollar that is issued for our safety and not bureaucracy. I believe in balance." Vreeland added, "As your town council representative, I will make sure that any grant or partnership reflects our community's values, reporting regularly with open communication, input from you, the people, and those who call this place home. I want our residents to know where their funds are spent, what equipment it is used for, and how that will affect our community and make our community safer."
Prince said, "As it is now getting documented in the Intercept and on ProPublica, what we're seeing from the federal administration right now is terrifying. The Department of Homeland Security has only been around for about 20 years right now, and it was not started without controversy. By us taking the money, we are now sharing what our local officers are doing and giving all of that directly to a federal administration, which is hiring whoever they can. I'm not sure if anyone in the room here is seeing the ICE ads that are coming out on social media, but they are getting as many folks as they possibly can, regardless of any expertise, and with the minimum of training. I do not think those folks have our community's best interest in mind, and I found it extraordinarily disturbing that in this specific incident, it never came before council." Prince continued to describe the acts of the federal agencies and scaring people. "This is not the time for us to have to sign off on this grant, and the entire way that it happened was some of the most shady acts I've ever seen in government."
Housley pointed out that Stonegarden had been around for a very long time and gone through a number of federal administrations. It had come through Grant County, but this had been the first year it came to the Silver City police. People have said now the officers would be profiling and that would be illegal, the officer cannot do that. This grant helps with drug trafficking and human trafficking. "Anyone in Silver City that does not believe those two things are happening here are either naïve or deceiving because it is here and moves through this area. Many reports have come out on this." Some of the money has gone to help with overtime and helps the city not have to pay that. "Our officers deserve more than they are getting." They work some of that volunteer overtime to make ends meet.
Housley added that refusing money from the federal government might cause problems obtaining any other grants from the federal government. He does believe in transparency and talking about these things publicly and openly. "Communication is key, but we need to be careful and not cut our nose off to spite our face."
Seibel said a few weeks earlier ICE had an operation in Bayard. The police department there had allowed the agents to use the department to conduct interviews. Would you support using town facilities by federal agents?
Prince immediately said, "Absolutely not. We have needs in our community." He provided the example of when the schools turned over facilities to the US Forest Service during the Trout Fire and that had been for a clear need. "The manufactured crises that we're seeing right now and the scapegoat that's been played on immigrants as being what the core issues are that are causing problems in our community has been so far from any reality as for it to just be a political play. The money that people are talking about right now, this year was only $28,000 for overtime. We authorized $300,000 for overtime for our police department. Our council has done so much to be able to support those efforts, and it still has not been enough. I'm not convinced that folks having to go out for more overtime is going to get us a better quality of police officer and when I see them being welcomed in, I have to remind folks of just what a dangerous bargain it is." Prince continued that the police would be sharing information about people in the community and the federal government could make up whatever they wanted to pursue anyone here. "As soon as we start taking in this money, we open ourselves up for a very, very dangerous, very, very dangerous future. And I am wholeheartedly against doing anything under this administration that's going to be housing federal agents here."
Housley felt the police needed to be consulted on this. The police chief should be running the department. He questioned telling them they can come in for some things but not others. This could set them up for problems. "Do we have push back? Yes, it's called elections, that's our pushback." The council should be worried about the community and what would be best. "Let's be real honest. If the federal government is going to come into Silver City they will come in whether they get to use the police department or not. It is a moot issue."
Vreeland would not support the federal government using the police department and he knows the police chief will not either. The city manager had directed him that will not happen. He brought up profiling. The town has not seen a single case of the officers profiling. The town has been losing police officers, and they need to be supporting them. "I would not want to work for a city council that does not support me."
Seibel had a couple audience questions that he would combine. What kind of relationship do you personally have with law enforcement? Do you think the citizen police advisory board (CAB) would be a good idea for Silver City?
Vreeland believes his experience with law enforcement has been good along with his collaboration with them. He has had several conversations with the police chief recently and has many friends on the police force. The question about CAB, he does not support it, and he gave his reason why. "Why support a CAB when you have a town council, it would be their job and town manager's. If a person has an issue, they have not been able to resolve it with the police chief or town manager then they come to the city council."
Prince had a long answer. "The cCAB came about because of the failure of the police department to successfully address issues of member officers. We, very rapidly after being elected, in fact, my first meeting, we had to go in and start having the conversation about how much it's going to cost the town when our officers fail so poorly in not only seeking the help that they need, but also in holding one another to a standard of safety and health that we're going to have to afford ??? and that answer is something that I hoped when we were facing bankruptcy, that we were going to be able to have a level of trust and we're going to have a level of civility and communication that was going to mean that we could move past and we could move forward. I didn't expect an ex-town judge to come to me with an officer who threw a 68-year-old public school stroke-surviving mother to the concrete to get her in compliance within 18 months of our settlement. When I had to bring this up with our chief of police and with our town manager, I had done my due diligence, I needed to make sure that this was going to be a valid story. I was served with a grievance letter from the Police Officers Association and the FOP. This is one of many lawsuits that comes up when you have to sit in office. This was not resolved in a way that I chose. I've never asked for any of our officers to resign. I've never asked for any of our officers to get fired. I've never asked for any of our officers to have any type of specific discipline. I have asked for a clear and safe process for us to address it when our officers go overboard.
So, I will say as a town counselor that what we have for accountability is not there and the CAB is a very, very gentle system that we could use to be able to ensure that trust and transparency."
Housley believes he has a good relationship with law enforcement and the police officers in the community. He has law enforcement in his own family. He supports law enforcement even when they have pulled him over for a few times for exceeding the speed limit some. He thanked them for doing their job. "The community and the council have to have their back." At times they will have a bad apple, and they need to be accountable, and the council needs to oversee that. He addressed the CAB. First, he wanted to know exactly what that would look like. He had heard some communities have them, but he would have to know more before making that decision. Many questions needed to be asked and what the boundaries would be. "You know when you call 911 you want someone to be there and to show up."
Sieble had been surprised they had not had a lot of questions on the homeless. They had received a few about SPIN specifically. Are you for or against SPIN and why?
Housley started by acknowledging the unhoused has been an issue in the community and everyone has dealt with it and seen it. Asking if someone would be for or against SPIN will be a loaded question. He felt they had been trying to assist and help with the issue yes, but had it been done right, maybe not. "We've got to help these people; I have a big heart and been in service with people. I want to see people helped." The problem he sees and provided an analogy. "When you turn that porch light on, the moths all start coming. So, when you have something in place and it's the one thing, you turn that light on, you start getting a lot of people that are not from here, start showing up here and we have seen that because I grew up here. Some of the people that are here are not from here. They've come in. I'm not saying that they were brought in. I'm not saying any of that because I don't know, but I will say that there are a lot of folks that have not been here and have come from somewhere else." His district has been concerned about the SPIN facility, and they have been the ones living there and having to deal with it. People come onto their property, break into their homes and they come from that facility. "We have to figure out a solution." Housley said he didn't know how to answer the for or against because it had been a mixed bag.
Vreeland said SPIN had done right by providing homes to the unhoused. He had spoken to an employee that had been a manager at SPIN and no longer works at the facility. He had told Vreeland his reason for not being there any longer had to do with corruption and said it had been a lot and said embezzlement had happened. "We have to investigate this program and come up with a plan." Vreeland has confidence that between the council and city manager a solution can be found.
Prince spoke to the poverty that has become worse in the country since the federal closure of the mental health care systems in 1981. "SPIN is the one doing the work and it's very common for the shelter systems that are doing the work to then become the messengers that get shot because nobody is ready or comfortable to face the challenges of poverty as it has been getting entrenched year after year, decade after decade, creating a problem that there is no easy solution forward with. It's going take years. We've had to deal with SPIN getting slandered and having misrepresented statistics and facts thrown at every turn. Just two years ago, we had to hear the exact same claim about SPIN having to bring in the unhoused. The Daily Press had to run an article on it, and they were able to find two instances in the entirety of 2020, 2021, 2022 through 2023, when they need to send people out of town because we don't have anywhere to place them for housing." Prince had looked at two years of audits and both had been fine. "I am totally supporting the group that have already been doing the work."
Seibel had an audience question. The past president of Western New Mexico University told the mayor he did not have to obey city codes because he only has to answer to the state. Meanwhile, we've had construction in the middle of the night, band concerts going on until almost 11 p.m., loud blaring music at football practice and a huge bonfire they continue to have on their property while we are in a major drought. What type of relationship do you intend to have with the university and with the next president of Western?
Prince reminds people that when they purchase a home, they must look at the neighborhood. The university has students, and they will have events. The university has amazing cultural events biweekly. They will have noise in those areas. "They still need to observe city laws. I still haven't seen the crossover come all the way through with trying to make sure that our students feel comfortable coming downtown."
Housley commented that the relationship with the new president would be very important. He agreed with Prince that if people live next to a university facility, they might expect some noise. The volume of that noise could be debatable. He has heard concerts at the university way down on Little Walnut Road. The area has mountains and valleys, and sound will travel. He has also heard the Silver High School band practicing in the mornings on Fox Field. Some common sense needs to be followed and a good working relationship with the president of the university.
Vreeland agreed with Housley and Prince on needing to expect noise if you have purchased a house in the university area. He hears events at Gough Park. "This is the culture of Silver City." He believes they will need to meet with the new president and build a strong relationship. These students, the next generation, will be what makes the community thrive and be sustainable.
Ogle had a question for the candidates. What ideas do you have for getting more people, especially young people, involved in local government?
Vreeland felt the kids needed to reach out to the high school, maybe have practice city council meetings with them or invite them to city council meetings. Let them understand the policies and procedures and how that works. Make them part of the community. "The younger generation feels like they are not part of us. I didn't know how to talk to adults growing up and sometimes they made me feel very little. Having a simple conversation with them will be key."
Housley mentioned all education starts at home. The ideal scenario would be the parents teaching the kids to be involved but that doesn't always happen. It should also be happening in the schools. "I had a fantastic teacher when it came to civics, Mrs. Uhli." She had them attend a city council meeting as well as a county commissioner meeting. He has noticed in the past five years more people in the younger generation have become more involved. "I think it's a powerful, impactful thing to our nation when our young people get involved and we should do everything we can to support that to get them involved."
Prince had a business downtown and had participated in the Aldo Leopold Charter School internship program, and he enjoyed it. He spoke to the youth murals and when you have youth engaged in projects that are actually changing and shaping our community, you see them being proud of these accomplishments.
Prince said they don't understand how much opportunity, influence and power they have. The more avenues that can be created with what the town has. They have thirteen departments that would be easy for the youth to engage with. He commended the police department for their reach out to the students.
What is your stance on local economic development? What is the town's role and how can't the town do better?
Housley said they had to have economic development. Currently the town does not have anyone in that position and that needs to be done. "We need to make is simpler for small businesses." Large business will not save the community; it will be small businesses. Some of the red tape needs to be cut. He thought planning and zoning had come together to eliminate some of that bureaucracy. "Starting a small business in this community is incredibly difficult." As a council they need to look at this. He had spoken to the owners of Adobe Springs and when they moved the business downtown, they had a terrible time jumping through all the hoops required. "We need to be friendly to economic development." Help them, work with them and obtain grants if needed. "Government has gotten too big for its britches, and I think we need to cut a lot of that red tape out."
Vreeland supports economic development. He owns a small business in the community and when he had opened it had been hard with a tremendous amount of paperwork, code enforcement visits, fire department inspections and a lot of red tape. He would like to see, an individual brought in soley to do that. They have to support small business, and they need to support each other.
Prince said the challenges to economic development have been the same as with housing. "It's not that we don't have capable people in this community that can run effective businesses. They get pushed out by some of the larger players and some of the larger market operations." In the last forty years of deregulation he didn't think they could cut more red tape. "I worry that if we start focusing on the same red tape cutting, the same tax cutting, the same kind of thinking, we're going to have great fire hazards in town. We're going to have buildings which already are falling in on businesses that are operating in our town. I don't think lowering our standards is going to be how we get to better development. In fact, I want us to be really clear and honest with just how big these distortions are when we are having to have the conversations."
Prince switched to the problems with finding contractors to do projects. When they put bids out to do government projects, he thinks those would be an opportunity for a business locally to step up to do some of those projects the town has. The town loses a lot of money every year having to bring in people from out to town to do projects. "We don't have the expertise, and some don't want to approach the government contracts, they are happier to be able to keep things at a slower local pace than what it would mean for them to take on the responsibility to serve our larger contracts. So, I would argue that our government opportunities to develop big business, we have quite a few."
Seibel said many towns provide regular data reports to the public such as gross receipts collection activity, airport activity, home sales, etc. Why doesn't Silver City share this type of data, economic indicators on a formal basis?
Vreeland didn't know why but they needed to be transparent. This would be a good time for the town to begin that whether it be to the newspapers or on the website. At times the reports had been talked about at the council meetings.
Prince, "I think manager Brown wouldn't mind me saying that he's not a technically proficient or adept manager or leader. That all kind of happened after he got through school. It's not a difficult situation for the PDF files that make up our meeting packets to be put up on the Town of Silver City website." He has not seen the leadership or motivation to prioritize that. He thought it could be a quick fix.
Housley didn't know why those reports had not been made available to the public. They should be. He just heard Prince say they have them. They need better communication on where people can find them. Silver City has always been behind.
Siebel said the town of Edgewood had tried to ban abortion. Do you see that happening here?
Housley answered no because it has been made legal in New Mexico. "My personal opinion does not matter and what matters abortion is legal."
Prince, "Absolutely not, but this is one of the pressing threats where we see insurgent minority political movements taking what they can in government to be able to push agendas. I get very deeply concerned when we have passing the buck thinking occurring where, oh, well, it's legal in the states. Well, we thought it was going to remain legal on the federal side. It is a huge waste of time, effort, energy, and resources when politics start playing out, when we have smaller conversations, like we saw with the safe haven baby boxes. We proved to the council this was a major political movement that's occurring across the country that is threatening the lives of half the population. The town council has no say whatsoever in medical procedures that go on and we have no say of what happens between a doctor and their patients."
Vreeland said absolutely not, it would not be the city council's job. "That is doctor patient privilege. It is a person's right to do what they feel necessary."
Every forum Siebel poses a time machine question. He asks if they win and four years from now, they come back to this forum and will be running again for the second term. What is your single biggest accomplishment on the council in your first term?
Vreeland would accomplish providing a fair wage to the city employees. "It is terrible some of our employees have to work three or four jobs to support their families.
Housley hoped to make a lot of accomplishments. The biggest he hoped he had made a difference, communication improved, and decorum improved. He wanted to see the town grow.
Prince said, "I would be happy if folks felt that the systems and the streets that they're walking down were theirs. I've seen the fractionalization and fragmentation over the last few years as the haves and have nots, the property owners, the renters, the folks who have to live in town, the folks who have to commute to town for their work."
Closing statements.
Prince closed by saying, "It's been an honor and a privilege to be able to serve as representative for this district. What it means for us to be able to both hold the challenges that come in front of us from overwhelming our community towards being able to actually implement new programs, plans and processes has been one of the greater joys of my life and I'm really happy with the results that we've been able to see in these last four years. I'm more excited to be able to see the next four years." He can be reached at nicholasprince.com / or phone 575-618-NICK
Housley said it had been an honor to sit with the other candidates and appreciated the efforts of Prince for the last four years. "I hope you will give me the opportunity to take this town to a new level because I believe we can go to a higher level. We are a great community with great resources." He felt they could increase tourism and economic development not only for the community but younger generations. "I want this to be a place my kids and other kids can be proud to call home, and they want to be here, work here and raise their families here." He wants to see public safety enhanced and civility acted out. Housley can be reached at
Vreeland said, "I am the best candidate for representing District 2 because I care about the community. I listen and follow through." He understands the challenges they face whether it be maintaining the roads, small businesses or families having access to safer neighborhoods. Decisions need to reflect residents' needs and values. He believes in transparency, honesty, integrity, accountability and a strong work ethic. "My goal is simple. Make sure everyone in Silver City has a voice and can be heard, and we move forward together in a way that keeps this town thriving. I'm not just asking for your vote, I'm asking for a partnership to work together to continue the efforts to better our town. Together we stand, together strong, together we are one." He can be reached at
Seibel thanked everyone for coming and providing great questions for the candidates.
