Saturday, October 11, 2008

Louis Huning: Despite size, Los Lunas is still a village

Mayor of more than 26 years talks about growth, his family and the challenges that come with time

Clara Garcia News-Bulletin Staff Writer; cgarcia@news-bulletin.com

Los Lunas (Editor's note: With this edition, the News-Bulletin is premiering Local Flavor, a series of occasional profiles of interesting people who live in Valencia County. In it, we will tell stories of people from a different perspective, beyond the scenes and outside the perspective of breaking news.)

Despite being mayor of one of the fastest growing cities in the state for nearly three decades, Louis Huning credits those around him for the successes Los Lunas has enjoyed during his administration.

"I still don't consider myself a politician," Huning said after serving more than 26 years as the mayor of Los Lunas. "I consider myself a concerned citizen who has, hopefully, been able to make some positive differences in my community. "

Huning, who was first elected mayor in 1982, was not the first in his family to serve in public office. His grandfather, Fred B. Huning Sr., served as mayor for 16 years from 1936 to 1952-- the longest term on record until his grandson came along.

It's that sense of roots and long-standing community service that has given Huning the incentive to stick around, along with the fact that there's still much to be done, he said.

The Huning family came to America from Germany in the 1850s. Four brothers — Louis and Henry, who settled in Los Lunas, and Franz and Karl, who made their home in Albuquerque — all arrived at various times in New Mexico.

In the 1860s, brother Louis purchased the building that would become Huning Mercantile. The business remained open for 134 years. When it closed in 1994, four generations of Hunings had worked there, including the mayor.

Before the mercantile closed, Huning worked there for 20 years. Today, he is a general partner in Huning Limited Partnership, a ranching and land development company.

Huning's passion for the history of Los Lunas and the area is clear when looking at his collection of pictures hanging on the walls of his office in village hall. The old black-and-white photographs convey stories of the past while revealing their importance to the future.

The photos depict the interior of the family's old mercantile in 1890, the first bridge built over the Rio Grande in Los Lunas, the old San Clemente Church, and other buildings that no longer stand, such as one of the village grocery stores.

" I remember that, if I was good, my grandfather would walk me over and put a dime on the counter and I would get a pop and a doughnut," he remembered. "I thought I was big stuff."

When Huning first ran for mayor in 1982, he admits he didn't know what he was in for. He teamed up with Charles Griego and Robert Vialpando, who were both running for council seats.

"We were all businessmen, and we felt we needed to bring some life into the community to help our businesses," Huning remembered. "We started on that trip, and we ran a successful campaign. Then the morning after came. We didn't know what we got ourselves into — we had no idea."

In 1982, Los Lunas was a very small, sleepy town with a population of between 1,500 and 2,000 people — at the most. Main Street was a two-lane asphalt road back then, and there were only a handful of police officers on the force.

"I was probably a wide-eyed idealistic young man who thought he could change things," Huning said of his optimism about the job. "I had no inkling of what I was getting myself into. We kind of ran as the 'look look' as I like to call it.

"We were considered the young bucks back then — now we're the old (guys)," Huning joked.

Those first few months, and even years, were the toughest, he said. Along with trying to muddle his way around the red tape of local government, he, along with the council, struggled to get projects funded.

Huning's first village budget as mayor totaled about $750,000 for the whole community, and the village had about 20 employees. Today, the village budget has swelled to $64,200,000 with more than 200 employees serving more than 12,000 residents.

"Growth was a big factor in it," Huning says. "We were all focused in the general concept that we want to improve our community and we want our community to be one of the best in the state."

While that broader definition of improvement didn't always foster the same things throughout the years, Huning said, he's always encouraged everyone, especially the council, to sit down, banter subjects around and debate them, which ultimately resulted in compromises that benefited the village.

Huning admits that his time in office hasn't been without controversy. The village has had its ups and its downs over the years, but he credits the abilities and dedication of the staff that keeps the village running on a day-to-day basis.

"I tell everyone that I'm the dumb one, and they're the smart ones around me," he joked. "I've been very fortunate to work with some very good people."

One of the low points, Huning remembered, was early on in his administration when the council let the village's clerk/treasurer go. Because the council at that time couldn't make a decision on whom to hire, it was left up to Huning to take over the reins.

"For six months, I was running our hardware store and the village office at the same time — and what a disaster," he said. "I could not focus enough time on both."

Because of the deluge of work involved, Councilor Griego would spend his lunch hour reviewing village business while Huning was in charge of the books.

"And at that time, we didn't have computers — all we had were ledgers," the mayor said. "We finally got it all straightened out and we finally hired Phillip (Jaramillo) as the administrator and we haven't looked back."

Despite a few rough years, Huning decided to run for re-election — time and time again. He said it's been a pleasure to serve the citizens and only hopes that what he's been able to accomplish over the past 26 years has benefited the village.

"I guess I felt the job hadn't been completed and that I had a little more to give," Huning said. "I put my name in the hat, and I guess the citizens felt that we were doing a half-way decent job of bringing improvements to our community.

"I've been very, very fortunate," he added. "I've only been unopposed in one election. Every other election, I've had competition and the voters have seen, I guess, that I've been doing a good, or at least an adequate, job."

During his years as mayor, Huning has seen many changes to the village that he grew up in. He's seen dark streets come to life with the addition of streetlights and thousands of people relocate to the small village he has worked to improve. There actually used to be a time when the mayor would get excited if the village had one project in the works at a time.

Now, nearly three decades after Huning was first elected, he's proud to say that the village has made much advancement, especially in technology. Los Lunas was the first municipality in the state to offer WiFi throughout the village for residents.

"Everything is run by computers," Huning explained. "The advancements that have come with that technology have probably brought us some of the finer things, such as our water meters that electronically report usage back four times a day to a mainframe computer at city hall."

While Los Lunas' population has grown at least five times from what it was when Huning took office, he's proud to say that the village still holds that small town atmosphere. The decision to keep "village" in the municipality's title is deliberate, Huning said.

"The council does not want to change the name; they don't want us to be known as the City of Los Lunas," he said. "It denotes to them, and to other people, of a smaller place, and not necessarily a bad place, but that it's a place where people are on the ball and enjoy the roots that they've put here."

The biggest challenge Huning said that he's had to work through over these years is dealing with the growth of the village and trying to supply the infrastructure needed for it. He says he hopes that Los Lunas will continue to grow in a positive manner and that the village will be able to provide the services that the public needs in a good, efficient and economical manner.

"I'm proud - I'm like a proud papa," he said. "You have to realize that I'm proud, not because I've done it, but because (the staff) has done it. We have some very good people here. I'm one of the most fortunate mayors in the state that have good quality people who want to help people."

While Huning is very pleased about what the village has become, he's most proud of his family --his wife Nancy, a Belen native, and their two children, Ruth Ann and Louis Jr. Huning met his wife when they were teenagers. Huning, who was a bachelor when he was first elected to public office, married Nancy 22 years ago.

When asked if there was any of that Los Lunas-Belen rivalry between him and his wife, Huning said it is more apparent during the annual football games between the two high schools.

"When we used to go to football games, the kids would tell her 'Mom, if you're going to sing that Eagles song, go across the way,'" Huning said.

Ruth Ann is a 21-year-old senior at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces and will graduate in May with a degree in business with a concentration in human resources and management. She plans to go on for her master's.

Louis Jr. is currently working construction with his uncle in Clovis and building runways at Canon Air Force Base.

"We're very proud of him," the mayor said of his son. "He decided he needed to step back and analyze ... he was a freshman in college last year. He's a laborer, but he's learning about life and that things aren't always given to you and you have to work for them."

But the person he credits with giving him the most support is his wife.

"She's been the stabilizing factor in our family," he said. "It's not easy being a politician's wife or child."

Through all the challenges and changes in his life over the past 26 years in office, one of the more difficult tests Huning has had to deal with has been his battle with Parkinson's disease, which he was diagnosed with six years ago.

Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that often impairs motor skills and speech, as well as other functions. It is characterized by muscle rigidity, tremors, a slowing or, in extreme cases, a loss of physical movement.

Parkinson's disease is not considered to be a fatal disease by itself, but it progresses with time. There is no way to predict what course the disease will take for an individual person. With appropriate treatment, most people with the disease can live productive lives for many years after diagnosis.

"I haven't tried to let it saddle me, and I have to treat it with respect," Huning said. "It's genetic, but my father had it, my uncle has it and I have it."

Huning said it's been a learning process and there have been times that he's been very, very sick. But through it all, he's tried to keep up with his duties as mayor, as a business owner and as a husband and father.

"I'm never going to get cured, but there is always anticipation, there's always hope," he said. "They're coming up with new medicines all the time."

One of the worst bouts with the disease occurred last year when his doctors tried out an experimental drug.

"It failed miserably," Huning said. "I was in a wheelchair, I was in a walker — I was having a hard time. I told my doctor that 'There's got to be more to life than this. I cannot stand this, and I'm not going to sit down in a rocking chair.'"

Huning recently returned from Phoenix, where his doctor was very impressed with his progress. For months, Huning has been going to Paradigm Physical Therapy and Wellness in Los Lunas three mornings every week. He runs on the treadmill, something he couldn't do last year, he jumps on a trampoline while throwing and catching a ball at the same time, and he even kick boxes.

"I'm not saying that I found the cure all, but I found something that helps me deal with it," Huning said. "They (the therapists) know I have Parkinson's, and they were able to design exercises to fit the different areas for coordination. I was there at six this morning."

While those close to Huning have known for years about his condition, it wasn't until now that he's publicly revealed details of his health.

"It's not that I'm ashamed about it, but I'm not one to toot my own horn," he said. "Everybody's different, and if this helps someone else dealing with it, I'm happy to share."

Again, Huning credits his wife and children for his drive to stay well and battle against the disease. He said they have continued to support him and have lifted his spirits when he most needed it.

"I've got it hand it to my wife and to my kids," he said, "they have been the cheering squad, and they're the reason why I'm doing so well — I'm doing this for them so I can be here for them and enjoy the good times.

"Because there's been good times and there have been bad times, and I've been through a few bad ones," he said. "It's just one of those things."

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