Bosque Farms getting EMS program back on track with some debate

BOSQUE FARMS — Efforts to bring back emergency medical services to one local village have been bogged down for months and become the source of bickering and finger pointing.

In mid 2023, the village of Bosque Farms EMS program was down to a skeleton crew and quickly petered out to nothing. Now the mayor has brought back someone many blame for the program’s downfall.

As of Aug. 1, Vernon Abeita — former village EMS director and clerk/administrator — is the village’s volunteer EMS coordinator, appointed by Bosque Farms Mayor Chris Gillespie.

Abeita was EMS director from 2015 to 2020 and returned as the village’s clerk/administrator from June 2023 to March 2024. He left the village the second time after nine months of strife, including criticism from employees about his management of the village.

While his style was described as “bully, intimidating and micromanaging,” Abeita said at the time, he was only demanding accountability from the employees and adherence to policies and procedures.

After his resignation last year, Abeita said he kept in contact with Gillespie and kept track of the village’s attempts to reestablish its EMS program.

“Because of my love of Bosque Farms and the good of the people, I offered my services to the mayor to help get the EMS program up and running,” he said

When Abeita was the EMS director for the village, he said the department had 24 volunteers, four of who were paramedics, including himself.

“I want to say we were answering 80 percent of the calls and providing (advanced life saving) coverage for the village,” he said.

When he was hired as clerk/administrator in 2023, Abeita said the department was down to two or three volunteers and a part-time director. Jeremy Fiedler was named EMS director for the village after Abeita left and in 2022. He then left Bosque Farms to serve as the neighboring town of Peralta’s first paid fire chief.

The EMS director’s position for Bosque Farms was reduced to part time and Justin Thomas was holding that job when Abeita was hired as clerk/administrator.

“When I got there, he was doing 19 hours a week because he was a full-time firefighter with Belen. I asked him for documentation of the hours he was putting in and to give me a schedule and was met with a lot of resistance,” Abeita said. “I guess he didn’t like that and in the end, resigned. We advertised the position multiple times, but couldn’t fill it. I think because it was a part-time position.”

As it stands now, Bosque Farms doesn’t have an EMS director, there are no volunteers and the village’s rescue unit isn’t certified by the state for use.

As the volunteer EMS coordinator, Abeita said his job duties include getting the village’s state board of pharmacy clinical license reinstated, as well as its DEA license and getting the rescue unit certified. He is also hoping to begin recruiting volunteers for the program so once the licensing and certifications issues are resolved, calls for service can be answered.

While rebooting the EMS program has been a subject of discussion for most of this year, Gillespie said a recent decision by AMR ambulance service to relocate its main office west of Interstate 25 in Los Lunas was his final push.

“That adds close to 30 minutes to a response to the Bosque Farms area, which is untenable and I felt like we needed to do something quickly. That extra time is something we can’t afford,” Gillespie said. “Vernon brings the capability to put the licensing back in place quickly. His task is to get the unit licensed and equipped, ready to run, so we can go ahead and bring on a couple of volunteers and start serving the community. Meanwhile, we are advertising for the permanent role of EMS director.”

One village councilor has met the mayor’s decision to bring Abeita back with disapproval and “deep disappointment.” In an Aug. 8 email to Gillespie and members of the village fire department, Councilor Erica De Smet wrote Abeita “has a long and well-documented history of strained relationships” with both the Bosque Farms and Peralta fire departments.

“His appointment to this leadership role — despite such ongoing tension and lack of mutual respect — raises serious concerns about the judgment and motivations behind this decision. This choice undermines the morale and cohesion of our fire and emergency services community, and I find it deeply troubling,” wrote De Smet, whose husband, Michael, is a volunteer with the BFFD.

Bosque Farms Fire Chief Jason Schneider, who was appointed to the position in February, said during Abeita’s time as clerk/administrator, there was conflict with the fire department as well as the EMS department. Schneider said he didn’t know specifically what those conflicts were.

“It ultimately ended with the (EMS) department dissolving, the director and volunteers leaving. I don’t know the details,” Schneider said. “When I got involved we were looking for a good, long-term solution to get on with serving the needs of the community.”

Initially, the village looked to hire a full-time EMS director. Abeita was one of the two candidates being considered for the position. That avenue was abandoned because hiring for the position would cost the village at least $80,000, which was out of reach financially.

It then began exploring the possibility of partnering with the town of Peralta, having its full-time, paid Assistant Fire Chief Ashley Means serve as the village’s part time EMS director. Bosque Farms has funding to contribute $50,000 annually for Means’ services, on top of her current salary and benefits of $80,785 from Peralta.

The chief said Gillespie was “skeptical” of the Peralta agreement, but agreed to let the conversation continue.

“He mentioned bringing Abeita back and I told him my concerns, that he would likely bring back conflict and a lot of history that was negative,” Schneider said.

Abeita said he didn’t know what the strained relationships and conflict De Smet and Schneider were referring to was.

“Between myself and the fire department, when I was EMS director, we had no strained relationship. We worked side by side,” Abeita said. “I trained them in CPR, first aid, emergency vehicle operations. I helped out quite a bit.”

As the clerk/administrator, Abeita said he probably upset then fire chief Aaron Brogdon, who served as chief from 2022 to 2025.

“The treasurer and I told him the department needed to follow proper procurement procedures and to do its own stipend paperwork. Apparently someone in the (village administrative) office used to do the paperwork,” he said. “I held them accountable and made them do the things they were supposed to do.

“When it comes to EMS and fire, I don’t think there was ever a strained relationship. I believe a lot of this is personal and I don’t know why.”

The Peralta Town Council ultimately approved an agreement with the village to have Means serve as a part-time EMS director, but when it came back to Bosque Farms in June, the whole deal went off the rails.

At the June 26 meeting, De Smet accused the mayor and two councilors — Ronita Wood and Tim Baughman — of having a “rolling quorum,” in violation of the state’s Open Meetings Act, to remove consideration of the agreement with Peralta from the agenda prior to the meeting.

De Smet filed an OMA complaint about the alleged violation with the New Mexico Department of Justice, an action Gillespie says “basically killed the MOU. It makes it where this cannot be brought forward again until the resolution of that complaint through DOJ.”

At the Aug. 21 Bosque Farms Council meeting, Schneider told them Gillespie’s decision to have Abeita serve as the volunteer EMS coordinator has directly impacted his ability to ensure the “morale and general efficiency of the department,” and created a distraction to the departments members.

“I will continue to be a strong advocate of EMS and support these necessary services,” he said. “I ask the mayor to outline a plan for the EMS department with specific steps and milestones.”

De Smet asked the chief if he’d had discussions with Valencia County Fire Chief Matt Propp about getting the village’s EMS program up and running. Schneider said those plans were “derailed” after Propp received instructions from the mayor to not have that conversation with the fire department.

In an interview prior to last week’s meeting, Propp said he and the county are aware of the discussions between Bosque Farms and Peralta for EMS services, but were not involved.

“We were not privy to what was going on. We have stayed neutral, and are happy to offer input if asked,” Propp said. “I’m not sure what is happening in those discussions. We were advised Vernon was taking over EMS for Bosque Farms and once again, we’re here if we can help or give advice.

“We have not had any on-the-record conversations with Bosque Farms related to fire or EMS. Any kind of longer-term solutions would be between the governing bodies.”