NM Environment Department temporarily relocates ABQ services to Rio Rancho

RIO RANCHO — The New Mexico Environment Department announced May 28 that it had temporarily closed its building in Albuquerque and redirected in-person services to the agency’s Rio Rancho field office following a host of unresolved mechanical issues at the downtown site.

The agency closed its Albuquerque field office, located in the Springer Square Building, 121 Tijeras Ave. NE, on May 26 due to “persistent mechanical system failures,” and redirected in-person services to the Rio Rancho field office, located at 4359 Jager Drive NE, Suite B, according to a press release and a letter from NMED to the property owner, Richard Yates of ZOCALLO LLC.

The ongoing conditions in and around the building “do not currently support a safe or functional work environment for employees or the public,” the release said.

The NMED letter ordered that if Yates and his business do not work to prevent prolonged heating and cooling outages, sewage backups, flooding and non-functioning elevator and parking space issues within 30 days, the agency will pull its two leases on the building. Yates did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Repeated problems have meant that the agency lost access to part or all of the building for more than 110 days in the last year alone, NMED spokesperson Drew Goretzka, who provided the letter, wrote in an email to the Observer. Though the agency has experienced ongoing problems with the building since it began leasing it in 2015, Goretzka wrote.

The agency’s decision to temporarily close the downtown property impacts more than 200 employees, who are now working remotely, Goretzka wrote. Only one full-time employee has relocated to the Rio Rancho field office to provide in-person services, he wrote.

The Rio Rancho field office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and it is closed for lunch from noon to 1 p.m. The field office’s telephone number is 505-771-5980.