Two Residents Escorted by Police Out of Village Council Meeting

Published October 29th, 2022 at 2:08 pm

During the Village Council meeting on Tues. Oct. 25, two Corrales residents, Curt Flora and Kenneth DeHoff, were escorted out by police after speaking out of turn during the public comment period of the meeting.  Both are calling for the termination of Planning and Zoning Administrator Laurie Stout. 

Flora has been engaged in a four-year-long battle with the Village over the subdivision of his property. For years, Flora has attended village council meetings with his wife to bring his concerns and issues to Village Councilors. 

“The corruption that she is doing is not only affecting me but other people too,” Flora said in regards to Stout. 

Last week, a petition signing was held by Flora in Corrales in an effort to terminate Stout. According to a social media post on Nextdoor, Flora claims to have 220 signatures (he said by phone that he now has 225). The petition was presented to the Village. Corrales Comment wasn’t able to verify if indeed there were that many signatures.

Before Flora’s remarks, Village Attorney Randy Autio addressed Flora’s complaints and petition. 

“Mr. Flora has regularly spoken at Village council meetings about his cases against the Village, even said derogatory and ugly things about the Village and its personnel. Mr. Flora has relied on stating his opinion and accusing the village and its personnel of misconduct. Many of his statements are not true.” 

 Autio said that Flora had a right to speak his mind, but not to slander the Village or its employees and invited Flora to work with the Village on the issues at hand. 

 Flora disputed Auito’s statement and alleged in his speech that Stout had committed fraud and falsified documents. “Now if you want to believe Laurie Stout and her lies then you just go ahead, but what she has done: we have her falsifying documents, we have her falsifying the meeting minutes. We have falsifying, extortion, corruption, fraud; falsifying the minutes is crazy,” Flora said. 

Along with Flora’s statements, DeHoff’s fiery speech claimed that he was mistreated by Stout. “ What kind of organization fabricates false statements, false timelines and false facts in order to justify their actions?” DeHoff said to the council.  

Another resident, Martie Sanchez, demanded transparency from the council. “As a Corrales citizen, I’d like to see, a little bit more, no,  a lot more clarity, transparency and attention to those of us who’ve been in theVillage for our entire lives with regards to this issue,” Sanchez said.

While it was apparent that most of those who spoke during public comment, spoke in opposition of Stout, one resident came to her aid. “She’s a great benefit to Corrales and we are lucky to have her,” Melissa Morris said. Morris claimed that in her interactions with Stout, Stout has always been professional and kind.

When DeHoff and Flora refused to sit down after their allotted time for comment and continued to shout, Corrales Police escorted both men out of the meeting.

Corrales Comment contacted Village Administrator Ron Curry about the lawsuit Flora and Huff had filed against the Village but did not hear from him by press time. Laurie Stout was unavailable for comment on Mon. Oct. 24, as she explained in an email.