When David Coss was in the hot seat as Santa Fe's city manager in the 1990s, an Army veteran named Art Sanchez stepped to the forefront.
As the city councilor chosen to mediate between other councilors who wanted Coss fired and the city leaders who'd hired him, Sanchez ensured that cooler heads prevailed.
Coss ended up keeping his job, eventually becoming mayor in 2006. On Monday, he remembered the role Sanchez played in his near termination.
"I'll always remember Art for that," said Coss, who described Sanchez as a gentleman and a hard worker.
Sanchez, 77, died Sunday after a lengthy illness. A graduate of St. Michael's High School, Sanchez served 12 years on the Santa Fe City Council. He was defeated in a bid for re-election by then-newcomer and current Councilor Miguel Chavez in 2000. Coss was also a candidate in that race and came back to win a seat on the council two years later.
In the private sector, Sanchez, who also served as Española's city manager and business manager and in various state government roles, owned the Santa Fe Adobe Company, which manufactured "miniadobes."
While remembered as a dedicated family man, Sanchez's enduring legacy may be his leadership on the city's purchase of the Sangre de Cristo Water Company from the Public Service Co. of New Mexico in 1995.
"It's a great day for the citizens of Santa Fe," Sanchez said when the deal was completed. "They now own their own water system. They now control their own destiny."
City Councilor Patti Bushee, who served with Sanchez for six years, said Sanchez believed the purchase of the water company would negate the need for future rate increases.
Though that hasn't happened, current city leaders say the move was the right one.
"I think if you look back now 10 or 12 years later, that was an important part of Santa Fe's success," Coss said.
Bushee said Sanchez might have been a fiscal conservative, but she said he was anything but a curmudgeon.
"He cut to the chase, he said it as he saw it and I often agreed with him," Bushee said Monday. "He had his rate-payers and his constituents in mind during every vote.
"I don't think I've ever served with anyone quite like him since then."
