County Commissioners
Contact
Vice-Chair
845 N. Motel Blvd.
Las Cruces, NM 88007
Cell: (575) 644-0718
Message: (575) 647-7201
Fax: (575) 525-5948
E-mail: obutler@donaanacounty.org
District 1 Commissioner Oscar Vásquez Butler is Vice-Chair of the Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners. He was elected Nov. 5, 2002, to represent Doña Ana County's largest commission district, District 1, which encompasses the northwest quadrant of the county and includes the communities of Berino, Vado, La Mesa, San Miguel, Mesquite, Doña Ana, Radium Springs, Hatch, Rincon, Garfield, Salem and part of the western side of the City of Las Cruces. He took office Jan. 1, 2003. He was re-elected in 2006.
On June 23, 2006, Butler was inaugurated as President of the New Mexico Association of Counties, and during his presidency he parlayed his state role into increased exposure for New Mexico's issues and challenges, particularly those which face the state's 33 counties. He now serves the association as Immediate Past President.
During his campaign, Commissioner Butler demonstrated a comprehensive knowledge of the needs of his constituents and said there are many small communities whose residents feel neglected. He has pledged to meet those needs while simultaneously working for the interests of the county as a whole. Among district needs, he listed roads, lighting, transportation and activities for youth and seniors. He also vowed to take aggressive action to improve community centers.
In 2005, Commissioner Butler served as chairman of the Gateway Subcommittee of the National Association of Counties' Public Lands Steering Committee and served a membership position on NACo's Watershed Management Advisory Committee.
In 2007, Commissioner Butler was appointed to the Health Steering Committee of the National Association of Counties. The 73-member NACo Health Steering Committee considers matters pertaining to health care delivery and financing including indigent care, health care for the uninsured, Medicaid, Medicare, long-term care, local public-health programs, mental health, substance abuse and developmental disabilities.
In addition to his latest appointment, Vásquez Butler served on the NMAC Board of Directors and the NMAC Workers' Compensation Board from 2003-2005. He was vice-chairman of the Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners in 2004. He is a board member of the New Mexico Water Dialogue Board and the Lower Rio Grande Water Users' Organization, and he is past chairman and a current board member of the South Central Solid Waste Authority and the Doña Ana County Extra Territorial Authority.
Butler is past president of Doña Ana Water Association, a mutual domestic water company within his home area of the Village of Doña Ana. His familiarity with mutual domestic water associations countywide is widely seen to be a benefit for the commission as it positions itself for future growth and enduring partnerships with dozens of mutual domestics throughout the county. Butler holds bachelor’s and master's degrees in public administration from the University of Southern California, and he was a civil rights and labor activist in California, as well as a Democratic precinct worker and a union steward.
