[0:00] Good morning everyone.
I'll be calling this board of
[0:03] commissioners regular meeting for
September 10th, 2026 to order. If you
[0:09] can please join me for the pledge of
allegiance and salute to the state flag.
[0:15] » I pledge algiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
[0:21] republic for it stands one nation
indivisible with all.
[0:29] Salute the flag of state of New Mexico
symbol of perfect friendship among
[0:35] united cultures.
[0:40] » Thank you.
Moving on to uh approval of the uh
[0:46] regular meeting agenda.
>> Motion
[0:48] » second.
>> Motion by Commissioner uh Medina, second
[0:52] by Commissioner Flores. Do we have any
discussion?
[0:57] » Seeing none, all those in favor? I
>> I
[1:00] » I motion carries. Moving into uh next
item is public input. During this
[1:07] portion of our meeting, we welcome your
suggestions. Want to hear your concerns.
[1:11] This is not a question and answer
period. Speakers will be limited to five
[1:15] minutes. Any individual like to discuss
an item in more depth may uh be uh
[1:20] request to be placed on a future agenda
and the forms are in the county
[1:24] manager's office. Do we have anyone for
public speaking?
[1:40] Hi, my name is Lewis Mitchell and I live
in Popcorn.
[1:46] You know, the county commissioners have
talked about these rate increases and um
[1:52] the new rules and things like that.
Well, I contacted a number of
[1:56] individuals. Am I on in uh Katherine
County just north of us? Their waste
[2:04] management up there. They charge the
community a $25 fee for which you get a
[2:11] basically it's like a little credit
card. They have numerous uh dump
[2:17] stations around the county where people
can go and they have uh waste stations.
[2:23] So, you pay based upon how much you're
disposing. A lot of residents that I
[2:29] spoke to up there shared with me that
they're paying as little as $3 a month.
[2:35] Um, and what happens is that they're
weighed, they scan their card, they're
[2:39] weighed, they go in and dump it, and
then they receive a monthly bill instead
[2:44] of this uh outrageous fee that we're
currently looking at being hit with. The
[2:50] other thing is we're looking at these
new proposals for ordinances. Well, if
[2:55] we're going to do these ordinances, then
Grant County needs to go in there and
[2:59] clean their own house first. I was
looking at the site over where they're
[3:04] going in and building the um playground
and cliff. If you go in there and look,
[3:10] they've gone in there and torn up
concrete. They've torn up asphalt and
[3:14] they've pushed that off into Turkey
Creek. Therefore, that contamination
[3:19] flows into the Hila River. Also, on the
other side of the street where the
[3:24] fairgrounds are, when the county went in
and dug that uh the place that cement
[3:30] slab, they took that dirt there that is
contaminated with the petroleum products
[3:35] and took it again and dumped it off onto
the the creek. And so there's a lot of
[3:42] brush and leaf matter that's been
disposed of all along that creek from
[3:47] the county. So current construction
that's going on at the fairgrounds. I
[3:53] see that debris also being taken over
and dumped into the creek. So, I've
[3:59] contacted a number of state and federal
agencies requesting information on how
[4:03] to file complaints against Grant County,
um, including doing an environmental
[4:09] hazard report because of the petroleum
products that are going to contaminate
[4:14] that creek. I know that in talking with
Senator Heinrich, that's one of his pets
[4:19] is the Wild and Scenic Act for uh, the
Hilo River. And since Turkey Creek flows
[4:26] into the Hilo River, we now have that
petroleum product as well as that other
[4:30] waste that's going to contaminate that
water system. So before you go looking
[4:36] at these ordinances and what they're
going to do to people within our
[4:40] community, I think you need to take an
internal look at yourself and not be
[4:44] like a bad parent that says, "Do as I
say do, don't do as I do." Thank you.
[4:50] » Thank you.
Do we have anyone else for public
[4:54] speaking?
[5:02] » Good morning everybody. My name is Dale
Dods. Used to own Roadrunner Disposal.
[5:06] My wife and I
sold here to Ela Sanitation.
[5:12] First I'm going to give our family has a
stake in this state. I love this state.
[5:17] My paternal side came here after World
War I. They ran worked at the grey
[5:21] ranch, the go. My grandfather ran the
burrow mountain homestead from the 30s,
[5:26] 40s, 50s. On my maternal side, I'm
mostly Navajo, believe it or not. My
[5:32] grandfather paved 9152
passing special. He had a second grade
[5:37] education as a Navajo.
This is our state. We love it. So, now
[5:43] I'll get into facts and figures.
As of the census of July 2025,
[5:50] we had a population of 27,252.
Since then, up till July this year,
[5:56] we've lost about a thousand residents.
Now I'm Seer City 9700
[6:02] 9,700 per approximately because I can
only go with what they tell me. Bayard
[6:08] 2116, Hurley 1256, so on. If you take
off Santa Clara and Tyrone that that uh
[6:14] Garcia does and then Hila Sanitation
does out in the county.
[6:20] I broke it down into single residents
and and you have 62.2%
[6:27] single resident and uh 31 for uh mobile
home and non-traditional homes.
[6:37] I broke everything down to about and it
all comes down to those who are not
[6:42] serviced by Southwest
or UWS
[6:50] leaves Garcia and Hila sanitation.
So that leaves about 10,000 people who
[6:57] use the transfer stations or bring their
own trash and so on.
[7:05] And I figured it out how much it's going
to cost depending on whe because not
[7:09] being able to get answers concrete
answers whether the whispered and
[7:14] rumored $30 per month increase.
I'm using Santa Clara since I live there
[7:21] and our landfill just the landfill is
$9.13 a month. So, we'll kind of kind of
[7:27] loosely base everything on that because
I know it varies around the county.
[7:33] And I figured out approximately
how much would be coming into the
[7:39] landfill or supposedly into the county
on these fees.
[7:44] And I'm not going to mention specific
numbers because you know them. Now I go
[7:48] back to the fact that my cousin designed
the landfill that in the last 24 and a
[7:53] half years of working here. I know
people. I know the inner workings. And I
[7:58] was going to sell Roadrunner Disposal to
UWS
[8:04] and a person who works over whom you all
know well because I'm only going to
[8:07] mention mention one name here.
And he had the reason I sold to
[8:15] Jade is because I did the whole county
single-handedly for 24 and a half years.
[8:19] Imagine driving to Phoenix and back and
stopping every mile and getting out and
[8:23] throwing in. I was jumping in and out of
that truck 22,000 times a year. I earned
[8:28] every penny. And if I can make a 10%
profit on the year, it was a good year.
[8:33] He's finding these things out. It is
Grant County, New Mexico. We have a lot
[8:38] of older people. We have a lot of
retired people, including Mary Alice,
[8:41] one of my favorite customers of all
time. But so I broke that all down. And
[8:47] in essence, of course, everybody has
their usage fees and and now P&M, I
[8:52] noticed, has a writers and fees, i.e.
taxes.
[8:58] And I see both sides of the issue of how
they need to make money. The county
[9:02] needs to buy and make some. I'm a
business or was a businessman.
[9:07] And I know definitely in the workings of
that landfill and everybody in the
[9:13] business around here.
And I'm going to mention that one name
[9:17] now. Eric Sanchez.
One of the best people I ever knew. I
[9:21] loved him dearly. He almost
single-handedly transformed that
[9:25] landfill into what it should have been.
It's clean. It was orderly and all that.
[9:31] » Do you have 30 seconds?
>> Okay. So, in essence, but I figured it
[9:35] out. If the 30 goes on with the existing
my 199 it goes up uh 70% or 76.7%
[9:45] and otherwise it goes up 70%.
But anyway there's a lot of people
[9:50] they're going to change you're going to
have we're going to go back to at some
[9:52] point people dumping it back on the
roads and in the washes and that's what
[9:56] it's going to come down to. They still
do to a point but not like it was in the
[10:00] 60s here.
>> All right everybody have a great day.
[10:06] Do we have anyone else for public
speaking?
[10:14] » Yes.
[10:17] » My name is Condra. Can everybody hear
me? I don't like using a mic. Um, and uh
[10:23] I'm new to the community. My wife and I
just bought a house two months ago, so
[10:27] everything here is new to me. And I'm
not really that familiar with your u
[10:32] policies and procedures. So if I get if
I run a muck, let me know. But I want to
[10:38] uh talk about the ordinance itself and
try to get a little bit of clarity. Um
[10:44] under
definitions,
[10:48] it has landfill. It's defined as a waste
facility yada yada yada that receives
[10:54] refuge and sold waste. I'm not sure what
sold waste is, so I assume that's a
[11:01] misspelling. So you might want to
correct that before you approve these
[11:05] these u ordinances. Uh the other thing
under the powers of the county of grant
[11:13] it says it can execute agreements on
behalf of the county with any
[11:17] municipality county or other local unit
of government or any private entity. So,
[11:23] since I live outside of the city of
Silver City, I assume I'm a private
[11:27] entity and I hope I can make a contract
with the county because I take my trash
[11:33] to the landfill. It's only two miles
away. Um hopefully that would mitigate
[11:38] some of the cost to the county. Um
[11:45] the next one
was 7 C in the ordinance.
[11:52] All acceptable waste shall be placed in
a container provided by the county and
[11:55] shall be reduced in waist size to no
more than 4 feet in length.
[12:01] So can we put any width or height to
that or does four feet in length mean a
[12:07] certain thing in Grant County? Like I
say, I'm not I'm not sure, but that
[12:12] might need a little clarity there.
Um,
[12:17] blah blah blah blah. Okay, the big one
is the mandatory fees section
[12:23] 10D.
It talks about the board shall establish
[12:26] a system of fees for solid waste
collection pursuant to a resolution of
[12:32] the board not to exceed the actual cost
to collect, transport, and dispose.
[12:38] Well, first of all, you're just going to
have a system of fees for the collection
[12:40] of waste. And then you're talking about
collection, transport, and dispose.
[12:45] And again, it's just clarity for me. I
would probably put um establish a system
[12:51] of fees for the handling of solid waste
and then go on to the actual cost. Um
[12:57] now, under actual cost,
again, there's no definition of what the
[13:02] actual cost is. Is it the operating
cost? Is it fixed cost? Is there going
[13:08] to be administrative costs or other
cost? The thing about actual cost of
[13:14] transport is certainly going to be
different from the southern part of the
[13:18] county than where I live, which is next
door to the to the uh landfill. So
[13:26] again, just clarity there. And it's
interesting which this this cost the
[13:33] cost which is a duly is going to be duly
introduced before the board. I don't
[13:40] want that job but it'd be nice to know
you know who has it
[13:45] yada yada yada.
Um
[13:50] the next one is 12C
and it talks about um owner of property
[13:57] who has a contract with some waste
handlers. They can have that contract uh
[14:04] until the upon or let me read it. It
says, "Upon the expiration of the
[14:09] current term of any such agreements,
the owner shall begin receiving solid
[14:14] waste services from the county." Um,
so which means the county is going to be
[14:21] in charge
of everything unless of course there's
[14:26] separate agreements under the other uh
part of this ordinance.
[14:31] The question I have is uh when I bought
the house, I had to pay the previous
[14:37] owner for the landfill charges to the
end of the year. So, is the county going
[14:45] to honor that contract for me for the
end of the year or do I get a refund
[14:50] when this new ordinance goes in?
Um
[14:55] the next thing, oh they talked about um
the 300 acres um exhibit one. Now I got
[15:04] this exhibit off the internet so you
know it has to be true. Um
[15:10] and in it it says application for waiver
of the solid waste collection fee
[15:16] land owners with 120 contiguous acres of
land which
[15:21] » Thank you sir. Oh, is that that? Yeah.
>> Oh, wow. That was close.
[15:27] » Thank you.
[15:31] » Do we have anyone else for public
speaking?
[15:39] Thanks.
[15:43] Hear me one way or the other, but my
name is Katie Nolasco and I sent emails
[15:48] to all of you commissioners yesterday.
Um, I live in Arenas Valley
[15:54] and
as it is, if I was still hauling my
[15:59] trash myself to the dump, I'm 22 miles
round trip to the dump or 18 miles round
[16:05] trip to the Tri City station and the
dump got really earned its name um
[16:12] lately and so I quit going because it's
dangerous for me and for my vehicle. Um,
[16:18] but I figured that if as it is, I'm
paying a a hall service and that's
[16:25] approximately $35 a month. Um, if the
rates go up to 30 a month, the figure
[16:34] that keeps getting thrown around, and if
the haulers have to start paying tonnage
[16:39] instead of having that pass through,
then I'm probably going to be paying
[16:44] closer to $90 a month. And that's like
not doable. And I think there's a lot of
[16:51] questions I have about
if um if universal waste was contracted
[16:58] with the city, the town of Silver City,
just for picking up, how did it come to
[17:03] be that they're now kind of running the
show and
[17:06] deciding what our our charges are and
you know, just how did that happen? I
[17:12] don't understand the dynamics there. Um,
and I I know from experience with other
[17:18] people that their their experience with
that company is that prices went up and
[17:24] services went down. And I feel like
that's happening here. And it just feels
[17:30] like we don't have enough information
for you to really make a decision right
[17:34] now for for all of us. Um,
you have my email. So that's all I want
[17:40] to say for now. But I I think that
looking at the Oh, the other part is if
[17:45] all the people who currently use hall
services started, you know, couldn't pay
[17:51] for that anymore because that would add
add quite a bit to mine if they started
[17:55] showing up at the dump. Have you really
considered how much I mean that would
[18:00] just be an unworkable situation to have
all these people driving down non-stop
[18:04] trying to get into the dump? So, I think
that's a big factor to consider too
[18:08] because it just logistically it doesn't
make sense. But anyway, thank you.
[18:14] » Thank you.
[18:18] » Anyone else for public speaking?
[18:27] » Good morning, Mr. Chairman, board
members. It is 10 310, excuse me, 91026.
[18:35] My name is Rahul Torietta.
I would like to respectfully
[18:41] say what happened in 2020 20001
a year that is very special me for me my
[18:49] daughter was born on that note what
happened in 2000
[18:55] 911 a day that will always remember the
lives that were lost the bravery of
[19:01] first responders and the lasting impact
of the world let us remember we can
[19:07] Bring our bridges together. Honoring the
past while choosing peace, the unity at
[19:14] the present. Let us give peace a chance.
I do honor on what happened to these
[19:22] brave individuals on 911.
A week ago today, I actually well
[19:29] yesterday I spoke about copper
production. A week ago today, I spent I
[19:34] sent the post about the memorandum that
would give the counties and towns a
[19:39] moratorum that would give a counties and
towns time to study not just on economic
[19:45] impact
but the water usage, power demands,
[19:50] infrastructure strains, and that means a
long-term for the residents and
[19:54] business. I do thank the county
commission for looking into the
[19:59] situation immediately. This isn't about
blocking progress. It's about making
[20:05] sure that the consequences before we
move forward. I'm speaking out for the
[20:11] majority of a lot of the Grand Canians
supporting this memor this uh moratorum.
[20:17] Personally, my opinion and my opinion
only. One issue we cannot afford
[20:23] overlooking the New Mexico water. We
live in the most arid state in the
[20:29] nation and as a state engineer notes
drought occurs part is our part of
[20:35] reality. About a large percentage of New
Mexico water usage is for irrigation
[20:41] agricultural
while a small percentage goes to the
[20:46] public and domestic supplies.
When we talk about new development,
[20:52] industry, data centers, and population
growth, we must ask the question, where
[20:58] is this water coming? Where is this
going? Where is this water going to come
[21:01] from? And what will it mean for the
people have already that live here? I
[21:07] pause on the moratorum. Can we give us
time to study the economic, the
[21:13] environmental, the water impacts before
making the decision that could affect
[21:19] for us generations to come? In New
Mexico, every drop really matters.
[21:31] Thank you.
[21:36] Do we have anyone else that'd like to uh
speak?
[21:46] I'm Michael Jade Ford. Morning. Um,
owner of Heless Sanitation.
[21:52] I just wanted to take this moment to,
uh, thank you all here for accepting
[21:57] responsibility of mismanaging this issue
due to the waste management. Um, I also
[22:05] want to thank you all for considering
tableabling this ordinance and putting
[22:09] more time and effort into this ordinance
with with community input. Um, I do want
[22:15] to say that on September 8th after this
meeting,
[22:19] uh, at the end of the day, I did have a
sit down with Ernie Myers with UWS and
[22:25] it was very telling. Um, but the only
thing I did want to mention uh that he
[22:30] said was this room on the ETH was
nowhere near as full as it should have
[22:36] been for any of us to be worried about
anything. Nobody cares is pretty much
[22:41] what he was telling me. And I just
wanted to
[22:45] just wanted to say that I am only one
man, but I do believe I'm representing
[22:49] over 700 people. Um, so just keep that
in mind. I just there's 700 people in
[22:54] this room even though it looks pretty
empty. Uh thank you all.
[23:03] Do we uh anyone else?
[23:08] Okay. Going to go ahead and move on to
uh uh next item which is a proclamation
[23:15] for Grant County Fair days. Uh
Commissioner Flores.
[23:20] » Thank you, Mr. Chair.
[23:29] I'd like to read the proclamation for uh
Grand County Fair days.
[23:34] Whereas the Grant County Fair has stood
as one of the Grant Countyy's longest
[23:38] and among the most cherished traditions,
held at its historic location in Cliff,
[23:43] New Mexico for 77 years, consecutive
years, and continuing to thrive as a
[23:49] beloved annual celebration of community,
heritage, and rural life. And whereas
[23:56] the Grant County Fair has long served as
a showcase of our county spirit,
[24:01] promoting local talent, agricultural
craftsmanship, and the cultural richness
[24:07] of our residents, bringing together
generations to celebrate the arts,
[24:12] skills, and traditions that define Grant
County. And whereas youth organizations
[24:21] such as 4 and future farmers of America
have been foundational to the fair's
[24:27] legacy, offering countless young people
opportunities to learn, lead, and
[24:33] contribute to the agricultural
traditions that have shaped our
[24:38] community for decades.
And whereas the 2026 Grant County Fair
[24:44] will be held September 23rd through the
26th, continuing its proud history as a
[24:49] gathering place that honors our past,
strengthens our present, and inspires
[24:57] future generations.
And whereas all Grant County residents
[25:01] and visitors are welcome to join in a
celebration that reflects the enduring
[25:07] pride, resilience, and unity of our
rural communities.
[25:13] And now, therefore, the Grant County
Board of Commissioners does hereby
[25:18] proclaim the week of September 23rd
through September 26th,
[25:24] 2026
as Grant County Fairs.
[25:29] Thank you, Commissioner Flores. Do we
have a motion, Commissioner?
[25:31] » Motion.
>> Second.
[25:33] » So, motion by Commissioner Flores,
second by uh Commissioner Medina. And do
[25:38] we have any discussion?
[25:43] » None. All right. All those in favor?
>> I
[25:46] » I motion carries. Do we have anyone here
for uh Grant County Fair days to accept
[25:54] the proclamation?
Okay. We'll get we'll get it to
[25:58] somebody. Thank you.
So, we're going to move on uh to the
[26:04] next item will be
uh public open a public hearing and
[26:10] discussion regarding ordinance number
O-26-02
[26:18] solid waste con uh collection disposal
and fee ordinance of the of Grant
[26:23] County, New Mexico. Can I have a motion?
Motion open.
[26:29] » Second.
>> So a motion by Commissioner Medina,
[26:33] second by Commissioner Stevens. Do we
have any discussion?
[26:39] » Okay, seeing none, Madame Clerk, can I
have a roll call vote, please? Chairman
[26:44] and commissioners, are you all aware
you're
[26:48] um open opening a public hearing to
discuss ordinance number O-26-02
[26:56] regarding the solid waste collection
disposal and fee ordinance. Chairman
[27:03] Punet,
>> yes.
[27:04] » Commissioner Medina,
>> yes.
[27:06] » Commissioner Shalley,
>> yes.
[27:07] » Commissioner Stevens,
>> yes.
[27:09] » Commissioner Flores,
>> yes.
[27:12] Thank you. Okay, opening up the public
hearing. Do we have anyone that would
[27:18] like to testify?
[27:25] Okay, seeing anyone see no one um
wanting to testify. Commissioners, do
[27:31] you do you have anything?
>> Commissioner Stevens?
[27:36] » Uh thank you, Chairman. Uh I have a a
few comments. So, my proposed changes to
[27:43] the ordinance um include in section 12
removing the waiver exceptions A and C.
[27:53] Um A is the one with the 300 contiguous
acres. And as we talked about Tuesday,
[28:00] that's not really um in use and there's
a perception uh that it it's an unfair
[28:07] exception. Um, and then with C, it's
confusing because it implies that if you
[28:14] have an existing agreement, um, that you
can apply for a waiver, uh, like with a
[28:20] hauler, but that's not in fact the case.
So, I think it, um, it's created a lot
[28:26] of confusion. So, I think we should
eliminate that since that's also not in
[28:31] use. And then on section B, um
I would like to add the the term
[28:40] occasional use to that as well. So it
would read, "An owner of an
[28:45] uninhabitable or occasional use unit as
defined in section two of the ordinance
[28:50] shall have opportunity request a waiver
of the solid waste collection fee due to
[28:56] uninhabitability or occasional use."
Um,
[29:00] those are both defined in the
definitions, the occasional use and the
[29:06] uninhabitable, and that would cover
people uh, like Commissioner Flores
[29:10] mentioned the other day about who maybe
have a cabin that they rarely occupy.
[29:15] Uh, so they could apply for a waiver. We
had some discussion Tuesday about brush
[29:20] and compost piles. And um I I thought a
lot about how and whether to incorporate
[29:27] language to say that those are okay, but
came to the conclusion that I think it's
[29:32] not needed because section 5A refers
only to composition of residue that is
[29:39] unsanitary or hazardous to public
health. And these brush piles are not uh
[29:46] hazardous or unsanitary.
And someone in public comment mentioned
[29:51] if you were mad at your neighbor, you
could call and say they have a brush
[29:54] pile and that could, you know, try to
get them in trouble. But if if the
[29:59] enforcement officer went out and looked
at it and determined that it was not
[30:04] unsanitary or hazardous, uh I think it
would uh it would be fine.
[30:10] So those were my proposed changes. And I
was going to go ahead and um make a
[30:16] motion that we approve, but I do
recognize that uh other commissioners
[30:21] have have brought up um some changes
they would like to see happen and we've
[30:26] heard a lot from from our public.
So I I'm not against tableabling it. I
[30:33] do think that it needs to uh come up
again soon because
[30:39] just a reminder, the authority
determines the rates uh for the
[30:44] municipalities and the town and the
county and those rates are effective
[30:48] September 1st. So, we're already paying
those rates, and the longer we delay in
[30:54] changing the rates that we charge to uh
residents of uninccorporated Grant
[30:59] County, the more the county uh foots the
bill, for lack of a better term. So, I I
[31:06] do think we we shouldn't delay. I also
want to just say again that this
[31:12] ordinance does not set the rates. So
there's almost all of the public input
[31:18] has been against a rate increase, but
this ordinance doesn't set the rates.
[31:23] This ordinance is simply uh
updating the the law about solid waste
[31:31] for the county, not for everyone in the
county because it doesn't apply to the
[31:36] municipalities. Um, and I did write out
some things that I've learned uh on the
[31:42] Solid Southwest Solid Waste Authority
board uh over about the last year and
[31:48] our county staff did share that uh the
FAQs on the website and the Facebook. Um
[31:55] I've also been uh doing my best to
respond to all the calls and emails. Um,
[32:01] a couple other things that I want to say
are there there's been a lot of talk
[32:06] about haulers and again this really
doesn't apply to the ordinance. This
[32:13] this is really more a discussion between
the authority who operates the landfill
[32:18] and the private haulers. Uh but because
it keeps coming up, I I think it's
[32:23] important to say that
the the fact is haulers have to pay the
[32:30] gate rate at the landfill, the tipping
fees, unless they have an exclusive
[32:35] contract within an authority member's
jurisdiction. The and again the
[32:40] authority members are Santa Clara,
Hurley, Baird, the town, and the county.
[32:48] The issue with the county is we don't
have an exclusive contract with a
[32:51] hauler. So um that that's why it's been
uh more complicated and for those
[32:59] haulers with an exclusive contract there
is an established monthly allowance and
[33:04] tonnages above that allowance uh are
build at the gate rate. So but again
[33:09] that's between the authority and the
haulers. it it has no bearing on uh the
[33:15] county and and this ordinance unless we
create some sort of a waiver or um an
[33:24] exception.
My concern with doing that would be that
[33:30] the more waivers you create, the more
the cost shifts to everyone else. So, if
[33:37] you had, for example, a way where a
hauler could negotiate a discounted rate
[33:45] with the ca with the county by applying
for a waiver for, let's say, 700 or 750
[33:51] customers, that just makes everyone else
have to pay more because the county has
[33:56] to pay that flat rate.
So, um, administratively, I'm not sure
[34:02] how that would work. And I do think um
we could keep talking about it between
[34:07] now and and when this comes up again.
Want to make sure that I covered all my
[34:15] points.
[34:18] Uh there there have been a lot of rumors
about, you know, a $60 charge, but this
[34:25] ordinance does say that the county can't
charge more than the cost. And the cost
[34:31] calculated by the authority is basically
$30 per household. So it can't be over
[34:36] that. And there was also um some public
input which I really appreciated about
[34:44] gross receipts and sales tax. And first
gross receipts is already being used. We
[34:52] are already using gross receipts um to
pay solid waste. And really gross
[34:58] receipts is sales tax. There may be a
way, you know, to try and do that
[35:03] differently or calculate a different
percentage or increase it, but my
[35:08] understanding is we're fully utilizing
gross receipts to try to reduce the
[35:12] bill. That's that's why, you know, if we
end up charging 26 or $27,
[35:18] um, but the real cost is $30, that
difference is coming from gross receipts
[35:23] tax.
[35:26] There's also been a lot of comments
about not wanting to enrich a
[35:32] corporation uh like Universal Waste. And
I want to make it clear that this the
[35:38] Southwest Solid Waste Authority is a
public entity. It is true that we
[35:42] contract with Universal Waste as a
management company, but people imply
[35:47] that if they pay tipping fees, it's just
going straight into the pocket of
[35:52] Universal Waste. And that's not true.
it's going to the authority and now the
[35:58] authority does pay a management fee uh
to universal waste but it's different
[36:03] and I think it's worth noting there's
also been some fear that the authority
[36:08] is just going to hand hand the reigns
over uh to this private company but I'm
[36:15] confident that's not going to happen for
if for no other reason because as a
[36:21] public entity the authority can get uh
public dollars. We utilize Colonia's
[36:26] funding and capital outlay funding and
rural infrastructure fund funding and uh
[36:32] a private corporation can't do that. So
that that ensures that we the public
[36:38] will remain
um in leadership there.
[36:44] Um I also you know there's been talk
about this 500 pound allowance. The
[36:49] average person generates 147 pounds of
trash per month. So 500 pounds is a
[36:56] fairly fairly high um allowance.
And and after that the tonnage or the
[37:04] tipping uh rate is calculated, you know,
prorated. So if it's $80 a ton and you
[37:11] bring half a ton, then you pay $40 after
your 500 pound allowance.
[37:18] Um,
in summary, I think that uh the
[37:23] authority should keep working with
haulers and should keep hearing from the
[37:29] public. But as far as our our
responsibility as county commissioners,
[37:34] we do need to as soon as we can approve
this ordinance so that we can uh
[37:40] determine the rates charged by
resolution.
[37:45] Um and and so after after this
discussion, I would support tableabling
[37:50] it just to make sure that we all have
ample opportunity to go over this
[37:56] ordinance one more time and see if
there's any changes and have our
[38:00] attorney review it. That's
>> anything else, commissioners?
[38:06] » Yes. Thank you. Thanks for reviewing all
those uh
[38:14] responses to various comments that we've
all heard and how this works. And our
[38:21] our dilemma
right now is
[38:26] that uh our community is asking for
clarity on exactly what they would be
[38:32] paying for and if they
like in my district
[38:39] uh Tyrone
contracts as a homeowners association.
[38:45] So they're not like
they're not like uh it's similar to the
[38:51] town of Silver City but not exactly. But
as a homeowners association they
[38:56] contract with a waste hauler to take the
their waste and everybody in the as I
[39:04] understand it in the homeowners
association needs they don't have a
[39:09] choice. They pay for that
and I and it's a convenience
[39:16] for the homeowners to have somebody else
haul it to the landfill for them. But
[39:21] what's not clear, it's just one thing
about that is if they since they're in
[39:28] an un unincorporated area and they're
paying whatever the fee that we set as
[39:34] resolution
and then their hauler is also paying a
[39:39] tipping fee. Is that
uh it it looks like to the community
[39:46] that that's double counting? And they're
not the only ones. There's trailer
[39:50] courts. I I talked to someone familiar
with Rose Valley RV. They I believe have
[39:59] a contract to haul their waist. So
they're in the same boat.
[40:07] uh and
so the confusion there's confusion about
[40:13] that and there's not clarity and that's
why I offered some potential solution to
[40:21] that would be okay
um we're the county's getting a flat fee
[40:28] but if somebody's also paying a a
tipping fee it shouldn't it shouldn't
[40:33] cover the cost of collection and hauling
age, but at least the tipping fee
[40:39] portion of whatever they're paying
probably should come off of their
[40:45] monthly bill so that they're not paying
the same fee twice.
[40:50] I I know that's a headache to figure out
for the whole county, but it but it I
[40:59] think um it would provide clarity if we
could come up with a way to manage that.
[41:07] Um, I offered other uh
uh solutions to make sure somebody isn't
[41:17] going to be prosecuted
for having a pile of rock or sand or
[41:23] other things that are classified as
waste on their property or brush.
[41:29] And but I agree
that with Commissioner Stevens that the
[41:35] way the ordinance is written already
already
[41:40] um
addresses that. It's not as concise as
[41:46] what I proposed, but I think
Commissioner Stevens is correct. that's
[41:52] not likely going to be uh an issue for
the residents of our county if we leave
[42:00] that part of the language the same.
Um
[42:06] but I did convert
I did propose to modify
[42:11] um section 12
A
[42:17] which um
was the waiver that historically was
[42:23] used by uh ranchers and farmers who
managed their waste onsite.
[42:30] And um but
I don't think that's happening anymore.
[42:38] And although I have heard that some
people still burn their trash.
[42:43] Um,
so I'm in agreement that one could go
[42:48] away,
but I modified it to allow a waiver that
[42:55] I was just talking about that if a
homeowners association
[42:59] is paying a tipping fee in addition to a
hage fee that at least
[43:09] it seemed reasonable to me that they
could um get a reduction. I don't know
[43:15] that it w it wouldn't eliminate the the
the ex u
[43:22] the the county fee, but
it it should be reduced if that's a
[43:29] double double fee. And maybe maybe the
solid waste authority could clarify
[43:34] whether it is or isn't a a double
counting fee there. But at least I
[43:41] offered a language proposal that uh
could be considered by the board
[43:48] that I think does belong in this
ordinance, not not not
[43:55] in some other document. But
um
[44:00] I do think it it should be tabled. My
off my change should be reviewed by
[44:07] attorneys
and probably by our solid waste staff to
[44:14] see if that's even feasible for them to
do something like what I'm suggesting. I
[44:19] do realize though that if they if if we
as a board agree to that that our bill
[44:26] for all the rest of the county residents
like Commissioner Stevens said is going
[44:33] to go up even higher
uh because we get a certain bill from
[44:38] the solid waste authority and it and it
has to be paid and it shouldn't be paid
[44:43] out of our uh general fund which is
probably going to have to happen this
[44:49] this month because we didn't get this uh
ordinance uh passed.
[44:56] Um
those are my th those were my main uh
[45:02] concerns. I believe I I I probably have
some other um
[45:09] changes that I offered to clarify
things. Oh yes, one other thing. And
[45:16] uh maybe the business community,
extr territorial business community will
[45:22] be mad at me. It's my idea, but I'll
admit that up here. But um our old
[45:31] uh ordinance has
provisions and a higher fee for
[45:36] commercial
um
[45:40] habitable. I don't know if you I think
they just had a separate category for
[45:45] commercial entities that had a higher
fee because they a lot of commercial
[45:53] businesses would generate more waste
and that would put a bigger burden on
[45:59] our landfill
where we want that waste to go. So, I
[46:06] added back in the uh the option for
uh commercial to be charged at a higher
[46:15] rate potentially than a average
household.
[46:20] However, if a lot of those commercials
that may be operating out in Hila or
[46:28] Meimbrous,
they're probably already hiring someone
[46:33] to haul their waste to the landfill. So,
they should be
[46:38] have the ability to get a waiver for
that because they're already paying for
[46:43] that additional waste that's going
there. And I I get that.
[46:49] So, um,
but I thought, well, if they're not, and
[46:56] then
at least that would offset what
[47:01] uh normal residents would need to pay in
order to cover the costs that were being
[47:06] buil for for the landfill operation
and the satellite accumulation areas,
[47:13] etc. That all does need to be shared by
the community. It's to all our benefit
[47:18] as we've heard to make sure that waste
goes to the right place and is managed
[47:24] in the right way.
So,
[47:28] um
[47:31] I I agree with tableabling it so we can
uh figure out these details uh that need
[47:40] to go into the this ordinance and not
that don't belong in the resolution that
[47:45] we'd be considering later. So,
that's all I had. Thank you.
[47:51] » Thank you, commissioner. Commissioners,
anyone else?
[47:57] Go ahead, Commissioner For.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do have a few
[48:01] comments. Um,
I appreciate my colleague, Commissioner
[48:06] Stevens, for clarifying a lot of the the
misconceptions.
[48:11] And one one big uh one that I've read is
people are questioning who the Solid
[48:17] Waste Authority is. The board, I'm glad
she mentioned it. I'll mention it again.
[48:22] The board consists of two appointed
members from the from the county
[48:26] commission, Commissioner Stevens and
myself.
[48:30] It consists of someone from each
municipality,
[48:34] Bayard, Hurley, Santa Clara, and the
town of Silver City. That's the That's
[48:39] the solid waste authority. That's the
board. That's who has been talking about
[48:43] this since last year. That's uh the
board that has open public meetings. We
[48:49] follow the same open meetings act that
anybody can come attend and give public
[48:55] comment each time we have a meeting.
It's it's it's public notice. It's um we
[49:02] hold them once a month. Correct. Once a
month, commissioner um
[49:07] we're not we're appointed the
commissioner the chair appointed us when
[49:12] we first came on the commission to be on
the solid waste authority. I I didn't
[49:16] know what the solid waste authority was
until I got appointed to it and I
[49:20] researched it. Nor did Commissioner
Stevens.
[49:23] So that's it's not a secret. That's the
Solid Waste Authority. Um
[49:31] like the gentleman said in in public
comment, if it's on the internet or it's
[49:36] on Facebook, it must be true. And and
unfortunately, many people believe that,
[49:41] but in reality, that's not the truth.
And I've said it before, um, if I'm in a
[49:48] wreck this morning and I bump into
somebody, by the end of next week,
[49:54] there's a double fatal on Hudson Street.
Two people got flown out. And that's
[49:59] just the way social media is. I guess
everybody likes to add a little bit to
[50:05] make it readable. That's that's that's
my opinion. Um, I try to stay away from
[50:10] it. I usually just scroll through it to
read it.
[50:14] to get local news. And once I get local
news, I I get off of it. Um,
[50:20] nobody wants to pay more for anything. I
don't want to pay more for anything. I
[50:26] can't even afford to drive my my diesel
pickup anymore. So, I I park it. I I get
[50:31] upset every time I drive by the gas
station. And diesel's at 577, I think,
[50:36] yesterday. Um,
but if if I want to drive it, I'm going
[50:41] to have to pay. Um, people can use
numbers to make anything look good or
[50:46] look bad.
I call it manipulating numbers. They can
[50:49] use percentages. They can use uh
anything.
[50:55] And the cost of beef, I mean, I think
the last time I read the news or heard
[51:00] the news gone up 300%. I mean, it used
to be a$1.78 a pound. Now it's $67 a
[51:07] pound. But I still buy it. I I have no
choice.
[51:11] I'm in the same boat. We're all in the
same boat as everybody else in the
[51:15] county. We all pay the same taxes. We
all, not the same, but we all pay taxes.
[51:20] Some people may have two or three
houses. I don't know, but they pay more,
[51:24] but we all pay our share. Like
Commissioner Shelley said, um it's
[51:30] almost like a social contract that we
chose to live here and we have to get
[51:35] rid of our waste. We just can't go put
it in our backyard or leave it somewhere
[51:40] because we chose to put it in the right
place. And unfortunately,
[51:45] we can't get rid of our waste for free.
I've enjoyed paying $5 a month for 30
[51:50] years. I I I try to buy um
my my kids every time they like a
[51:57] specific candy bar when I go to
Albertson's.
[52:01] I remember a candy bar was 79 cents. I
don't know how long ago, but now it's
[52:05] like $2.79 for a candy bar, but I still
buy it. I have no choice. I mean, I do
[52:11] have a choice, but I want my kids to
have it. It's It's just I have no choice
[52:15] to pay this landfield fee. We have no
choice. And at the end, I talked to um
[52:23] our assistant county manager. We're
looking at
[52:26] 26.50 give or take around that that
figure a month. that that's a 2150
[52:32] $21.50
increase a month. It's now going to be
[52:36] placed on top of the $5
is going from $5
[52:42] to 2650 and that includes the $5 we're
paying now. 2650 a month. We are still
[52:49] well below the industry standard. If we
choose, I know the county manager and I
[52:54] and other people choose to hire a
contractor to go pick up my garbage
[52:59] because it's more convenient for me. I'm
still going to pay it because I just
[53:04] don't have time to go to the landfill or
I don't want to go to the compactors.
[53:08] The compactors are going to be
strategically located throughout the
[53:10] county where I can go to the county to
the compactors, throw it in there 24
[53:15] hours a day and get rid of my trash. I I
don't want to do that. I'll keep paying
[53:18] the the guy that comes and picks up my
trash. I live in the county,
[53:24] but it's 2150.
I've paid $5 a month since 1996, right?
[53:30] 1998,
1998. $5 a month. I I wish we could all
[53:35] be paying the same price for something
from 1998.
[53:40] But it has to it has to increase. Things
increase every day.
[53:45] Um,
[53:50] there's always going to be people people
that are negative. I've quickly
[53:53] understood that in my career along with
anyone that's dealt with the public, you
[53:59] can never make any everybody happy all
the time. Regardless of what you do,
[54:05] regardless of what you do, you can never
make everybody happy.
[54:10] And I chose I chose that when I chose to
run for office to try to do the best I
[54:14] can for the county. But there's always
going to be that handful of people that
[54:18] are negative.
And you I call them keyboard warriors
[54:24] because they're really really brave
behind a computer screen or behind the
[54:28] phone.
But
[54:31] like the gentleman said earlier, he's
representing 700 people.
[54:36] There's not 700 people in this room.
There's less than 20. We've been talking
[54:41] about this for a year. It's finally come
up now. The last few meetings that
[54:45] people are coming and it's just a
handful of people. I will say that I
[54:48] appreciate the time that people have
taken to send me emails
[54:53] saying um I can't increase. Every email
that I've received has been kind and
[55:00] courteous
and they asked me to to do the best I
[55:05] can for them. Some people have said, "I
understand rates increase." People have
[55:10] talked about um they go to the forest,
they go here, they go there several
[55:16] times. I guarantee you that they've had
to put at least $20 worth of gas each
[55:22] week to go to the forest if they're
driving a regular car. I mean, it's not
[55:28] cheap to drive your vehicle anymore, but
we're talking a 2150 increase.
[55:36] 2150.
2650 total for the month to throw our
[55:41] trash. Otherwise, we're not going to
have a landfill. That's what we've been
[55:44] told on the authority. We're not going
to have a landfill because the county
[55:47] can't continue to maintain the landfill
at the current rate we're at.
[55:53] And people I challenge people to come
back to us and say why don't we have a
[55:57] landfill because
someone mentioned we have I drive 22
[56:02] miles round trip to the landfill. Well
now consider driving the Deming or even
[56:06] further to to the landfill because you
have couches, furniture, something that
[56:10] you have to get rid of a landfill.
Now you're talking over a 100 120 miles
[56:15] round trip
with the price of gas. I guarantee you
[56:18] that's going to cost you $100
at least. I won't take my truck because
[56:23] it'll cost me more than that.
But nobody likes to play pay more. I
[56:29] have older folks. I have older
relatives. Yeah, it's going to be hard
[56:33] on them. I understand that. We're we're
all in this together. We're not here on
[56:38] this commission to to increase anything,
but at some point we have to. I don't
[56:42] know why my predecessors didn't deal
with this issue
[56:48] within the last 28 years. I I don't
know. But unfortunately, I can't ask
[56:54] them. They're not here. But now we have
to deal with it. We're we're we're we're
[56:59] dealing with it. We have to we have to
deal with other issues as well. I've
[57:03] gotten a lot of emails about the data
centers and that's back and forth. And
[57:08] people can say wherever they want. They
can say, you know, you're you're you're
[57:12] up there. You're doing this for whatever
reason. I'm doing it because I have to.
[57:17] Um, if if we didn't have to deal with
this, trust me, we'd move on and and
[57:21] deal with the fair or issues. I I like
dealing with with Cliff and the
[57:26] ballparks there and and the the library
and things like that that make people
[57:30] happy. But sometimes we have to deal
with that dirty business and it's a pun
[57:35] because it is garbage we have to deal
with. That's what we're dealing with
[57:38] right now.
I understand people don't like change. I
[57:43] don't like change. I I get upset on my
bank because my ATM doesn't car doesn't
[57:47] work and I tell myself every week I'm
going to go change my bank, but it's too
[57:52] much trouble. I don't want to take all
that documentation. I just rather suck
[57:56] it up and and keep calling them and say
I need need a new card. Illegal dumping
[58:01] has been brought up. Of course, there's
illegal dumping right now, but let me
[58:06] tell you this. Illegal dumping can be
easily tracked.
[58:11] You leave a footprint when you dump your
home garbage. Trust me, at some point we
[58:17] will find out who dumped that illegal
dumping and then that person will be
[58:22] charged and they'll be fined for us to
go pick it up. Either way is you're
[58:27] going to pay. Yeah. Go dump in the
forest. There's people have cameras
[58:31] everywhere. Hunters have game cams
everywhere. Every we're I think the
[58:36] average person's recorded 60 times a
day. I think my IT person told me at
[58:40] Western, whether street cameras, flot
cameras, whatever you want to call them,
[58:44] home cameras,
someone will see you dumping illegally
[58:48] and the sheriff or the the the the code
enforcement officer or some law
[58:55] enforcement officer at some point will
track you down and charge you and you'll
[58:59] pay a fine and you probably won't do it
again because that fine is going to be a
[59:03] lot of money.
But I I'll end with this.
[59:09] It's not easy being up here having to
tell people we're going to have to pay
[59:12] more. It trust me, if I could stay at $5
a month, I would stay at $5 a month. But
[59:18] I rather have a landfill. And we have to
increase our cost because we can't
[59:23] survive at $5 a month anymore. I've been
told that by the county manager several
[59:28] times by by the the solid waste
authority, the commission, and I'm part
[59:33] of that commission.
People can say whatever they want. Like
[59:37] I said, I the good thing about me, I
I'll just not even click on that app,
[59:42] not even look at it,
and I'll sleep good at night regardless
[59:47] of what people say.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chair.
[59:51] » Thank you, Commissioner. Well said.
Anybody else?
[59:56] » Um, thank you, Commissioner Flores, for
your comments. I really appreciate uh
[1:00:01] your points. I just wanted to add uh
that you know the other day I mentioned
[1:00:06] that it's apparent that Grant County
residents have a lot of pride in living
[1:00:11] here and um and being part of the
community and I think that the way that
[1:00:16] we deal with our waste. Um it does it
should reflect that pride. I've learned
[1:00:23] a lot about working with the environment
department and the connections between
[1:00:27] waste disposal and water quality and air
quality and beauty um in our in our
[1:00:34] natural landscape which attracts tourism
and economic development. It's all tied
[1:00:39] together. So, I actually had one
constituent um suggest that we needed
[1:00:44] bumper stickers that would say like
trash hero because uh we're we're all
[1:00:49] sharing a commitment to be responsible
in the way that we dispose of our waste
[1:00:54] and also to focus on the positive. Um it
it's not like this money is going to
[1:01:02] nothing. I I am grateful that we have a
local landfill and I sent a couple
[1:01:09] pictures to our our county manager this
morning of the new cell construction.
[1:01:14] It's a major undertaking. Those cells
are like a million dollars a cell. Um
[1:01:19] and we are are finishing up on two of
them and then hope to build another one
[1:01:24] that will take us 10 years into the
future. Um it's impressive. It's not
[1:01:30] just dumping trash in the ground. you
know, there's a three layer liner that
[1:01:36] goes into that to to protect the water
quality. Um,
[1:01:41] also just, you know, not taking these
services for granted. I remember uh my
[1:01:46] family several years ago went to BISE
and we traveled kind of in off the
[1:01:51] beaten path and saw that people just
disposed of their trash in the forest,
[1:01:56] you know, just off the side of the road.
And it was shocking to me because coming
[1:02:00] back and seeing sidewalks and paved
roads and trash collection, it's these
[1:02:07] are services we shouldn't take for
granted. And you know, I am grateful
[1:02:13] personally every time I hear on Tuesday
morning the trash truck coming by, I I
[1:02:20] say a little prayer of gratitude that
that I have that service. Um, and then
[1:02:27] finally, uh, one, uh, public commenter
talked about sold waste, and I just want
[1:02:35] to, uh, clarify that it said sold waste
or refuse. I think what that refers to
[1:02:40] is the fact that the material coming in
to the landfill, um, most of it is refu
[1:02:47] that goes into those cells, but metal
and cardboard,
[1:02:52] um, steel and aluminum, those items are
sold, uh, for recycling. So, I think
[1:02:59] that's what that refers to. Uh, again,
thanks everybody for your attention to
[1:03:04] this.
>> Thank you.
[1:03:07] Guess we're done. Um, can I have a
motion to close a public hearing?
[1:03:12] » Motion.
>> Second.
[1:03:14] » A motion by Commissioner Medina, second
by Commissioner Stevens to close a
[1:03:18] public hearing. Madame Clerk, can I have
a roll call on this, please?
[1:03:23] » Chairman and Commissioners, are you
aware you are closing the public hearing
[1:03:26] for ordinance number 0-26-02?
[1:03:32] Chairman Pon,
>> yes.
[1:03:34] » Commissioner Medina,
>> yes.
[1:03:36] » Commissioner Stevens,
>> yes. Commissioner Shelley,
[1:03:38] » yes.
>> Commissioner Flores,
[1:03:40] » yes.
>> Thank you. Public hearing closed. Moving
[1:03:45] on to item D, consideration of Grant
County Ordinance number 0-26-02,
[1:03:51] solid waste collection, disposal, and
fee ordinance of the county of Grant,
[1:03:56] New Mexico. I'd like to make a motion to
table.
[1:04:00] » Second.
>> Um, hold on. I'd like to make a motion
[1:04:03] to table this until our attorneys have a
time to review this and we have a little
[1:04:08] bit more input from the changes that
will be made. Um, and I'd like to see
[1:04:14] this back on the September 24th agenda
so it can be taken care of and hopefully
[1:04:20] voted. Do I have a second?
>> Second.
[1:04:23] » I have a second by Commissioner Flores.
Do we have any discussion?
[1:04:29] Let me see something.
And I sort of hate to say this, but I
[1:04:34] guess as a chair, sometimes you have to
say things that that uh you have to say
[1:04:39] or or at least
throughout there, but as a chair of this
[1:04:43] board of commissioners, I do want to
tell our fellow commissioners,
[1:04:48] this delay is costing Grant County quite
a bit of money, taxpayer money.
[1:04:54] We have 13 days from here to the 24th.
If you guys need to sit in a cave with
[1:05:00] cell phone coverage to let the county
manager and our attorneys know what
[1:05:06] changes need to be made and the changes
that need to be made, please do it. This
[1:05:12] is costing a lot of money. Please do not
come up here on the 24th with more
[1:05:17] changes that haven't been discussed with
our attorney and our county manager. And
[1:05:22] I hate to be this way, but what prompts
me being this way, too, is we need to
[1:05:26] keep the public in mind.
just bringing them back and forth in
[1:05:31] public input and back and forth. We've
been discussing this for month after
[1:05:37] month and I think we should already be
at the stage of pulling the band-aid off
[1:05:42] the scab as far as what the fees are
going to be and and you know having
[1:05:47] heard from our public. So please
by you have 13 days to bring this up.
[1:05:55] Let's get this done, commissioners, and
please help our citizens get through
[1:06:00] this and we need to do what we need to
do. That's the only comment I have and
[1:06:06] if anybody has any other discussion,
please let me know.
[1:06:12] » Commissioner Stevens,
>> thank you, Chairman. Just a a quick
[1:06:15] question. Um, is it possible that when
this comes back up on the 24th that we
[1:06:20] could also have a rate resolution at the
same time or would that have to happen
[1:06:25] at a future meeting?
>> Mr. Chairman, commissioners, this
[1:06:30] ordinance calls for 14-day notice. Um,
so it would be
[1:06:36] the staff and I have already talked
about this. So we would have that
[1:06:38] discussion on it was planned to be on
the 24th to provide that notice and then
[1:06:43] you can adopt that resolution in
October.
[1:06:47] » Okay. Thank you.
>> Do we have any further discussion?
[1:06:53] » Okay. See no further discussion. All
those in favor I
[1:06:56] » I
>> I motion carries. Items been tabled.
[1:06:59] Moving on to presentations under item E.
I have no idea how to say that word cuz
[1:07:04] I can't even say aluminum, right? But
it's Can we What is it?
[1:07:09] » Opioid.
>> There you go. Uh remediation co
[1:07:14] cooperation and Miss Hartley.
[1:07:29] Do I use this to change the slide?
[1:07:34] Thank you. Um, Mr. Commissioner,
commissioners from Grant County, and
[1:07:39] county manager
Web. Um, my name is Shauna Hartley, and
[1:07:44] I'm here today to give you guys an
update on our project. Um,
[1:07:50] the last time I was here
[1:08:02] The last time I was here, we were
talking about actually onboarding uh
[1:08:06] Grant County and Luna County to our
collaborative. Um so we have a lot of
[1:08:11] good updates to give you today. So I'd
like to start off with um some local
[1:08:16] data to just update you on the epidemic.
um data for um public health issues is
[1:08:25] oftentimes solidified um after two
years. So the data that I'm presenting
[1:08:30] today is from the CDC and it's from
2024.
[1:08:36] So um in 2023
uh we actually had 948 people die of an
[1:08:43] overdose in New Mexico.
And in 2024, we actually had 775 people
[1:08:50] die of overdose in New Mexico. That is
173 people less. Um, and that is good
[1:08:57] news. However, um, in 2023
when it comes to the national ranking of
[1:09:03] the highest overdose rates in the
country, New Mexico was actually seventh
[1:09:08] and now we have actually moved to number
four.
[1:09:12] Um some of the other data that is um
true is that you know when the opiate
[1:09:19] epidemic hit there were a lot of
safeguards that were put into place with
[1:09:22] pharmacies and physicians who were
prescribing opiates and these new
[1:09:27] numbers reflect that that was
successful. However, when um we're
[1:09:32] looking at our New Mexico data, we're
actually finding that there's been an
[1:09:36] increase in people that are overdosing
because of fentanyl and
[1:09:39] methamphetamines.
And when I looked at the data for our
[1:09:43] specific counties, which is nine
counties in one village, we actually are
[1:09:47] having an increase in overdoses. So, um
there were 68 overdose deaths in 2024
[1:09:54] and there were 66 in 2023.
So, this data um is is interesting in a
[1:10:02] lot of different ways. And what it tells
us is that, you know, we are driving our
[1:10:06] numbers down. However, um people are
dying more often because they're using
[1:10:13] street drugs and they're using um
opiates that have fentanyl and or
[1:10:18] methamphetamines
um inserted in that. And oftentimes
[1:10:22] people don't know that they're using
that. When I looked at the data over the
[1:10:26] last two decades, I went all the way
back when I was preparing for this
[1:10:30] presentation. And what makes New
Mexico's story very different than other
[1:10:35] parts of the country that were really
impacted by this overdose um epidemic is
[1:10:41] that New Mexico actually has had um been
on the top 10 highest overdose rates in
[1:10:46] the country for the last two decades.
So, I can't emp emphasize enough that um
[1:10:53] we've been dealing with this disease for
decades and um it's really really
[1:11:00] important that we start to make some
really good decisions on how to help
[1:11:05] people with this disease. You know,
substance use is a disease. It's just
[1:11:10] like diabetes. It's something that can
be treated. Um and we really want to
[1:11:16] move forward because this is something
that's very very chronic in our state
[1:11:20] and has been very chronic in our state
for a long long time even before the
[1:11:25] epidemic.
The next slide that I'm presenting is
[1:11:30] basically giving you guys an update on
our project. Um Grant County has joined
[1:11:35] our project actually in December of
2025.
[1:11:39] Um I've been on this project since
inception and started it in 2023. I
[1:11:44] started it with uh basically a needs
assessment by looking at national data
[1:11:49] uh local data, New Mexico data, county
data and we as a collaboration at that
[1:11:55] point we were seven counties um really
put forth what our first strategic plan
[1:11:59] was going to be um in regards to
improving both prevention and treatment.
[1:12:04] So that first year was really an
assessment. Our second year was our
[1:12:08] first year of implementation which was
FY24, FY25 and that was really kind of
[1:12:14] getting um an understanding of what the
counties wanted and we really
[1:12:19] implemented more regional uh projects um
meaning that all of the counties
[1:12:25] benefited from the same project. So um
we weren't looking at individual county
[1:12:31] priorities as closely as we are now. In
2025 2026 that was our second year of
[1:12:37] implementation. We really started to
branch out and look at individual uh
[1:12:43] county projects and I'm going to talk
about that here in a little bit. But now
[1:12:48] today, we're able to provide a regional
um im improvements with prevention and
[1:12:54] treatment, but we're also able to have
each county actually identify what they
[1:12:59] would like to um work on individually.
Um we are entering our third year of
[1:13:05] implementation and I'm really looking
forward to actually having a lot more
[1:13:10] infrastructure and operational changes
and improvements in our communities.
[1:13:16] This next slide identifies um the county
priorities and the funded projects that
[1:13:20] we had in FY2526.
And when I looked at this as a whole,
[1:13:26] what we were really focusing on in all
of our counties um were focusing on is
[1:13:31] really addressing what's called emergent
needs for individuals. Um, I think a lot
[1:13:36] of times people think that people that
have substance use issues are
[1:13:40] individuals who are always in crisis
and, you know, they're getting arrested
[1:13:44] and they're going into hospitals and
actually that is um less of our
[1:13:50] population. Um, individuals that use
substances could be doing that for years
[1:13:55] and years and years and then, you know,
really never actually engage in any
[1:13:59] treatment. and that emergent issue comes
around when their disease has really um
[1:14:05] just taken its toll. So when you look at
a really strong system for um change,
[1:14:11] you really want to have a really strong
system with emergent services, which is
[1:14:15] what we addressed over this last year.
And you also want to have services like
[1:14:20] outpatient services where people can go
into clinics and actually get services
[1:14:25] when they're not in crisis. Um when we
looked at our county investments this
[1:14:30] year, we invested as a collaboration um
in detention centers, emergency
[1:14:35] responders, and law enforcement. Um you
do consider youth to be in that emergent
[1:14:40] category because um we know that when
kids use drugs or alcohol and they do
[1:14:46] that for years and years and years, then
their addiction can actually um be
[1:14:51] something that they live with for the
rest of their life. We did uh quite a
[1:14:55] bit of Narcan distribution and also
medication safety which we actually did
[1:14:58] in Grant County. Um we in
actually just a couple of months ago um
[1:15:06] and I got a really I had a lot of really
good feedback from your constituents who
[1:15:10] live in this community. Um we did a big
deter mail out and deter you know
[1:15:17] talking about um safe disposal of things
in your water system. Um, oftentimes
[1:15:23] people don't know that if they have
medications they're not going to use
[1:15:27] anymore, they don't want to flush them
down the toilet because it actually can
[1:15:30] impact your water system. And Dera is a
product that um is good for the
[1:15:35] environment. You can actually you add
water to it. You can put up to 30 pills
[1:15:41] into that packet and it dissolves all
the solivants that are necessary and you
[1:15:46] can then throw it in the trash. So, um,
we did this in our other counties a
[1:15:51] couple of years ago, and so we did a big
mail out with, um, Dara to all of your
[1:15:56] constituents. We did over 13,000, um,
households. Um, everybody received a
[1:16:02] deter package and in that was also an
orientation for the OC in addition to,
[1:16:09] um, how to use that medication. Um, we,
you know, know this from the data. We
[1:16:14] know that New Mexico um is a population
of individuals that are older and
[1:16:20] oftentimes people um who are older have
surgeries and they're prescribed opiates
[1:16:25] or medications that they only want to
use for a short period of time. And so
[1:16:29] Dera is a really easy way for people to
not have to take something back to a
[1:16:33] drug takeback day or drive to go do it.
So on and so forth. So um that was a
[1:16:39] successful project that we implemented a
couple of months ago. Um, I did want to
[1:16:43] make a note and I was speaking to Daniel
about this before our presentation that
[1:16:48] um, in other counties what we've been
doing is actually um, making Dera
[1:16:52] available at all of our senior centers.
And that's something that's been really
[1:16:56] really successful um, for our seniors
um, because it's easy to access. They
[1:17:02] can pick up that um, anytime they go,
which is very frequent um, and it's been
[1:17:07] very easy for them to um, use that
product. The next slide I want to talk
[1:17:13] about which is um the last time I was
here I think I was just talking about um
[1:17:17] our dropping of our application. Um we
did that successfully. I assisted uh
[1:17:22] region 6 with dropping two early
applications for the early funding
[1:17:27] through Bria and um SB3. And we had
talked about um these two applications
[1:17:34] being a mobile crisis unit um which will
actually be deployed out of two CASA. A
[1:17:40] mobile crisis unit is um basically a
compilation of different providers. It
[1:17:44] oftentimes um identifies a physician or
a mid-level provider, a nurse, a
[1:17:49] behavioral health person, um a peer
specialist. And what a mobile crisis
[1:17:54] unit can do is instead of someone having
to go to a facility to get services,
[1:17:59] that crisis unit actually goes to that
person. Um this mobile crisis unit is
[1:18:04] for the entire region six. We actually
successfully uh received those dollars,
[1:18:10] $971,000
to support the operations of this mobile
[1:18:14] crisis unit. Um we actually have just
finished up the RFP. It's actually been
[1:18:19] posted and we're getting ready to
actually pull that um here in the next
[1:18:23] couple of weeks. We've assembled uh
assembled a committee that's going to be
[1:18:28] uh reviewing those RFPs and so we're h
we're hoping to have that service stood
[1:18:32] up here pretty soon. We also uh put in
for uh dollars to support the accredited
[1:18:38] adult residential treatment center in
Hidalgo County, which has been something
[1:18:42] that's been um talked about and been
worked on for many, many years. Um, this
[1:18:47] is a um old long-term care facility
converted into a social rehab program
[1:18:54] for adults, for males and females. Um,
individuals that might have a
[1:18:58] co-occurring behavioral health issue.
Um, and a substance use issue and are in
[1:19:02] need of medication assisted treatment.
Um, individual and family uh, services
[1:19:08] perhaps. And basically, um, an
opportunity to uh, step away from their
[1:19:12] environment to to stop using drugs or
alcohol. We received a million dollars
[1:19:18] to support that same um process. We have
written the RFP. Um it is posted at this
[1:19:24] time and we're getting ready to look at
operators for that. So going back to
[1:19:28] that conversation about eent services.
We've been working really really hard in
[1:19:33] this region to cover that really kind of
complicated person who doesn't
[1:19:38] necessarily use services in that
traditional pathway. They don't make an
[1:19:42] appointment at a behavioral health
clinic. they're not necessarily engaged
[1:19:46] in services 247 with somebody. Um and so
we really have done a good job in this
[1:19:52] particular region with standing up um
eent services for individuals.
[1:19:58] So we're really proud of that. Um the
next slide I want to talk about is
[1:20:02] something um I've been talking about for
a long time. Um I got introduced to
[1:20:07] drop-in centers um actually back in the
late 90s. Uh drop-in centers are what
[1:20:12] you call a low barrier uh treatment
option. They were originally um
[1:20:17] identified and stood up for individuals
that had a diagnosis of what you call
[1:20:22] SMI um oftent times um someone who might
have been diagnosed with schizophrenia
[1:20:28] um back back in the day. And the reason
for them was that um these are designed
[1:20:33] to be services that people can just drop
into. You don't have to make an
[1:20:38] appointment. They operate about um four
to sometimes seven uh days a week. Um
[1:20:45] the goal would be seven. Um some days
are designated for adults, some days are
[1:20:50] designated for you. So you can actually
break up those two populations. A
[1:20:54] drop-in center is not operated by a
behavioral health provider. That's what
[1:20:58] makes it really different. Um it is
operated by all kinds of different
[1:21:03] individuals. I've seen it done with uh
behavioral health providers or business
[1:21:07] individuals or um providers that are
really invested in people who are
[1:21:11] unhoused. Um in that drop-in center
model, it's optimal to have people who
[1:21:17] are uh skilled, who have lived
experience. So, individuals who can
[1:21:21] really speak to someone who might need
resources, might need to get set up on
[1:21:25] Medicaid, might need to access
transportation, um you know, housing, so
[1:21:30] on and so forth.
um those individuals um assist with that
[1:21:34] resource identification, but they can
also uh transport them to where they
[1:21:39] need to go um and really connect them to
that service. Um drop-in centers also
[1:21:45] have access to teleaalth. So if people
don't have connectivity where there are
[1:21:49] or they're unhoused, they can actually
go to that drop-in center and and
[1:21:52] access, you know, seeing their clinical
person, um having a doctor's
[1:21:57] appointment, so on and so forth. Drop-in
centers can also have showers. Um, some
[1:22:03] uh serve lunches, some have snacks, some
have uh clothing banks attached to that,
[1:22:08] so you're providing hard resources. Um,
and people can actually get their mail
[1:22:13] there. Um,
really high functioning drop-in centers
[1:22:18] actually have programming. So, um, a
couple of days a week, Department of
[1:22:22] Health might be coming to that program
and introducing people to, um, new
[1:22:27] education around STDs or vaccinations.
Um, I've worked with, uh, really
[1:22:33] sophisticated drop-in centers where law
enforcement actually comes and has
[1:22:37] coffee with people and it's something
that, you know, basically, um, it's an
[1:22:42] easy place to get services and also kind
of get back on your feet. Okay. Now, the
[1:22:49] problem with drop in centers is they're
not reimbursed through Medicaid or
[1:22:53] through insurance. However, um the rule
transformation dollars were just rolled
[1:22:58] out here in New Mexico. These are
federal dollars. Um I had commit I had
[1:23:03] completed the application for all nine
of our counties in our village and I
[1:23:07] asked for $3.7 million to support dropin
centers in all of our communities. Um,
[1:23:14] this application was dropped a couple of
months ago and um, I should be finding
[1:23:20] out here pretty soon if we got it and if
we did get the rule transformation
[1:23:24] dollars, that grant is going to cover
uh, basically having one contractor
[1:23:29] manage all nine counties in our village
for the drop-in center. So, there's a
[1:23:34] salary um, earmarked for that. Um, it's
going to cover the salaries of the
[1:23:38] individuals who are going to work at the
drop-in centers. And that can range
[1:23:42] from, you know, program coordinators,
people with lived experience, people
[1:23:46] that are, um, really good at navigation,
um, helping people get from point A to
[1:23:51] point B. Um, it also includes facility
improvements. So, we could actually
[1:23:56] identify a building that, um, you know,
requires a little bit of change. And
[1:24:02] that could be that we might want to um
stand up a shower in that area or we
[1:24:08] might want to create a room that has
really good connectivity and really good
[1:24:12] confidentiality so people can access
their services in private. There is an
[1:24:17] aotment for equipment. So it could be
laptops, it could be uh vehicles, those
[1:24:23] types of things. And then basically um
we need to have a fiscal agent oversee
[1:24:28] that which is going to be Valencia
Counseling or Valencia County which is
[1:24:32] also the fiscal agent of our project. So
um I hope the next time that I come out
[1:24:38] that we'll be able to um identify that
we got these dollars and that we're
[1:24:43] working on a drop in center for your
community.
[1:24:46] The next slide I wanted to talk about is
um you know we talk about e services and
[1:24:53] we know that we have uh our 988 uh call
center that everybody in New Mexico can
[1:24:59] um call when they're having really not
necessarily a crisis, but they also
[1:25:04] might need resources or they're reaching
out. Um and you know, we've talked a
[1:25:09] little bit about um the activity of
these calls in all of our different
[1:25:14] counties. Um, one of the things that we
do have that is um, just completed, and
[1:25:19] I think I talked about this the last
time I was here, is that we actually
[1:25:22] have created a digital app. Um, and it's
called digital therapeutics. And it's an
[1:25:28] app that you can access on your phone
that has identified resources
[1:25:32] specifically for Grant County. Um, it
has screeners if people are concerned
[1:25:37] about their using um, and they just want
to know, you know, if I'm using or
[1:25:41] drinking or doing these things this
much, where do I fall in the need
[1:25:45] category? Um, it also has, uh, libraries
where people can get information. It
[1:25:51] also has a peer specialist that is on
call for this app 247.
[1:25:56] So, in our rural communities, we can no
longer say that we don't have services
[1:26:01] that operate 247. they do. Um it simply
is through this digital app. We have
[1:26:07] this for adults, we have this for teens,
and we also have this for people that
[1:26:11] take care of people. So um one of the
things that I'm just kind of putting out
[1:26:16] there is when we look at uh Grant
County's call data, we certainly have um
[1:26:21] a need for it. Um when I look at your
data for the last year, you guys had 768
[1:26:28] calls to 988. Um, and if you can look at
that number, it really is going up.
[1:26:34] You've had a 250%
increase in your call volume over the
[1:26:38] last year. Now, I never think of people
calling and asking for help is a
[1:26:43] negative thing. And that doesn't say
anything about um perhaps the the the
[1:26:49] conditions of a county. I really always
want to say that because sometimes
[1:26:53] people look at those numbers and say,
well, there must be something where
[1:26:56] people are not able to access services.
That could be true. But the other piece
[1:27:02] of that is that we have been promoting
that 988 does have a relationship with
[1:27:07] our project and there's navigation
services where people call people back
[1:27:12] and make sure that they get what they
need. Okay. So, it's never a bad thing
[1:27:16] when people are um asking for that help.
As you can see, uh, Grant County has,
[1:27:22] uh, less than four people that are
signed up for that, and we have some
[1:27:26] really good ideas this year on how to
get people on boarded.
[1:27:30] So, um, like I said, we have these three
apps. One of them is for a person who
[1:27:35] might be concerned about their use. The
second person is a teen, 13 to 17, and
[1:27:42] the third one is the companion, the
person that's taking care of someone who
[1:27:46] might have an addiction issue. Um, I've
teamed up with the vendor who actually
[1:27:50] created the app. We have purchased all
the emails um, for all of the providers
[1:27:56] in Grant County and all of our other
communities. And what's different about
[1:28:00] rural counties is that there's a lot
more people that work for themselves
[1:28:04] because there's a lot less big
businesses where you have a lot of
[1:28:08] providers, let's say, working for
Presbyterian or for Loveless or, you
[1:28:12] know, big organizations like Sage
Neuroscience in Albuquerque. Um, so
[1:28:17] we're going to start reaching out to
people directly. We want to make sure
[1:28:20] that they are informed of the app and
what it can do. More importantly, if
[1:28:25] they want to set up um an opportunity to
actually do a demo um with the provider
[1:28:31] or with their clients. So, we're
actually doing that pretty successfully
[1:28:35] in our detention centers now. When
people are leaving the detention center,
[1:28:39] um we're doing it with groups that um
are leaving and doing that directly with
[1:28:43] the person who is leaving. So, we're not
necessarily doing it with the provider.
[1:28:48] We're doing it directly with the person
that might want to need that. And we've
[1:28:51] had a lot of success in getting people
onboarded in that way. Um, the vendor is
[1:28:56] going to be reaching out two times.
We're going to be doing the third one.
[1:29:00] And we hope to increase um that
activity. I actually have a couple of
[1:29:04] the um rat cards that I'll share with
you when I'm done so that you can see um
[1:29:10] the QR code and how easy it is to get up
on board. Um, another way that we're
[1:29:15] going to be promoting this app, and I'm
really um I'm really happy to say that
[1:29:20] Silver High School um has just recently
uh been onboarded for the OC to actually
[1:29:27] pay for the sporting event entry fees
with a caveat that we're able to do some
[1:29:32] prevention outreach. So, um we just
finalized theou with them. Um the OC is
[1:29:38] uh providing $86,000
and some change to this particular high
[1:29:43] school. Um we have five uh prevention
outreach documents that we're going to
[1:29:49] start giving out at that high school.
And the reason why we're doing it this
[1:29:52] way is that we know that families are
busy and we know it's hard for people to
[1:29:56] come to another prevention activity. And
so um sporting events in all counties is
[1:30:02] where the majority of families are going
to. Um, and so we're really excited to
[1:30:07] pair that with helping the school in
addition to, um, being able to do our
[1:30:12] prevention work. Um, and we're also
working with all of the other schools in
[1:30:17] your county. So, um, that was a big win.
Um, ideally how this is going to work,
[1:30:23] this slide actually identifies, um, four
of the different rack cards that we
[1:30:27] have. Uh we have a youth advisory
council that's been working really hard
[1:30:31] on looking at the data and coming up
with what's the latest information on
[1:30:36] vaping and using marijuana. That tends
to be something that kids are doing a
[1:30:40] little bit more of. Um our other
prevention outreach documents are going
[1:30:44] to be our apps so that families are
aware of this digital therapeutic
[1:30:49] opportunity that they might not be. Um
this can be done in some different ways.
[1:30:54] I'm working with some different um
schools to basically it's simple. Um
[1:30:59] people pass through and get their ticket
and they're given a prevention card. It
[1:31:03] could be that simple. Um tomorrow I'm
going to Bin High School in Valencia
[1:31:08] County and you know they're really going
to be doing it up. They're going to have
[1:31:12] a table and um there's uh quite a bit of
youth that are really interested in
[1:31:17] helping us. Um they've gotten a cotton
candy machine. they're they're really um
[1:31:23] doing a a big deal around that. So, it
can be as small or as big as we want to.
[1:31:28] Um, but I think that this is a really
creative way to help a county um get
[1:31:35] into the schools, which is not
oftentimes easy to do um support student
[1:31:39] and families um with that, you know,
with that fee that it might seem like a
[1:31:44] little bit, but you know, we've talked
today, I've been listening to all of you
[1:31:47] talk about this um you know, costs are
going up and I think anything um can
[1:31:53] help with that. and it also provides an
opportunity to get this message out to
[1:31:57] the community, which oftentimes is
probably the hardest thing to do.
[1:32:02] So, the last slide I have is just kind
of a summary. Um, I've gone through um
[1:32:07] most of the things that we've
accomplished um this year and we're
[1:32:11] really um excited to represent our first
region. Um our collaboration, you know,
[1:32:18] we represent a lot of different
counties, but this is region six is our
[1:32:22] first region. Um this year we were able
to welcome Grant County and Luna County
[1:32:27] and the village of Los Lunis to the OC.
Um we had I talked about the the digital
[1:32:34] therapeutic apps. Um another thing that
we have done this year is we just got uh
[1:32:39] accredited by the New Mexico Medical
Society. Um and the reason we did that
[1:32:45] is we have um two physicians that have
done educational videos and they
[1:32:51] actually are posted on our website. Now
um they had not had their continuing
[1:32:57] medical units attached to that. So when
physicians do the training now they're
[1:33:03] not able to actually get units for their
license. Um we just got accredited. um
[1:33:09] just stood up uh what you call a
learning management system and now we're
[1:33:14] in the process of converting all of
those educational videos into our
[1:33:18] learning management system which then
will be continuing medical units for
[1:33:23] physicians and medical providers. So if
you have any medical providers in your
[1:33:27] community that are interested in
learning how to work with people for
[1:33:30] addiction, we definitely have resources
and that's part of our consultation
[1:33:34] services. Um we're going to continue to
u monitor grants. We um because we are
[1:33:41] giving out individual dollars to our
counties, we've created a deliverable
[1:33:46] process with that. So um one example for
your deter pouches is I created
[1:33:52] questions with a QR code and I've
actually gotten some feedback on that.
[1:33:57] So I want to just I don't want to just
stand things up and not monitor it. I
[1:34:01] want to have feedback on how it works.
So, um that's going to be something that
[1:34:05] we do um all the time. And, um you know,
we did get the early Bria funding to
[1:34:13] support a mobile crisis unit. Um and I
have been working with all of our
[1:34:17] counties on how do we start to intervene
with that emergent customer, right? How
[1:34:23] do we start to um help law enforcement
and help hospitals and you know help
[1:34:29] someone who's not traditionally going
through um that path of of services
[1:34:34] because it can really affect all kinds
of systems um and we know that and then
[1:34:39] we've also expanded Narcan um and Dera
in our communities.
[1:34:45] So, um, that's an update on our project
and I wanted to know if you all had any
[1:34:50] questions.
>> Commissioner Stevens,
[1:34:55] » thank you so much for the presentation.
It's really excellent and I'm uh happy
[1:35:00] to see that you focus both on prevention
and treatment. Um, and I am also really
[1:35:07] happy uh to hear about the status update
with the mobile crisis unit. It sounds
[1:35:13] like um that money that 971,000
um has already been applied for and
[1:35:22] awarded and so now the RFP has been
posted. A committee is reviewing that
[1:35:28] and then they that mobile crisis unit
would operate out of the Tucasa building
[1:35:35] um as its base. Right.
>> Correct.
[1:35:37] » Um so that sounds great. And then if the
rural transformation money is approved,
[1:35:46] then it's possible that Grant County
could have a drop in center and it would
[1:35:51] be a similar RFP process, right? To uh
to staff that you had broken down how it
[1:35:59] would be staffed. Would that also
operate out of Tucasa or is that to be
[1:36:05] determined?
>> To be determined.
[1:36:07] » Okay. and and I think each county um
would determine that RFP process as
[1:36:14] well. So I'll give you an example. In
Sakoro County, we have a very very
[1:36:19] established drop in center. Um it's
probably one of the most sophisticated
[1:36:23] dropin centers I've I've seen. Um we
have supported them through grants that
[1:36:29] I've written through United Healthcare
to increase their days of operation.
[1:36:34] Right. And if we get these rule
transformation dollars, what we're going
[1:36:38] to be doing there is actually doing an
additional drop-in center that's going
[1:36:43] to be a reintegration process for their
detention center. So there's going to be
[1:36:48] different variations of dropin centers.
That's the only um county that has that
[1:36:54] really wellestablished dropin center um
and they have a space for that, right?
[1:36:59] So those dollars could be used in a
different way, but that operator might
[1:37:03] already be identified because they have
a history of doing it um for many years,
[1:37:07] right? So I think that um that's a
really good question. Um we will have
[1:37:13] the dollars hopefully to support the
project and then probably each county
[1:37:18] will determine the space that it'll be.
Um, I would recommend that we look at
[1:37:24] spaces that welcome people that um are
having some challenges because drop in
[1:37:31] centers are places where people don't
get turned away. You know, it's not a
[1:37:35] place where you say no, you can't be
here right now, right? And if that's the
[1:37:40] case, if it's escalated to that point,
then you're intervening with services
[1:37:44] that are going to properly assist that
person. um in drop-in centers um in some
[1:37:51] counties, you know, you have people that
come in and they're impaired and that's
[1:37:56] something that the drop in center is
prepared to work with, not say you can't
[1:38:02] get services. So, any place that you
pick for a drop-in center really should
[1:38:07] be easy to access um so people can get
to it. It should be a place where um
[1:38:15] that system is equipped to handle
something that is not um typical. And um
[1:38:24] it should be a building that you'd want
to look at really having those big
[1:38:31] different elements of it, right? Um you
you want to have showers, you want to
[1:38:36] have places where people can get mail.
You want to have that kind of extended
[1:38:41] option to grow out. Um because usually
drop in centers have like a one-year,
[1:38:47] two-year, three-year plan and it starts
with a navigator and resources and then
[1:38:51] they start building on you know we're
now have showers and we now have
[1:38:54] different rooms for teleaalth and we now
have you know those types of things. And
[1:38:59] you really don't want to ever bleed the
two into a behavioral health system
[1:39:04] because they're very different and
they're built differently um and their
[1:39:08] purpose is different.
>> Thank you so much. And then final uh
[1:39:13] question. I think uh we've talked about
before that the intent with the mobile
[1:39:18] crisis unit is that 971,000
would be to start it up and get it
[1:39:23] going, but then uh we hope that um
insurance and Medicaid reimbursements
[1:39:31] would help that be a self- sustaining
program, right?
[1:39:34] » Yes. Um, and I would say that
your Bria funding, which is going to be
[1:39:43] activated for the next three years, will
continue to perhaps support that year's
[1:39:48] two, right? Because those dollars, that
$971,
[1:39:53] you know, if if it's added to but it is
going to be added to CASA, which is
[1:39:57] great because you're not having to work
on a building and all the things that
[1:40:01] are attached to that, right? So, you get
to use those dollars really for um the
[1:40:07] salaries of the individuals who are
going to work that. Um
[1:40:13] over time, you know, I think every year
there's deliverables that are going to
[1:40:16] be attached to those dollars that the
operator of this program is going to
[1:40:20] have to be tracking. Okay? And I think
probably six months into it being live,
[1:40:27] we'll have a really good understanding
of how many people are we servicing. You
[1:40:31] know, what are the costs around that?
Um, and we can proactively prepare. Do
[1:40:36] we need to lean into the Bria dollars to
support that second year, right? Can we
[1:40:41] look at the opiate settlement dollars to
support those salaries because we want
[1:40:45] that to be something that's sustainable
and we want it to be successful.
[1:40:49] » Thank you.
Miss Mononttoya,
[1:40:55] well, we have something happening at
Tucasa by December 31st.
[1:41:00] » Good morning, Mr. Chairman. We are
actually in the final stages and possib
[1:41:05] possible. I'm not saying 100%. Our RFP
could be released by next week possibly.
[1:41:10] It's already written. It's in final
review.
[1:41:15] » You're aiming for November.
So, we're we like using 99%. I thought I
[1:41:21] heard that.
>> It's so close.
[1:41:25] » Okay. Bye. All right. I I'd really like
to see that before I come off of here.
[1:41:32] » The award date to be early November
right now.
[1:41:37] » Thank you. Commissioners, any questions?
>> Just one more question.
[1:41:43] The accredited adult residential
treatment center is that
[1:41:50] for all of region six
>> certainly is.
[1:41:54] » Is there is there a So that may not be
in Silver City. It might be somewhere
[1:42:00] more central.
>> It's going to be in Lordsburg.
[1:42:03] » Okay.
>> So they have an established building
[1:42:05] that used to be a long-term care
facility. So it's built for that. Um we
[1:42:09] have
probably about eight months ago we got
[1:42:14] our life safety survey plans which is
necessary to submit to the state in
[1:42:18] order to have that service completed and
so that building is is getting ready for
[1:42:25] that service to actually happen there.
>> Okay. Thank you.
[1:42:31] And that service will be open to not
just region six, but um Katherine County
[1:42:37] would be another county. TRC might use
that as well because of the the
[1:42:42] geographic and the and the region. So,
um it'll be to really anybody who's in
[1:42:48] need of that service. That's the
inclusionary criteria for it. Um it
[1:42:52] won't be broken down by the place where
you live.
[1:42:58] Okay.
[1:43:01] Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[1:43:10] » Just moving on to our um elected
official reports. Wait, no. Yeah, we
[1:43:16] are. Elected official reports. Madame
clerk, do you have a report?
[1:43:25] » Good morning, chairman and
commissioners.
[1:43:28] Um, in my off office, um, as you know,
we are currently working on our upcoming
[1:43:34] general election.
Um, our general election does begin
[1:43:39] early voting October 6th.
Um, at the Bear Community Center does
[1:43:44] open October 17th.
Um, you can go online and view the
[1:43:51] amendments and bonds that are provided
by the state.
[1:43:56] Absentee ballots is a big question
currently
[1:44:00] for our office. Absentee ballots are not
going to f are not going to change for
[1:44:05] this election. Absentee ballots will be
mailed out October 6. The process has
[1:44:11] not changed.
Um they will be mailed out from our
[1:44:15] facility. They'll be mailed through the
regular post office. You're welcome to
[1:44:20] bring them by the office. You're welcome
to drop them off here at the building.
[1:44:25] You're welcome to drop them off in our
parking lot u ballot box. Um you're
[1:44:30] welcome to place them in the mail. Um
there's no guarantee they'll come
[1:44:37] quicker, faster by the post office. If
you have any questions regarding your
[1:44:42] absentee ballots, please contact our
office.
[1:44:46] Um
requests for absentee ballots are can be
[1:44:51] done through the New Mexico or
nmvote.org og.
[1:44:56] Um remember when they do get mailed out
out of the facility on October 6th, give
[1:45:02] them at least 7 to 10 days
um to arrive at your homes. Um if you
[1:45:08] have any other further questions for our
office, please feel free to contact our
[1:45:12] office.
Um, and as I mentioned, once we receive
[1:45:17] our amendments and bond, the booklets
that are provided through the state,
[1:45:20] you're welcome to stop by our office and
pick up copies of those. Um, and if you
[1:45:25] have any other questions, I'm here.
>> Thank you.
[1:45:30] » Do we have any questions, Commissioner?
>> Thank you, Madam Clerk. Madame assessor,
[1:45:38] » chairman, commissioners, I do not have a
report at this.
[1:45:44] Y you'll when we get there you'll talk
when we get to the rates then I will
[1:45:48] Yes.
>> All right. Sounds good. Uh treasure Mr.
[1:45:53] Khan.
>> Good morning Mr. Chairman Fua
[1:45:56] Commissioners County Manager Web. Um
attached is the report title tax
[1:46:01] maintenance report for the total amount
of taxes collected for the month of
[1:46:04] August was $81,8967.
[1:46:10] So far for the 2025 tax rule,
16,519,1549
[1:46:17] have been collected, which left the
county at a collection percentage of
[1:46:20] 91.97%
for the 2025 tax rule. For the total
[1:46:26] 2025 tax rule, 1,442,793
[1:46:33] remains uncollected. The total
percentage collected for the total 10ear
[1:46:37] collection as of August 31st, 2026 is
95.76%
[1:46:43] of which a total
of 127,326,85120
[1:46:52] of taxes have been collected. That
leaves a total uncollected balance of
[1:46:56] taxes of 5,631,91.14.
[1:47:04] status of the treasur's office. Um, the
property tax division held its annual
[1:47:09] auction on August the 26th here in the
commission meeting room. I'm happy to
[1:47:14] report that out of 22 properties on the
auction list, only 10 cases were
[1:47:19] auctioned. The county will be receiving
funds from the auction in the amount of
[1:47:25] $14,962.
[1:47:30] Um, Mr. Mr. Chair, I just want to make
it clear and commissioners that
[1:47:36] I'm going to reference Commissioner
Flores's reference of keyboard warriors.
[1:47:40] I do not take these properties for
myself, nor do I give them to you or
[1:47:46] Silver Schools or Cobrey Schools. Um I
I'm not even allowed to make a bid, nor
[1:47:53] other elected officials. Um if that
would have been the case, I would have
[1:47:57] saved my aunt's home that was on the
auction list. But like many
[1:48:02] that were on that list, either of our
residents that are deceased and family
[1:48:06] members either forget about it or they
don't change their address. So, it's
[1:48:11] impossible for us to even track to see
who that property belongs to when
[1:48:15] unfortunately it's auctioned. Um, I do
work my best with county residents
[1:48:22] on getting payments, preferably under
the three-year mark to help them so I
[1:48:26] don't get sent to property tax division.
But in those cases when I do have to
[1:48:32] submit that to property tax division um
when they're three or more years older,
[1:48:38] you know, I still work with residents.
Um, I'm here to help. I'm here to listen
[1:48:44] and any which way I can for our county
residents. I don't want them to lose
[1:48:48] their home, nor I want to take it. I
don't even take that. So, you know, I
[1:48:52] encourage all county residents, if
you're
[1:48:55] in a tough situation, please come and
talk to me. Please give me a call, email
[1:49:01] me. I'm here for you. Um,
at our last treasures affiliate
[1:49:07] conference in Farmington, you know, as
treasures,
[1:49:10] we were talking to see what outsources
that
[1:49:15] of of of communities that could help for
the less needy and we're trying to
[1:49:21] figure that out. Um, but again, I just
for record, I do not take these
[1:49:27] properties for myself. Um,
I do want to thank assessor Miss
[1:49:33] Trujillo and Chief Deputy Raul Tureta
for allowing me to assist them with the
[1:49:39] tax rates provided to DFA. This was
truly a teamwork effort.
[1:49:45] Um,
this got me thinking, you know, if a new
[1:49:50] if we were a new assessor treasur team,
this would have never been caught
[1:49:55] because there were errors in the rates
because of DFA's new rule. Um, and it
[1:50:02] would not have been fair to our
taxpayers. So, I'm I'm glad that we have
[1:50:07] a lots of experience on this and we're
able to
[1:50:12] um feel comfortable with these rates
that you will approve later on here at
[1:50:16] this meeting. Um I'm currently in the
process with preparing for bringing in
[1:50:21] the 2026 tax role and making sure that
Grant County is ready to receive their
[1:50:26] property taxes.
Um, I do want to thank my staff for
[1:50:30] their continuous hard work and I also
want to thank, you know, our IT team
[1:50:34] here at the county. They do a phenomenal
job. Um, we recently had some issues or
[1:50:39] having issues with our our goss pay
system. Um, Adam and his team are are on
[1:50:46] it and and help us. So, there's not a
strain when we're collecting or taking
[1:50:51] any type of revenue that sustains that.
So, thank you, Director Baka, for that.
[1:50:56] Um, and I stand for any questions.
[1:51:03] » Thank you. Don't worry about the the
keyboard, guys.
[1:51:09] Just move on. Do your best and that's
all that matters. Sheriff, go ahead.
[1:51:13] » Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Commissioners,
I really don't have a report today. I
[1:51:16] just want to let the public know that
we've been busy kind pretty busy at the
[1:51:21] sheriff's office dealing with a lot of
things going on in our our community
[1:51:24] that I continue to report weekly on our
Facebook page and and send to the
[1:51:29] newspapers to put out. But uh I just
want to thank my staff for everything
[1:51:34] that they continue to do for this
community. They work tire tirelessly and
[1:51:39] and hard for our community to keep keep
it safe and ensure that they're getting
[1:51:43] good service out there. Um, so I just
want to thank them for what they do day
[1:51:47] in and day out. Other than that, I don't
have anything else unless you have any
[1:51:51] questions,
>> commissioners.
[1:51:58] » Thank you. Uh, sure.
Moving on to the consent agenda.
[1:52:03] » Move to approve.
>> So, I have a motion by Commissioner
[1:52:07] Stevens to approve. I have a second by
Commissioner Medina. Do we have any
[1:52:12] discussion?
You know what? Um, out of our finance, I
[1:52:17] was looking at at um
[1:52:23] our expenditure report. Could you do me
a favor? Doesn't have to be exact, but
[1:52:28] give me the uh what were our expenses
for uh last month? I' I've seen the
[1:52:35] expenses this month in our of our
detention center. And if I could have
[1:52:40] that by the 24th because
I mean we we pay a lot so I just want to
[1:52:45] look at them but I appreciate you for
doing that. Any further discussion?
[1:52:50] » Are you expenditures for salary benefits
and all operating expenses or just
[1:52:56] operating?
>> You know I'll give you an example right
[1:52:58] here. It's just simple for you guys and
I could probably do it. I'm just not the
[1:53:02] computer guy to go back to find all
these but
[1:53:04] » or the housing of prisoners,
>> you know. Uh where was I looking? um
[1:53:11] housing of juvenile prisoners.
you know, $30,000 we paid uh for this
[1:53:19] month here for the 83 to9 to you know
July inmate meals 31,504
[1:53:29] and maybe we don't need it because my
comment to this is I understand what
[1:53:33] everybody's struggling with as far as
you know landfield rates and and how
[1:53:38] much it cost them but if you really look
at the total picture of what we have to
[1:53:43] A and some of this
municipalities don't help us with with
[1:53:48] with our detention center.
Municipalities found a loophole where
[1:53:53] they charge state charges. So basically
we cannot get any help from our
[1:54:00] municipalities to offset some of these
costs. If they say they charge their
[1:54:05] their whoever they charge is they do it
under state statute. Um, so they get
[1:54:11] away from helping us run the detention
center. So if you look at what we spend
[1:54:16] here, the county spends a lot of money
on on detention and I think our budget
[1:54:21] is probably what, like 4.4 million
somewhere in there just on our detention
[1:54:25] center. I just want people to understand
that yes, you know, we we're having
[1:54:29] problems with with our sanitation. we
have to bring, you know,
[1:54:35] increase our rates, but there's a lot of
things that you see on here. It cost a
[1:54:41] lot of money and and we can't help cover
everything. We need help. And uh so that
[1:54:48] was it. But I I think just with these
two examples uh you know Bernalo
[1:54:53] detention center housing of of juveniles
30 60 out of Donana you know we look at
[1:55:00] the food we look at everything that we
do we look at the maintenance there's
[1:55:03] another one Bernalo County juvenile
detention 11,000
[1:55:08] um you know there's a lot that that goes
in here but not only that maintenance of
[1:55:13] the jail our our doors our cameras our
our IT system all that. So, it's not
[1:55:19] like we're just coming up here and
saying, "Hey, we're going to increase
[1:55:23] your your your uh landfill rates for
just to do it." There's a lot that this
[1:55:28] county uh pays on and and just wanted
that as an example also. But anyway,
[1:55:37] anything else, commissioners? You don't
need to do it. Thanks. I think I I I
[1:55:40] proved my point here. Um anything else,
commissioners?
[1:55:45] » All those in favor? I
>> I motion carries. Moving on to a new
[1:55:49] business, RFP26-02,
[1:55:54] Conference Center Property Management
Service. I'd like to make a motion to uh
[1:56:00] not accept the contract offer that was
given by uh Chamber of Commerce. And I'd
[1:56:08] like to in that motion look that our
that be brought into the county
[1:56:15] uh through through our our uh county uh
that Grant County start taking it over
[1:56:21] and looking at at running the the
center. And also just on a side note
[1:56:25] here on this is that we look at every
legal possible way to bring in some of
[1:56:29] their employees into our county to help
us do this and transition.
[1:56:35] » Do I have a second? Second.
>> So I have a second by Commissioner
[1:56:38] Medina. Do we have any discussion?
[1:56:44] » No. My only discussion is u I just want
to thank the Chamber of Commerce for the
[1:56:52] years of operating it. I from my
perspective they've done a great job and
[1:56:59] hopefully we can continue that level of
service.
[1:57:03] » Thank you. Any further discussion?
Seeing none, all those in favor?
[1:57:09] » I
>> I motion carries. Moving on to
[1:57:14] item J. Before we go into motion on
this, I want our uh madam assess
[1:57:19] assessor to explain some of this. But
item J, order imposing the 2026 tax
[1:57:24] rate.
>> Good morning, Mr. Chair and
[1:57:28] commissioners. Grant Grant County has
received the 2026 certificate of tax
[1:57:33] rates from the New Mexico Department of
Finance and Administration. Chief Deputy
[1:57:37] Assessor, County Treasurer, and I have
reviewed the rates and they appear to be
[1:57:42] in order. I do want to thank both of
them for all of their help, the phone
[1:57:46] calls that they helped me with, and I
also want to thank um county manager
[1:57:51] Charlene Webb for her understanding the
situation.
[1:57:56] This morning, I did email all
commissioners with a comparison for the
[1:57:59] 2025 2026 year. Respectfully, we request
approval for the 2026 Grant County tax
[1:58:07] rates.
[1:58:11] » That's it.
>> Thank you, Commissioner. Do you have
[1:58:13] anything on this?
>> Okay. Can I have a motion?
[1:58:17] » Motion to approve.
>> Second.
[1:58:19] » I have a motion by Commissioner Medina.
U second by Commissioner Shalley. Do we
[1:58:24] have any discussion?
Seeing none. All those in favor? I
[1:58:29] » I moving on to item K, county manager
succession planning process. And I'm
[1:58:35] going to turn this over to Commissioner
Flores. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
[1:58:41] when um
when we obviously um got the bad news
[1:58:47] that that our county manager was going
to retire, we we came to a conclusion
[1:58:51] that we were going to um
go ahead and try to pick the county
[1:58:56] manager as a commission and I took it
upon myself just to um start obviously
[1:59:04] with the with the with the job
description and I asked uh the county
[1:59:08] manager for our job description. as it
was as it is. And with the help of the
[1:59:14] chair, I got some other county manager
positions throughout the state, some
[1:59:19] counties that were the same size as
ours, some smaller, some bigger, and I
[1:59:25] got I worked together I worked and put
together um a rough draft of a new job
[1:59:33] description. I I did mainly take I'm
using my phone for the old job
[1:59:37] description, but I did take a lot of
from the old description and put into
[1:59:42] the new description. And every one of
you has a a hard copy that I handed out
[1:59:46] to you. But here in in the public
meeting, I'm going to ask that everybody
[1:59:52] can change it. It's obviously a a living
document. We can change it, make it any
[1:59:58] way that we think is best. The main
thing that I changed
[2:00:04] that I wanted that I thought was um
essential was the minimum qualifications
[2:00:11] and the preferred qualifications.
Um,
[2:00:15] our current job description shows five
years of government experience or 10
[2:00:20] years upper level. And what I changed um
was
[2:00:28] a master's degree in public
administration, business administration,
[2:00:31] public policy, or uh a minimum five
years progressively responsible
[2:00:36] executive or senior management
experience or a minimum of 10 years of
[2:00:40] progressively progressively responsible
executive leadership or upper level
[2:00:45] management experience.
that would that would take that being in
[2:00:50] lie of the the the degree because I do
understand there are folks out there
[2:00:54] that may not have that master's degree
but they have the experience and the
[2:00:58] knowledge to to carry out this job. I al
I also added um just extra items under
[2:01:06] preferred qualifications
and I just I didn't reinvent the wheel.
[2:01:10] I just uh picked from different of the
of the other uh job descriptions and I
[2:01:15] thought I added them what I thought
would best fit our description as a
[2:01:21] county manager here in Grant County. And
that's where we're at with what I handed
[2:01:27] out to you. Obviously, like I said,
everyone's going to give their input on
[2:01:30] what changes they want and hopefully we
start off with the job description and
[2:01:35] then move forward from there and put it
out for advertisement and uh go forward.
[2:01:40] And with that, I'll turn it back over to
you, Mr. Chair.
[2:01:43] » You guys, uh, you know what? Can I have
our HR come up here, sit bent so she can
[2:02:03] So, what what do you guys
input?
[2:02:08] » So, um first I want to thank
Commissioner Flus. Good job. Um I was
[2:02:13] able to read the document. I know that I
I redlined a couple things and I sent
[2:02:16] them back to you. Um I think it's a good
document to start with. It's a starting
[2:02:20] point and I think it's really I mean
wherever you pulled your resource from I
[2:02:24] think is really well um this gives us
the opportunity to look at look at every
[2:02:27] avenue possible and I just want to thank
you all.
[2:02:37] » Uh thank you. I also appreciate
Commissioner Flores putting time into uh
[2:02:42] working on this. And I guess my
um question is can we approve the job
[2:02:50] description today and post it? Um
>> can we
[2:02:55] » are we ready to do that?
>> Well, yeah, it's an item. So, yeah, we
[2:02:59] continue.
>> Yeah.
[2:03:01] » Yeah.
>> Um yeah, I I read through it. I mean,
[2:03:05] there's some things that I'm not sure
about, like the difference between five
[2:03:09] years experience, you know, in a
progressively
[2:03:13] uh taking on more leadership versus
seven versus 10. I don't know um
[2:03:21] you know, how important it is uh I think
right now it says 10 years, right? Um
[2:03:29] that's what we want.
>> It's just a a suggestion,
[2:03:32] » right? Um
there might be a a case to be made for
[2:03:38] making it lower and then we could always
like evaluate candidates um and if they
[2:03:45] have more then great but that way we
don't rule out people. Um but that was
[2:03:50] really my only comment. I I agree with
the the content and am ready to approve
[2:03:57] » and absolutely Mr. Chair if I may. Yes.
This is just a starting point. So,
[2:04:01] please feel free to change whatever you
need to. And um Commissioner Medina, I
[2:04:06] apologize. I hope you remember where
your changes are, but I brought the
[2:04:09] wrong envelope this morning with your
red line changes. I know there wasn't
[2:04:13] many.
>> It wasn't many.
[2:04:14] » Yeah.
[2:04:18] » Yeah. I really like the job description
that you presented
[2:04:25] that you compiled.
My only question is on the minimum
[2:04:29] qualifications because that constrains
us potentially
[2:04:34] » on who we can consider.
>> And so my main question for my fellow
[2:04:42] commissioners is do we want to say a
master's degree is a minimum
[2:04:49] qualification?
Is it okay to
[2:04:54] um I suppose
um
[2:04:58] in like the example we got from uh
Valencia County and thank you for
[2:05:03] getting that also for us to look at.
They had um
[2:05:09] master's degree as a preferred
qualification
[2:05:13] and but a bachelor's is like a minimum.
What do you think? Can could we
[2:05:22] model it more on that so that we're not
exclude or
[2:05:29] I know and maybe your or is good because
in that one you could have a bachelor's
[2:05:36] degree so maybe it's covered there um
under that category.
[2:05:44] I I mean to me the the biggest thing is
I remember um when we did the job
[2:05:52] description in in the past when Charlene
left us for a little vacation
[2:05:57] uh they they had put anybody could
really apply for it. They you didn't
[2:06:03] even have to have a degree and and I
didn't like that piece. I mean to me
[2:06:09] I like the idea of bachelor's degree in
in in a certain in certain areas of
[2:06:15] course you know management you know
business administration business
[2:06:19] management financial thing and then
putting in their preferred masters maybe
[2:06:26] you know in case you know they they do
have a master or or preferred masters
[2:06:30] but
um
[2:06:33] bachelors for sure Um,
that's what I like. I mean, I don't want
[2:06:40] to go ahead and and exclude a lot of
people that may have that experience by
[2:06:45] requiring a a mast's. Um, but I think
too we have to be careful with how many
[2:06:54] you have to look at certain things. How
many people are out there that have
[2:06:58] manager experience
that are willing to even come back or
[2:07:03] apply that that are retired that say,
"Hey, we're done. We're we're not coming
[2:07:07] back." You know, and I don't want to use
Charlene as it, but I guess I am. You
[2:07:12] know, if she's retiring and she says,
"I'm done with this." I don't see her
[2:07:16] trying to apply somewhere else because
she's like, "I'm done."
[2:07:19] So, we I think we have to be careful
with some of that as to who what we
[2:07:23] leave open for uh to apply.
>> You know, I I I want to chime in a
[2:07:30] little bit of the comments that you
made. Um as well as Commissioner Fish,
[2:07:33] your minimum qualifications I think were
were very accurate. Um the reason I
[2:07:37] support the education component is
because of the discipline it takes. Um
[2:07:41] it's a discipline component to pursue a
bachelor's, pursue a masters, or even a
[2:07:45] doctor. Um, and I mean that shows the
that shows the commitment of the
[2:07:49] individual to say, "Yeah, I'm here. I'm
educated." Um, and and I want you to
[2:07:53] understand that I don't dismiss
experience. I do not dismiss experience
[2:07:57] at all. But I think that that education
component has to be a priority and has
[2:08:03] to stay in there as a minimal
qualifications.
[2:08:10] Uh so uh hearing what you all have said,
it seems like it would make sense to
[2:08:16] under minimum qualifications
um leave it with master's degree but get
[2:08:22] rid of is preferred because we're saying
it's a minimum qualification. So we
[2:08:27] should maybe take out that it's
preferred. um that would be a master's
[2:08:32] degree with five years of progressively
responsible management experience or a
[2:08:38] bachelor's degree with a minimum of 10
years of progressively responsible
[2:08:44] leadership. Right? So if you have your
bachelors but you have 10 years where
[2:08:48] you've taken on more and more
responsibility then um that would also
[2:08:52] be acceptable.
[2:08:59] It's a little rough for tough there. Um
for for that. I mean
[2:09:08] legally.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean I I see what you're
[2:09:13] saying. I mean I I would love to see the
the master's degree
[2:09:18] preferred bachelor's for sure.
Uh
[2:09:23] five, six years, seven years experience
be good for me. But whatever you guys
[2:09:29] think I I don't know what
>> the other I just don't want to
[2:09:35] leave some people out out here that we
have and and and I I don't know.
[2:09:42] » Yeah. I just don't I don't know what
what's out there. That's the biggest
[2:09:45] problem with
>> well the more conservative approach
[2:09:47] would be to say minimum qualification of
qualifications of a bachelor's dis
[2:09:52] degree uh plus the five years and then
just get rid of the or
[2:09:59] the 10 years because we're not really
saying or because we want them to have
[2:10:03] the bachelor's degree as a minimum.
I
[2:10:06] » whatever you guys want.
>> I I like what what everybody's saying,
[2:10:11] but at the same time, I I I get what
you're saying, Mr. Ch. I don't want to
[2:10:15] exclude
somebody that may have 15 years. I'm
[2:10:20] just throwing that number out. 15 years
experience
[2:10:24] without a degree. They have some
college, but they've done a great job.
[2:10:28] because I think at some point in time
we're going to have a a a
[2:10:34] rubric, a guide to follow where we can
still accept the application, but if
[2:10:39] somebody
meets our our our prefer our minimum
[2:10:42] qualifications, then at that point we
can rule them out, but they still have
[2:10:47] the opportunity to apply if that makes
sense. So, I do agree with I think what
[2:10:50] you're trying to say, Mr. Chair, is that
we still leave the the experience
[2:10:55] without a degree. Um but and and then to
miss uh Kashim and I do appreciate the
[2:11:02] the discipline part of getting a degree.
It's not easy. Um
[2:11:09] but again, yeah, I'm okay with dropping
the the number of years experience. Um
[2:11:16] but yeah, I I just put that because we
don't know who we're going to get. Um,
[2:11:21] but I don't want to eliminate that one
person that may not have a degree for
[2:11:26] whatever reason. Maybe they're uh going
to school full-time, having a family,
[2:11:30] they got caught up in their current job
or the job and they couldn't finish, but
[2:11:34] they have a they have great experience
and great uh leadership qualifications.
[2:11:40] What what I was suggesting is if we
modeled it after Valencia County, then
[2:11:46] we would say minimum qualifications
bachelor's degree parentheses master's
[2:11:54] degree preferred
in in these areas.
[2:12:01] And that would be the only change I was
thinking about.
[2:12:07] I I think if you do a a master's degree,
the way the way it's written, it is a
[2:12:13] golden opportunity. But the other thing
I think if you're going to put that
[2:12:15] bachelor's degree allowance, I think you
need to put a bachelor's degree with.
[2:12:20] And when I say with, it has to be a
minimum of so many years experience
[2:12:24] because you're right, some people do get
tied into the family life and school
[2:12:29] goes sideways. Well, that that would fit
in then the way Commissioner Stevens
[2:12:34] proposed,
>> but like I tell you, you know, masters
[2:12:37] bachelors masters preferred bachelors
with eight years experience, nine years
[2:12:42] experience. And and kind of imagine Web,
I'm not exposing your your age or
[2:12:46] anything, but years ago, a bachelor's
was the the deal. Today, in in to
[2:12:52] today's setting, people that want these
executive positions, they've got those
[2:12:55] master's degrees. They understand it.
And it's just I think master degree has
[2:12:59] to be preferred bachelors with five
years, eight years, 10 years experience.
[2:13:04] I mean it gives an opportunity to review
every bachelor's degree that's there.
[2:13:09] » Well, master a bachelor's used to be
your masters.
[2:13:11] » Yeah.
>> Now your masters is your bachelor's
[2:13:13] really the way things go. So
>> that's why that's why I think the
[2:13:17] bachelor's with experience is an option.
Um
[2:13:21] » I I just I don't want to chop up what
you did commercial. It's It's a lot of
[2:13:25] work, but I I if we're going to make
some changes, I think I'd like to see
[2:13:28] just a little bit more.
>> I'm and I'm good with what you're
[2:13:31] proposing, then you just if we don't
want to have it with if we don't want to
[2:13:36] exclude people without a degree, you
leave the or in there,
[2:13:41] » but in up above, you're suggesting if we
put bachelors,
[2:13:47] then
we also include eight years experience
[2:13:52] » or five, whatever. But I like that or
component too. So it doesn't catch that
[2:13:57] potentials that didn't get the degree.
>> Well, and I like I like the masters with
[2:14:02] five years experience. That way we know
it's they we I think we really need
[2:14:10] experience in this position
>> even if they have a master's.
[2:14:15] » I I don't and I don't know where where
we get but here but I think they need to
[2:14:20] have a degree to be a county manager. I
really do.
[2:14:25] Okay.
>> So, so how about if we put uh minimum
[2:14:28] qualifications, bachelor's degree
parentheses, masters preferred, and then
[2:14:35] leave it alone, five years is minimum.
And then if we want to keep that or in
[2:14:42] there just for the heck of it, just in
case we get some applicant that doesn't
[2:14:47] have a degree, um, that's fine.
I'd be good with that. I I think we need
[2:14:53] to break that down just a little bit
more, Commissioner Stevens. Um, based on
[2:14:57] master's with I I don't want to put a
master's degree and a bachelor's degree
[2:15:03] in the same bucket. I I'd rather have a
master's degree. If you're going to and
[2:15:06] you're going to put experience, master's
degree with two years experience,
[2:15:09] bachelor's degree with eight years
experience. If we're really going to
[2:15:12] differentiate, let's put the guy with a
bachelor's degree have a little bit more
[2:15:16] experience because commissioner Florida
stated the or guy is requiring 10 years
[2:15:22] of experience. So why don't we decipher
masters with two, bachelors with five or
[2:15:27] eight and or the or guy with 10 years of
experience.
[2:15:32] » Okay.
[2:15:36] » Because that captures everybody at that
point. This captures everybody and it
[2:15:40] lets the commissioner of Florida says
the rubric will allow us to determine
[2:15:45] masters, bachelor's or not degree and
it'll allow us to do the the selection
[2:15:50] process easier especially if we're going
to do a point system.
[2:15:53] » So you're going to do masters with two?
>> I'd leave it at five and then put
[2:15:59] bachelors with eight.
>> Okay,
[2:16:02] sounds good. But then we really don't
need this 10 or 10year option. Get rid
[2:16:07] of that.
>> I like the tenure.
[2:16:09] » You do?
>> Yeah.
[2:16:10] » But that's saying that if they don't
have any degree.
[2:16:13] » I think I like it straight up the way
you guys said it. Masters with whatever
[2:16:17] years and bachelor with whatever years
instead of the or with
[2:16:21] » I'm okay with that, too.
>> Cuz who is that 10year candidate with no
[2:16:25] degree?
[2:16:29] » I don't know.
>> Yeah. Whatever you guys I don't I don't
[2:16:33] know. But I will say for the record, I'm
not applying for county manager like
[2:16:39] » was said before. I want that.
>> Can we go masters with three, bachelor's
[2:16:44] with six?
>> Is that fair?
[2:16:47] » Fine with me?
>> Because I mean to pursue a master's
[2:16:49] degree is three years of pain anyways if
you do it fast.
[2:16:55] » I agree. Yeah.
>> But let me ask this to our county
[2:17:00] manager and our HR.
Shouldn't anything in there have to have
[2:17:05] relevant experience
relevant experience to county manager?
[2:17:11] Because say I had a a master's degree
with three years experience of doing
[2:17:21] hiking whatever I've qualified for it
but I might not even know the first
[2:17:25] thing on how to write a PO
>> or follow our procurement code.
[2:17:29] » We would leave the language in here.
progressively responsible executive or
[2:17:33] senior management. He he defines what
he's asking for that experience. So
[2:17:39] » masters with three, bachelors with six
and defined the way you defined it,
[2:17:42] Commissioner Flores, I think it would be
perfect.
[2:17:48] » Cool.
[2:17:54] Who's going to provide this final job
description to our HR representative?
[2:18:02] Do you have anything?
>> Just um with the changes, we just have
[2:18:07] to create a new one with with the
changes, right?
[2:18:10] » Can can we just have our HR
representative take what we just said
[2:18:14] and fix this and post it?
>> Yeah.
[2:18:18] » So that's that's the second question.
How long do you guys want to post it
[2:18:21] for?
>> I mean, she can do the work, post it,
[2:18:26] » but for how long do you want to leave it
open? for 30 days, 15 days, 10 days, and
[2:18:31] then where do you want it to go? Those
are other questions you're going to have
[2:18:35] to answer to.
>> County manager, what's the standard for
[2:18:37] posting for a county manager? Daywise,
[2:18:42] » I believe the first time I applied here,
it was open for 30 days, and when I
[2:18:47] applied in Sierra County, it was open
for 30 days.
[2:18:51] So if we did 30 days and we did New
Mexico counties, the New Mexico
[2:18:56] municipal league
indeed and just like on our website,
[2:19:02] would that be a good starting point?
I'll take the New Mexico County Mun
[2:19:06] Municipal League our website
>> for now
[2:19:11] » and I mean we can review the
applications with with HR um to give us
[2:19:17] guidance on some and then from there if
we have to we can open it up even
[2:19:20] further.
>> Right.
[2:19:26] » Good. I'm I'm probably going to be gone
by the time all this dust settles. So,
[2:19:31] it's whatever you guys want really.
>> So, you got a motion so we can approve
[2:19:35] it so we can get it posted, make the
changes today and get get it posted.
[2:19:38] » Yes. I motion that um we move forward
with the job description that we
[2:19:43] discussed. our HR manager will make the
changes that we discussed for the job
[2:19:49] description and that it be posted for 30
days
[2:19:53] um on New Mexico counties and
>> municipal leak
[2:20:00] » and county website
>> and county website
[2:20:03] » second.
[2:20:10] Is that your motion? Yes, my motion.
Second.
[2:20:14] » Who second? I was thinking, but okay. We
got a motion by Commissioner Fus, second
[2:20:20] by Commissioner Shalley. Um, any further
discussion?
[2:20:24] » Quick question for the HR director. Did
you get the changes? Masters of three,
[2:20:28] bachelors of six, and the stays in.
>> Yeah.
[2:20:31] » Okay, good deal.
The other discussion that I' I'd just
[2:20:34] like to have is that for 30 days
applications that come in
[2:20:40] do not go out to anybody, not even the
commissioners till we all have a chance
[2:20:44] to meet, sit on and and discuss them.
>> And and at that point, we because
[2:20:50] there's probably going to be some news
release stuff that we're going to have
[2:20:54] to do and we're going to have to get
with legal and and go down that road.
[2:20:58] But whatever you get confidential, put
them, hold them till we decide to open
[2:21:04] them up and look at them. Any
Commissioner Flores?
[2:21:08] » Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. The only
comments I have is I want to thank um
[2:21:13] the staff, County Manager Web, for
sending me the job description. I want
[2:21:17] to thank the chairman for reaching out
to other county managers and getting me
[2:21:21] their job description. And like I said,
I didn't reinvent the wheel. I also got
[2:21:26] help from Jenny Panti who helped me
tremendously and I just looked at other
[2:21:30] resources to help put this together and
that's what we came up with and hand it
[2:21:35] out to you. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[2:21:41] Any further discussion?
>> Oh, one more comment. I just want to say
[2:21:46] that uh County Manager Web's shoes will
be hard to fill.
[2:21:54] You second that.
>> I'll third. But anyway, we have a all
[2:22:00] those in favor.
>> I I motion carries. Okay. So, we have
[2:22:04] direction. The public has a direction
we're headed in. So, okay. Moving on to
[2:22:10] agreements. Agreement 8-26-14.
[2:22:14] » Motion to approve.
>> Second.
[2:22:17] » So, motion by Commissioner Medina,
second by Commissioner Flores. Do we
[2:22:20] have any further discussion
or any discussion? Seeing none, all
[2:22:25] those in favor?
>> I I motion carries.
[2:22:28] » Moving on to agreement A-26-15.
[2:22:32] » Motion.
>> Second. I have a motion by Commissioner
[2:22:36] Medina. I second the motion. Do we have
any discussion?
[2:22:41] » Yes, ma'am.
>> Uh chairman, I just uh want to clarify.
[2:22:45] I know this has come up before uh that
there's there's sometimes some uh public
[2:22:50] confusion about this Stone Garden grant
and my understanding is it's just for
[2:22:56] overtime. It has nothing to do with
immigration enforcement. Is that
[2:23:01] correct,
>> Mr. Chairman? Commissioners, that is
[2:23:05] correct
>> for overtime to work the drug
[2:23:09] trafficking and human smuggling
assisting with that.
[2:23:14] Thank you.
>> I think the only confusion was two of
[2:23:17] our council members from the town of
Silver City.
[2:23:23] Anything else?
[2:23:27] All those in favor?
>> I motion carries.
[2:23:31] » Moving on to no resolutions. Moving on
to Commissioner comments. Commissioner
[2:23:36] Flores.
>> I think I said all my comments earlier.
[2:23:41] Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Medina.
>> Yeah. Just a quick reminder, the 30th of
[2:23:47] this month, I'll be doing another
quarterly up in the members. Um I've
[2:23:50] asked the sheriff to attend the county
manager to discuss the um bond sales and
[2:23:56] the vote coming up. Um and um I got a
couple other meditations I got to
[2:24:01] extend, but that thing starts about
11:30, last an hour or two. Just want to
[2:24:05] remind everybody, it's all done.
>> Commissioner Stevens,
[2:24:09] » nothing at this time.
Commissioner Shelley,
[2:24:13] » uh, no report. Thank you.
[2:24:19] » You know,
you know, and today, I know,
[2:24:23] Commissioner, we brought up a lot of the
Facebook and and and you know, people
[2:24:28] just like to, you know, and I've noticed
two or three people that
[2:24:33] continually just throw things out there
to to get stir things up. But I noticed
[2:24:38] that there was one on Facebook that part
of the public wanted to see if uh the
[2:24:44] commissioners can do and probably this
would be for you guys down the road
[2:24:48] probably in in next year, but to do an
evening commissioner meeting
[2:24:54] and because that gives people time to uh
to uh
[2:25:01] get out of work and come to these
commission meetings. I I know that in
[2:25:05] the past or I know that in our eight
years or my eight years here, you know,
[2:25:09] you go to the evening part or or you
want to have a meeting in the evening,
[2:25:15] all of a sudden we have to go to little
league, we have to get dinner ready, we
[2:25:19] just got out of work, we do this and at
the end of the day we're going to end up
[2:25:24] the same same amount of people here
anyway, you know. And if you look, the
[2:25:29] only time we get a large crowd is
increasing fees for solid waste, you
[2:25:35] know, maybe the data center, stuff like
this. But, you know, just food for
[2:25:41] thought. Um if you guys because next
year you might have a different set of
[2:25:48] open meeting uh rule rules or open
meeting act
[2:25:53] you know different things here and there
just keep you know food for thought
[2:25:59] would you like to try one meeting in the
evening and I know it it it runs into
[2:26:04] our county staff runs into overtime runs
into their work our elected officials
[2:26:11] don't get overtime time it puts a burden
on them. I'm not saying do it. I'm just
[2:26:16] saying if if you guys food for thought,
look at it. Maybe have one. That way you
[2:26:20] have an idea for next year what you guys
want to do. Or if you don't, don't.
[2:26:25] Doesn't bother me any we I think we
tried it once a long time ago and we had
[2:26:30] the the same people write two or three.
>> Huh?
[2:26:36] » Not once.
>> I think we had one for five for
[2:26:38] something. I don't remember what. And
just food for thought, but we also have
[2:26:42] to consider our staff. So that's all I
have. Something you guys think of and if
[2:26:47] you want it, try it. Not no big deal.
Anything else, commissioners, that you
[2:26:52] may have forgotten.
[2:27:01] Okay.
Meeting adjourn.