[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.

GCC 2026-09-10 Regular Meeting

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