[Editor's Note: This is part 3 of a multi-part series of articles on the Grant County Commission work session on Oct. 16 and regular meeting on Oct. 18, 2018.]
By Mary Alice Murphy
After a work session presentation on the Great Divide Wind Farm proposal for the county, which can be read at http://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/47247-grant-county-commission-hears-presentation-on-proposed-wind-farm-at-work-session-101618, County Financial Officer Linda Vasquez presented the expenditure report. The county spent $2,093,291.26 from Sept. 8, through Oct. 11, 2018. That total, including two pay periods, plus pay period 18 corrections, Sheriff's Department Boot allowance and academic incentives equaled $400,605.79.
Checks written for more than $10,000 are shown in this graph.
Commissioners approved the expenditure report at the Thursday regular meeting.
At the regular meeting, commissioners heard a presentation from the Grant County Cooperative Extension Service programming for fiscal year 2018 from Judy O'Loughlin, county director and family and consumer sciences agent and 4-H agent, and Jessica Swapp, 4-H ag agent.
"We've had a busy year," O'Loughlin began. "We have served lots of people. The Extension Service roots go back to President Lincoln, when he established the land grant universities. In 1914, New Mexico State University received federal funding for extension services. The reason we're called extension is because every county in New Mexico has an extension service, and we have access to NMSU assets and specialists. It extends the university to all our counties. We feel that it's pretty important. The ag college at NMSU is in the lower part of the campus. Our forefathers thought it necessary to put education out to all people. We differ from being on campus in that we don't have a set course of study; we confer no degrees; we operate off campus; we have a large body of knowledge to address practical problems; and we educate with informal methods and don't give grades. We do require some change in behavior, but client participation is strictly voluntary. Our education is primarily grounded in agriculture, home economics, and other related areas. Programs are based on the needs of the areas we serve. The programs we provide are always research- and evidence-based. We work with an advisory committee. I have one and Jessica has one, and we have an overall one. One of our most popular programs is the Strong Women, Strong Bones, which is in its 10th year. The class has been a success. What happens is that women are more toned, have better balance and can remain independent longer. Last year 4,000 women signed in, representing 170 different women. Every year, our numbers are up. We got the supplies—the weights and storage—with grants. It is also a feeder program to other programs. Last year, I began the Healthy You program, which I got hands-on training for. It is for obese or overweight people with the potential for heart disease and diabetes. It's a six-week-long class. Each lesson has physical activity, nutrition and a scale to weigh in. We have held two classes, with 18 having completed it. Everybody lost weight. I lost 33 pounds and now look at food differently. We also do a chronic disease self-management class, which has a six-week component. We need to collaborate with other entities for these programs. It takes at least four times to create a new habit; six times is better and leads to success. It is funded by the Department of Health. We call it pay it forward. The cost value is about $340 per person. We've held two sessions of the Chronic Disease program. The diabetes part is now ongoing. I'm missing class right now, but Mary Ann Finn and Melvyn Gelb are holding down the fort while I'm here. Diabetes remains a big problem in Grant County. We also have a Kitchen Creations cooking class for diabetics. It will begin the end of January and will be held the first two Saturdays in February. It is taught by a certified diabetes educator."
She said another program is the ICAN, Ideas for Cooking and Nutrition, program, which is USDA-funded. "We have a three-quarter-time employee, who is starting her 20th year. We leverage grants for all these programs. We can do the certification for food handlers, although there is a fee for testing, which is in place in our office. We get a lot of calls about food preparation for large groups and food safety issues. I recently got a Distinguished Service Award at a national conference."
Swapp used mostly statistics to discuss what she has accomplished during the 2018 fiscal year.
She oversaw four livestock production programs, which reached 109 total participants. They include managing cattle herds in drought conditions, wildfire prevention and preparation, the ACES (NMSU College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences) and ACES HIGH and HIGH+ (cattle mineral supplementation) calf marketing programs, Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) certification, Gila National Forest Plan process, toxic weeds and proper travel documentation for horses.
Horticulture oversees 10 programs and 99 participants. The programs covered container gardening, small plot gardening, backyard gardening, spring vegetable gardening, grafting, composting, vermicomposting, fall gardening and bee keeping.
Swapp said she moderated at two agriculture-related conferences—Chile Conference and Sustainable Agriculture Conference, reaching 253 people. She moderated two general agriculture programs—agriculture as a business and agriculture business planning. She made 16 house visits to answer horticulture-related questions from clients.
She also listed her professional organizations, and the award she received this year as a regional finalist in the National Association of County Agriculture Agents Communications Award for a promotional piece.
Swapp puts out 12 monthly agriculture-based newsletter to 157 recipients each month. She manages five Facebook pages, with 768 followers, and has made 21,952 total contacts for animal science and natural resources and plant sciences.
In 4-H youth development, she oversees 266 youth members, 60 adult members comprising six clubs. She provided 12 workshops with 86 participants, attended three fairs, made 45 livestock project visits, organized the Grant County Fair Livestock Judging Contest with 18 participants. Swapp is also a New Mexico certified shooting sports instructor and is the coordinator of the local 4-H rifle and archery participants, as well as the Southwest District Archery Superintendent, as which she organized an archery contest for 66 participants.
Swapp attends club meetings, provides 4-H training, oversees the Southwest District contest, manages participants at the state 4-H conference, led her shooting sports participants in the state contest, earning six out of the top 10 teams. She is a state 4-H leadership Team officer and took 10 participants to two state leadership events. Total 4-H contacts were 83,587. She is a member of the National Association of Extension 4-H agents and the New Mexico Association of Extension 4-H Agents.
At the Tuesday work session, discussion ensued on the New Mexico Counties (formerly the New Mexico Association of Counties) 2019 Legislative Priorities for the 54th legislative session. They include three items as part of the House Bill 2 appropriations to include detention reimbursement fund restoration to the original appropriation level of $5 million; prisoner transport and extradition to create a line item for $750,000 to reimburse Sheriff's offices that provide transportation of state prisoners; and EMS funding to appropriate $5 million to the Emergency Medical Services Fund and to identify a designated revenue mechanism to provide fund growth and stability.
Grant County Manager Charlene Webb said the request for $5 million for reimbursement of counties holding state prisoners is in comparison to the $3 million now being divided among the 33 counties.
Webb said the amount for transportation of state prisoners was by a request of the Department of Financial Administration for reimbursement to counties.
She said the present $5 million in funding for EMS is "volatile. We never know what we will get. Those three are all appropriations through House Bill 2."
Other issues addressed in the priorities are a requirement of the New Mexico Human Services Department to ensure provision of comprehensive services to nonviolent adult and juvenile offenders, housed with the department of corrections or in a county detention center, who have a serious mental illness including co-occurring substance use disorders.
"On behavioral health, the state needs to help the counties deal with the issue," Webb said. "The state always asks us to do things without resources."
New Mexico Counties also supports tax reform efforts that improve economic efficiency, economic development, ease of administration and overall fairness of the state and local tax system. NMC also opposes any legislation that has a significant negative impact on county revenue.
Commission Chairman Billy Billings asked at the work session if any proposals for tax reform had been put forth. Grant County Manager Charlene Webb said the NMC had just requested that counties be at the table and have a say in tax reform.
The next priority would remove the State Fire Marshal's Office and Fire Protection Fund from the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission with the goal of improving public safety services through increased advocacy and communication with fire services statewide.
Webb said this measure is requested to be undertaken to improve relationships among the counties and the state. "It's too easy to be swept under the layers of bureaucracy under the PRC."
The last priority addresses Forfeiture Act Reform to address unintended consequences of the 2015 amendments by fixing confusion around abandoned property, providing for reimbursement to local law enforcement agencies for the costs of storage and disposal of seized property and extending due process protections to local DWI vehicle seizures.
"The purpose of this last priority is just to clean up the bill from 2015, which created confusion," Webb said.
Commissioner Alicia Edwards asked if the request for detention center reimbursements would bring the amount in line with actual costs.
"We are being paid some for the state inmates we are holding," Webb said. "This would bring it up. It costs us $86 a day to house a prisoner. I want them to pay what is rightly theirs to pay." She explained that the state picks a date, such as June 30, 2018, and extrapolates the rest of the year off that date. "It's usually one of our lower population days each year, instead of just paying what they owe us."
Edwards also asked about the fire officials moving out from under the PRC. "Where would it go?"
Webb said it would be its own department.
Edwards wanted to know what the individual role of each commissioner was on the priorities. Webb replied that she would encourage each of them to be involved. "If it strongly affects us, I need you there to testify. You will hear from me and from the Legislature. The NMC helps us have a grasp on issues. It will be an educational curve."
Commissioner Brett Kasten agreed that it was a learning curve. "When so-and-so walks in, we need to be able to say that the issue has 100 percent support of the counties. On tax reform, for instance, there are 27 different gross receipts tax increments. We want to consolidate the increments. We may not have the need that fits a specific increment. If we get surprises, we can't use money we have in a specific increment for another need."
Commissioners approved the priorities without further discussion at the regular meeting on Thursday.
In the work session, commissioners reviewed agreements. The first addressed a grant agreement amendment No. 2 with the state of New Mexico Local Government Division for a Community Development Block Grant for Tu Casa (substance abuse treatment facility). Webb said the amendment adjusts the budget to reflect the county's actual expenditures toward the match. "You are ratifying my signature, because the document had to be in by Oct. 10."
It was approved at the Thursday regular meeting.
During the work session, commissioners discussed the contract renewals for the county manager and the county attorney, Abigail Burgess.
"The only change to my contract," Webb said, "was the cost-of-living change, which everyone in the county got."
Burgess said hers was the same as last year's.
Edwards noted there were discrepancies in the two contracts. Webb said they should be discussed in executive session [an executive session was held following the work session and another following the regular session.]
Edwards also asked if performance reviews should be discussed in executive session. "If that's what you want to do," Webb said, '"then yes."
At the regular session, Kasten moved and it was seconded and approvedto place the two agenda items after the executive session. At the end of the executive session at the regular meeting, the commissioners came out and moved to table the contracts, so that all five commissioners could be there to sign them. Billings was absent from the Thursday meeting.
The next item on the agenda addressed the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Managements for the 2018 Emergency Management Performance grant.
"This is a grant that pays part of the salary of our emergency manager, Gilbert Helton," Webb said.
"This is the same amount as last year, but with $5,500 more for conference expenses and other uses," Helton said. "I do plan to use the funding for the conferences and it can be used by other emergency needs in the county."
Commissioners approved it at the regular session.
Webb said the bargaining unit contract with the local AFSCME union had been ratified by union members. "I beg you to approve it."
"We begin renegotiating it in the spring," Webb said. "It takes a while to get through the process."
At the regular session, commissioners approved the contract.
The next article will begin with resolutions and continue through other agenda items, including county reports.