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Published: 22 November 2018 22 November 2018

[Editor's Note: This is part three and the final article of the combination work and regular session on Nov. 13, 2018. It covers the remaining business on the agenda.]

By Mary Alice Murphy

At the combined work and regular sessions meeting on Nov. 13, 2018, Grant County commissioners discussed and approved or disapproved the agenda items, including financial reports and resolutions and agreements. After an executive session, they also took action.

County Financial Officer Linda Vasquez presented the financial reports. Total expenditures since the October meeting were, as of Nov. 9, 2018, $1,691,647.47. The expenditures include three pay periods for a total of $613,826.24, as well as the expenses above $10,000, listed in the following table.

expenditures over 10k nov. 2018

Vasquez also presented the quarterly report, as of the end of September for the first quarter of fiscal year 2019, as submitted to the state. She noted that the commissioners might not be familiar with the format, as it is a different format for submitting online. She listed the beginning cash balance, revenues collected as of Sept. 30, transfers out of the General Fund, and expenditures. The same items were listed for the Road Fund and Corrections, with the exception that the transfers were into the funds.

Under new business, the first item was a discussion on the process/selection of an individual to submit to the Governor's Office for the Senator Howie Morales vacant position, as he was recently elected as Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico.

Commissioner Brett Kasten said that, to his knowledge, Morales had not yet resigned, as he serves until the end of this year. "We should prepare the new incoming commissioners with names to consider. I recommend we have the county manager (Charlene Webb) advertise to gather applications, so the commissioners can send a recommendation from Grant County. Because all three counties Morales represents can also send recommendations, there is no guarantee his replacement will be from here."

Commissioner Alicia Edwards asked if the governor has to choose from the three recommended candidates, to which Kasten said: "Yes."

Commissioner Harry Browne said that the governor could also reject all recommendations and make her own choice.

Kasten said for the applications, he would like to see a letter of interest, a resume and then an interview at a special session.

Commission Chairman Billy Billings suggested putting an agenda item on the December meeting to set a date in January for the new commissioners to interview.

Edwards asked if the commissioners could receive the information ahead of time.

County attorney Abigail Burgess said she would have to take a look at statute, but she thought that the information could be reviewed up to the special meeting.

After discussion on a date, commissioners suggested that Jan. 3 would be a good time for the special meeting, but as it was not on the present agenda, it would officially have to be approved at the December meeting.

Commissioners approved out-of-state travel for General Services Director Randy Villa to obtain his annual fuel spill burn certification at the DFW Fire Training in Dallas, Texas, in December.

They also approved the election canvass. Billings noted that out of the 33 counties in New Mexico, Grant County was the first to report. "We appreciate the hard work of the Clerk's Office."

Clerk Marisa Castrillo thanked the commissioners for reviewing the ballots the previous Friday.

Commissioners approved the adjusted qualification records for the Cliff-Gila Volunteer Fire Department. County Manager Charlene Webb said the approval was a requirement to correct a previous mistake on the report. "This is the formal approval of the correction."

Under agreements, the first one approved was for an amendment to the agreement from the NM Department of Finance and Administration Local Government Division for a DWI program grant. Webb said DWI Program Director Cindy Blackman explained to her that the amendment would be coming. Blackman applied to the LGD for funding that had been reverted and not used by other counties. The $12,000 will be added to the $98,000 already received for the program.

Gilbert Helton, Grant County Emergency Management director, said the next agreement with the NM Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management was to accept the 2018 grant for $30,000. "It is the sum for two of three projects, one to purchase a generator at the lower Pinos Altos transmission repeater site and the second to install a new repeater. "These are good for the whole county. There is no required county funding match, and everyone will use it as a backup repeater."

Several resolutions were under consideration.

The first was approval of an allocation of funding for the 2019 Colonias application for Tyrone Americans with Disabilities Act compliance project. "We can use the (recently) approved bond funding of $92,000 for the repayment of the loan component and a $92,000 in-kind match for the $920,000 application. This project is shovel-ready for sidewalks, ramps and drainage issues," Webb said. "We are trying to work with the bond firm on the timing of sales of the bonds."

Vasquez asked for and received approval of the amendments to the fiscal year 2019 budget involving transferring and appropriating funds. The resolution in a whereas, said "unanticipated obligations and revenues have now been revealed requiring and justifying the budgetary increases, decreases and transfers, as follows," in an extensive list.

Commissioners approved a resolution authorizing submission of an application for airport aid to the NM Department of Transportation – Aviation Division, obligation of sponsor matching funds and authorization to accept the grant offer and the execution of contract documents for apron repairs at the Grant County-Silver City Airport. Villa said that the Airport Manager Rebekah Wenger applied for and got the funds. "The apron will be shovel-ready," he said. Grant County will pay 5 percent of the cost.

A resolution specifying the salaries of elected officials in Grant County, NM, was approved. Webb said the approval will increase for elected officials a 1.5 percent cost-of-living adjustment. "State stattute only allows for an increase in salary as the new commissioners or new elected officials come into office the first time. We had separate resolutions but combined them to include the chief deputies. We budgeted the 1.5 percent for every elected official. The salary is not going to change. We are still below the state-allowed maximum. We're close to three-quarters of the maximum."

Edwards noted the chief deputies are appointed by the elected officials. Webb said the chief deputy salaries are set at 90 percent of the elected official's salary. "They would not increase unless we approved this resolution."

A resolution declaring the eligibility and intent of the county to submit an application to the NM DOT for federal fiscal year 2020-21 transportation alternatives program (TAP) funds was approved.

Planning and Community Development Director Michael "Mischa" Larisch said the resolution was to apply for the TAP funding. "The maximum we can apply for is $2 million. It would be for Little Walnut Road, for hiking and biking path. The county match is 14.65 percent."

Browne asked if there were any update on the city's application. Larisch said Silver City would join with the county for the Federal Land Access project (FLAP).

As the Grant County Health Care Claims Board, commissioners approved indigent claims of $23,921.67 for seven claims to Gila Regional Medical Center and one claim to GRMC ambulance for $709 for a total of $24,630.67. They also approved an indigent burial by Bright Funeral Home for $600.

Commissioners reconvened as the Board of County Commissioners to hear county reports.

Road Superintendent Earl Moore said his department was doing "business as usual. We are working on Arenas Valley Road. When it warms up, we will continue patching. I thank the residents for approving the bond for roads."

Kim Dominguez, Corre Caminos manager, gave a recap of fiscal year 2018, which ended on Sept. 30. "We ended under budget, which allows us a cash match for an additional bus. We have asked for a second bus for 2019. The final ridership for the fiscal year was 99,664, an increase of 4, 000 over last year. Our budget is increasing for FY 19. It's why we're asking for a second bus, in addition to the one new one we are eligible for."

Villa thanked people for heeding the signage at Bataan Memorial Park not to drive on the park. "We are seeing a savings on garbage pickup, and we fixed the sliding doors and the noise is gone. As for the airport, Advanced Air has come on board. "

Browne said he hoped a bike rack was next for the park.

Larisch said he has a lot of grant applications in process. "Ron Tory, Harry (Browne) and I traveled to a Trails and Economic Development Forum in Bozeman, Montana, on Oct. 22-24. It was hosted by Headwaters Economics and the Moore? [Editor's Note: the name was not understandable] Foundation. It was attended by groups from Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. We did various different exercises. One of the biggest was discussing a vision on what trails are for. We used SMART goals, specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely and talked about overcoming barriers."

"We came out with messages and messengers," Larisch continued. "Who can make it happen, what can happen, where do people want it to happen? The last day we got a list of potential funding sources, which is important. They are from federal, state, local governments and foundations. Headwaters Economics has done and will do research to help us out. They determine the impacts and benefits of trails, such as business impacts, quality of life, health, residential impacts. There are a lot of trails around Bozeman, but we didn't get to see many. It was an intense 1½ days."

He thanked the public for support the GO (general obligation) bonds. "We will be meeting on prioritizing what to do with the funding."

Treasurer Steve Armendariz said he had finalized the report for fiscal year 2017, which had a 93.36 percent collection rate. "We have $393,331.31 in outstanding balances. We are working on it with the assessor. A lot are mobile homes that have been around forever. Some have been continually assessed, but we are having trouble finding them. In most cases, we are not finding them or finding things that are unlivable. By next year, we hope the numbers will be reduced. The numbers have been accumulating for a long time. It will affect the tax revenue for 2018, as we start deleting stuff that wasn't there. When someone buys a mobile home and plans to move it, they need a moving certificate. We want to reciprocate with other counties. We are all having people moving the mobile homes without certificates. We're working to try to identify them and get it cleaned up."

He said they tried to get it cleaned up for the 2018 tax roll, but "we're still working on it."

His office is working with Tyler "where we have issues. We have the tax roll adjustments, which changes the numbers."

Browne said he was confused about movable items. "They are taxed as personal property? When you are sending out the tax notices, don't they include the land?"

"No, if they own the land, they pay a separate tax as residential land," Armendariz said. "If they put the mobile on a fixed foundation, it is converted to real property. Mobile homes depreciate. About 80 percent of them are mobile and 20 percent are residential."

Browne asked how much of the outstanding amount is going down. Armendariz said the office has seen about a 40 percent decrease in the amount outstanding. "Some of the residential delinquencies are rented out to other people."

Edwards asked what the average tax bill is in Grant County. Armendariz said about $500. "We have a massive amount of older properties with no improvements done, and 60 to 70 percent of those have tax bills of under $500 We don't do assessments, so we don't know if the places are habitable."

His next report was for 2018. "We never stop collecting taxes," he said. "We apply pre-payments. We officially started collecting on Nov. 2 and have collected $838,516, which is 13 percent of the expected total."

About the process to take a property off the tax roll, he said: "We research, approve and send it to the state to approve it."

In commissioner reports, Kasten had nothing to report. Edwards thanked the community for passing the bonds and congratulated those elected to office.

Commissioner Gabriel Ramos congratulated everyone who ran for office and everyone who won. "I also have gratitude for the bonds passing."

Browne noted that Grant County did a great job on voter turnout. "We provided almost the margin for Xochitl Torres-Small to win the District 2 congressional race. I look forward to working with the new commissioners. I appreciate going to the trails conference. Some economists calculate that trails increase property values by 10 to 30 percent. I'm glad we're moving forward with trails."

Billings thanked the voters for passing the bonds. "Congratulations to all those elected and those who ran for office."

The commissioners went into executive session.

Although the Beat was not present when they came out of the session, Browne reported that after the executive session, Edwards moved and Kasten seconded that the commissioners authorize the county manager to pursue procurement of a law firm to allow Grant County to join a lawsuit against the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department. Commissioners approved the motion.

"We gave Charlene the flexibility to use whatever procurement method that makes the most sense to her," Browne told the Beat.