[Editor's Note: The Grant County Commission work session meeting on Oct. 10, 2023, lasted just shy of 3 hours, so readers can expect several articles. The sixth one continues with the review of the regular meeting agenda at the work session and reports and decisions made at the regular meeting. on Oct. 12, 2023.]
By Mary Alice Murphy
County Manager Charlene Webb, at the Grant County Commission work session on Oct. 10, 2023, continued the review of the Oct. 12, 2023 regular meeting agenda. The next item was the monthly report from Gila Regional Medical Center.
GRMC Interim Chief Executive Officer, Margie Molitor, at the regular meeting, began by saying: "This is the last time I get to come here. Next time it will be Robert. My Number 1 goal when I came here was to be your last interim CEO. I am so excited and pleased that we have accomplished that goal. Robert Whitaker has been offered the position by our Board of Trustees and he has accepted. The board led the vetting and interviewing. Not only was Robert the choice of the board, but he was also the top choice of the physicians and directors. He will start Oct. 30, which will allow a few days of hand-of before I head on back to Wyoming and retirement—just in time for winter," she said with a laugh.
She also announced that Ron Green had accepted the offer to be the GRMC permanent Chief Nursing Officer. "As you know, he is a native of Silver City and brings a wealth of experience. I look forward to him officially beginning his new position Oct. 15."
Molitor also noted that the Friday of that week was the last day for Chief Finance Officer Patrick Banks. "He will remain involved with Gila Regional from a distance. Interim CFO Leonard Binkley began last week. The search for a permanent CFO has begun and Robert will be able to select his own CFO."
She said a new permanent Lab Director Stephen Duncan has also been hired and was on the job. A new Pharmacy Director had also been hired, but she didn't know the details.
On the Maternal and Child (MATCH) Department renovation, Molitor reported that administrators had had a walk through with the local subcontractors a couple of weeks prior. "YearOut has notified us that they have permits. My goal is to have everything in place before I leave, so that Robert can walk it over the goal line."
On the operating room air handler replacement, Trane has completed its walk throughs. "We continue to wait on the scope of work document."
She also reported that an agreement with the GRMC Emergency Medical Services and Silver EMSs is being reviewed by Silver City Assistant Manager James Marshall and the Silver City Attorney Jim Reynolds.
Molitor reported the hospital had 140 days of cash on hand, with a net operating surplus of $50,000, and the year-to-date through August a surplus of $74,000.
"I am also pleased to announce that Dr. Herr, a pediatrician has signed his agreement and will begin practice in our Family Practice Clinic in January," Molitor said. "He will provide primarily clinic care but will also participate in the hospital pediatric hospitalist coverage."
Noting hospital community involvement by the hospital, she said Dr. Roberto Carreon and Dr. Gregory Iwaasa had presented on topics at the Mimbres Harvest Festival Health Fair the prior weekend.
She announced the annual Halloween Trunk or Treat, which took place on Oct. 31 in the GRMC parking lot. [Editor's Note: See photos at https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/81083-grmc-held-halloween-trunk-or-treat-103123 ]
Molitor said she hoped to see everyone at the GRMC Foundation Ruby and Scrubs Gala to take place on Oct. 27. [Editor's Note:See photos at https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/80980-grmc-celebrates-40th-anniversary-of-the-facility-at-gala-102723 ]
Elected official reports were next in the review of the regular meeting agenda.
Clerk Marisa Castrillo had no report.
The first one came from Treasurer Patrick Cohn. He presented his tax schedule maintenance report as of Sept. 30, 2023. The total taxes collected for September were $54,459.97. So far for the 2022 tax roll, the county has collected $12,484, 330, which leaves the county at a collection percentage of 93.93. For the entire 2022 tax roll $806, 233 remains uncollected. The total percentage for the collected 10-year taxes stands at 95.78 percent, of which a total of $116,537,655.92 was collected, leaving a total of $5,130,674.89 uncollected. He said he also attached to the report the results of the auction, which took place recently. "We had 10 properties on the auction. The room was full of people. Out of the proceeds, the county will be getting $15,611.49. Penalties and interest will go to the state in the amount of $6,349.17 and the cost to state of $1,125 will also go to the state. We had a bidding war on one property and the resulting $261,9114.34 will go to the owner. If it is not claimed, it will go to unclaimed funds."
He said the 2023 tax roll has been accepted and rolled into the Assessor's Office. "I want to thank my Chief Deputy Lorraine Castillo and Vance Gonzales for taking the lead on this project while I was out sick. I was able to rest and get better. I also wanted to update you on the GovPros. It has been installed and updated in the treasurer's office. We're just waiting on Tyler to get the bridge connected, so people can pay online. I was able to get one part ready so people can pay with credit cards at our front counter. It's so much faster now. I want to thank Adam Baca and his team for their continued support and assistance on getting this completed. By this time next month, we will be accepting first half 2023 property taxes."
District 3 Commissioner Alicia Edwards had a question about the auction results. "As I read it, the first property had delinquent taxes of $6,600, and a bidder purchased the property for $100,000. So the owner gets the extra almost $90,000?"
Cohn confirmed that.
Edwards said: "Would it be fair to say that $15,000 is not enough to reimburse the county for all it does to put the auction together?"
Cohn said it is based on state statute. "That's what we are battling out with our affiliate and the state Property Tax Division. This is only one of the items we are talking about. Also the state gets all the penalties and interest."
"But even that is a pittance in the grand scheme of things," Edwards commented.
District 1 Commissioner and Chair Chris Ponce agreed and noted that the Treasurer's office was closed during the auction. "We had all your people tied up. We need something more financially beneficial for the county."
Cohn said he has talked to the chair of the Treasurer's Affiliate on all of this.
District 5 Commissioner Harry Browne asked why a property owner would go this route, with a property that was worth more than 20 times what the delinquent tax was and not just list it with a real estate broker and sell it and pay off their taxes.
Cohn said it's case-by-case and in this case, the owner was deceased and the estate couldn't deal with it. "We couldn't clear title, so it took time for us to get with the title company, do research and get the title cleared so we could put it on the auction block.
"Most of these are probably similar to this, with some sort of problem," Browne noted.
Cohn said many properties were removed because the state sent the owners notices, and they came in and paid.
Browne said he didn't have as much heartburn about it as Edwards seemed to have. The taxes got paid. "Maybe, Commissioner Edwards, you're suggesting the fees should be higher, but I'm guessing that situations like this are usually because of something like the owner being deceased, and it wouldn't be just to raise the fees."
Edwards said for the estate to get almost $90,000 and the county nothing, "I believe is an inequitable way to treat the county."
The next report came from Sheriff Raul Villanueva. He said his office during the month of September received 1,500 calls, including 103 incident reports, 17 crashes, 15 domestic violence calls, 40 animal complaints, 62 welfare checks, about which he said the department has been dealing with a lot of repeat calls and many involve mental health issues.
He went into great detail on the training that his deputies are receiving and participating in. He named the programs and the deputies. The trainings include threat assessment and threat management, first line supervisor training, intoxilyzer training, training to deal with sexual assault, selective traffic enforcement, crash report training, mental illness training and executive leadership trining.
In cases of interest, he listed a stranded motorist search and rescue of a female and her young children on Sept. 3. They were rescued after dark and brought into town to get a room for the night.
On Sept. 6, deputies were dispatched to Mimbres in regard to an aggravated assault with a knife. The female was placed under arrest for aggravated assault against a household member, aggravated assault and battery.
On Sept. 10, a male attempted suicide. His mother found him and he was flown out with a gunshot would. The status of the male was not known at that time.
On Sept. 15, a deputy noticed a vehicle failing to make a complete stop. The deputy stopped the vehicle and upon approaching it saw a clear plastic baggie in plain view with a crystal-like substance in it. The driver was arrested and charged with position of a controlled substance.
On Sept. 18, deputies were called to a welfare check. A male accused his wife of cheating and began to beat her. The male was arrested and was found to have a baggie with presumed methamphetamine. The male was charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault on a household member, aggravated assault and possession of a controlled substance.
Operation Stonegarden fiscal year 2022 is still active. "We are concentrating resources on Highway 180 East and West along with highways 61 and 152. Transnational criminal organizations have chosen these routes to avoid detection in order to gain access to travel northward. A rise in undocumented person continues to be an issue in Silver City and is now in Catron County. We still continue to utilize resources in the Hachita area and on Highway 90."
The sheriff said the department is currently waiting for two new fully equipped law enforcement vehicles. "We are in the process of purchasing six new vehicles. With the purchase of these vehicles, we will begin to decommission older and high mileage vehicles."
Holding career days and having a sign-on stipend brought applications. "We have hired two certified former deputies, who will start on Oct. 16."
Villanueva noted the busiest day of the month was Friday, Sept. 13 with a 19 percent higher call volume than other days. The busiest time are from 9 a.m. -10 a.m., with a 6.3 percent higher call volume than other times.
At the work session, Finance Director Linda Vasquez presented the expenditure report, which was later approved at the regular meeting on Thursday.
The expenditure report covered the period from Sept. 7, 2023 to Oct. 2, 2023. Expenditures totaled $3,593,964.19, which included payroll periods 18 and 19 totaling $456,644.19.
Extraordinary expenses above $10,00 are included in the following PDF graph.
Chief Procurement Officer Veronica Rodriguez presented the asset deletion/transfer request at the regular meeting after elected official reports.
They included the transfer of a 2005 Ford Ranger from the Planning Department to the Road Department.
Deletions included obsolete equipment and broken furniture.
Commissioners approved the transfer and deletions at the regular meeting.
The final article will address the rest of the agenda.
For the previous articles, please visit: https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/80944-grant-county-commission-holds-work-session-101023-part-1 ; https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/81097-grant-county-commission-holds-work-session-101023-part-2 ; https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/81122-grant-county-commission-holds-work-session-101023-part-3 ; https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/81142-grant-county-commission-holds-work-session-101023-part-4 ; and https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/81157-grant-county-commission-holds-work-session-101023-and-regular-meeting-101223-part-5 .