[Editor's Note: This is part 3 of the Grant County Commission work session on Jan. 9, 2024. This begins the county director reports.]

By Mary Alice Murphy

At the Grant County Commission Jan. 9, 2024 work session, Grant County Airport Manager Rebekah Wenger gave the first report.

"I guess I'l start with our storm yesterday," Wenger said. "We were iced over and closed from 7:30 p.m. the evening before to about 1:30 yesterday afternoon. This caused several delays, and I know there is concern about the air ambulance. There is no way we could have landed a plane until the runway was clear. We do not have de-icing equipment, and bringing in the Road Department is not viable as the FAA bans it. We must have permission for the de-icing chemicals we use. So, Carlos and I have been talking about a platform where we could get enough chemicals and store them to be able to have a helicopter land and an air ambulance come in. That's something we're working on."

She talked about current projects, which included the fuel tank farm that was delayed for a couple of weeks due to unacceptable concrete work for the new tank's containment system. "It has been re-poured. I just got a text message that the tank is being lifted into place as we speak, so it can be ready for fire season. That is very exciting. Hopefully by the end of March, the project will be completed. We hope you will come out and see it."

Wenger said the next project is to get into the new administration center. "There will probably be more storms, because that seems to be what's happening every time we try to get over there," she chuckled.

"We have hired an accounting assistant," she continued. "Jasmine Prejean from Solid Waste will join the airport later this month. I look forward to having her join us to help us manage the airport. An awful lot of the knowledge is just up here (she said pointing to her brain) and we need to get it written down. We hope to make an offer this week for the Airfield Technician. For further projects, we started the design work for our airfield work to turn over the lighting system to LED lights for taxiway and the airfield. That will be a big safety improvement for the airport as well. We hope to construct that in 2025."

District 1 Commissioner and Chair Chris Ponce said: "We appreciate everything you do for the airport. Thank you."

The next report came from from the Maintenance Department.

County Manager Charlene Webb said Jason Lockett had to leave for a funeral, so she would present his report.

She noted the packet had photos of the Bataan Park old restroom demolition and the placing of the new vault toilets. The maintenance crew is currently painting the Sheriff's Office and parts are on order to remodel the back bathrooms behind the Commission Chambers. The Courthouse fire alarm installation is 80 percent complete with the conduit inspection happening that week. "Jason and his crew are also working on completing some deficiencies in the safety inspection that was conducted Dec. 7 with James Chavez from New Mexico Counties. It was the annual inspection and the deficiencies were minor and they are all nearly complete."

For future projects, they include the laundry room washer upgrades and reconfiguration at the Detention Center. Also the Bataan Park electrical service upgrade to the pavilion and vault toilets, as well as a new electric heater for the pavilion. "Now that the roof has been completed at the conference center, we can replace the ceiling tiles at Ace Hardware."

She continued with key event dates, which will include the Grant County Detention Center door sliders and closures to be replaced in February, and the GCDC HVAC replacement to tentatively start at the end of January, and the Tu Casa lift station repairs to begin Jan. 15-17. "I probably can't answer any questions, but I can relay them to Jason."

Ponce said they had no questions, but asked Webb to thank Jason for all his work.

The next report came from GCDC Administrator Joseph Andazola.

He said the Detention Center had six officer openings, with three pending offers of employment, which are awaiting their medical clearance and a start date, so that "leaves us with three openings. I'm happy to say after years of hard work by our staff, we are ready for accreditation and will be submitting that application for accreditation this month. Starting next month, I'll give you updates on how it's going. I do know that once the introductory part is over, we will be getting a username and password for a system that will let the process move more smoothly. I'll be updating our proof of practices for the 200 standards we have to do at the facility. We'll upload those proof of practices, as well as our policies and our medical policies, and the accreditation auditing will go over those online. We'll fix any deficiency and then we'll schedule a visit for an audit."

On Dec. 31, the facility had 76 detainees, with an average for the month of 78. He said that the last three weeks of December, "we got hit with the flu and that respiratory virus going around and it hit our admin office and all of us were out. That flu and virus are no joke. I still have a lingering cough five weeks later."

On the RISE program, the facility had 22 participants, with 15 in the detention center and seven in the community. "This week we are completing and will submit to the state our quarterly RISE report."

For future projects there would be a Department of Defense training in January to give a briefing on facility capabilities and operations. Cpl. Ponce completed the FTO training for booking and processing. "We are also purchasing some taser gloves and taser band and will get training. The benefit of the glove and band is they use no electric current, so they are safer. Also, as part of accreditation, we will host a training for New Mexico Counties in Grant County. We're setting up a first line officer training here in March for any counties and facilities that want to participate. We hope to host more NMC trainings in Grant County. We'll also be updating our five-year plan. I'm happy our staff has worked so hard and we're looking forward to getting the facility accredited."

District 5 Commissioner Harry Browne said after many years, he was glad "to see you getting close to accreditation."

The next article will continue county reports.

To read the previous articles, please visit https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/82291-grant-county-commission-holds-work-session-010924-part-1 ; and https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/82325-grant-county-commission-holds-work-session-010924-part-2