By Lynn Janes
The town of Hurley held a special meeting March 19, 2024. Attendance to the meeting included Mayor Ed Stevens, councilors Nanette Day, Reynaldo Maynes, Keana Huerta, and James Langley.
Public input
Representative Luis Terrazas attended to give the council an update on the legislative session. They had a successful budget for obtaining funding for Grant County in the amount of $83 million. "Because of the recent redistricting done in Santa Fe our area only has one representative and 2 senators." The two senators he referred to are Senators Crystal Diamond Brantley and Siah Correa-Hemphill. The three had worked together to provide Hurley with $250,000 for the recreation center. Terrazas said not one legislator does this on their own.
Terrazas told them that phase one of the highway project should be starting any time. It will be from the town limits of Bayard to the railroad track in Hurley. It had not started before because of an error in the paperwork requiring it have to be sent out for bid a second time. He went over some of the other projects for the area.
As a representative he has what they call junior money to use for local projects. He had focused that on libraries, El Refugio and SASS (Sexual Assault Support Services)
Terrazas and another representative had obtained $328 million for license plate readers for southern New Mexico. When he had spoken to the state police and asked them what they needed that had been the request.
The bill for return to work passed. Terrazas said he had worked on that for four years. It allows someone who has retired from their state-held position for return to work after 90 days and not lose their pension. Police officers that have retired can come back and help the new officers. They can't come back at their same level and have to start from the bottom, but they will also be paying into the pension fund.
Terrazas mentioned the issues happening with the Public Education Department (PED) and commented that control needs to be local with the school boards and government.
A lot of people have been struggling to keep up with the rising cost of groceries, gas, utilities. These problems affect everyone. "I am sensitive to bills that will cost people more." The new clean transportation fuel standards bill will cost New Mexicans 38-50 cents more per gallon of gas because of this bill. Many people in New Mexico live below the poverty level and this will directly affect them.
A bill for paid medical leave had been introduced that sounded good but how it had been written would have hurt everyone. It would have meant a mandatory payroll deduction for all. Terrazas had asked for calculations of the cost to everyone and had been told they would do that after the bill passed. It did not pass.
Maynes asked Terrazas about the 4-day school legislation that had passed. He said originally, they had let it go through with the stipulation that it could not be used by the PED to enforce the 4-day requirement with non-funding. Michelle Lujan Grisham did a line item veto on that portion. Terrazas said, "We need local control."
Langley had some comments about the new highway construction. Terrazas said the highway to Deming has been a main corridor for industry and transport of goods to the area. He said it would help the economy of the area. "We need to focus on what will bring economic development." He added having a welcome center in Hurley would be great and help the town.
Stevens had a question about the return to work bill. He wanted to know if they would be paying into a second retirement. Terrazas said no they would be paying into their current retirement account.
The council approved the consent agenda which included department reports and regular meeting minutes. Some of the department heads gave short reports to the council.
Lori Ortiz, clerk/treasurer, asked if the council had any questions concerning the financial statements. No one had any questions. She said she and Darlene McBride, deputy clerk, had met with the person heading up the project being done by some students from Aldo Leopold School. They had planted trees on E Street and cleaned up the park. They had not been able to finish what had been planned due to weather. They would like to come back and finish the project and will write up a proposal and present it to the council.
Ortiz had sent out an application to the transportation project fund to do a study on the feasibility to do upgrades on Cobre Mesa Estates. All work had stopped, and the property had been auctioned off. The subdivision has 30-40 lots undeveloped. This study would look at doing roadways, drainage, gutters, etc. Someone had come forward wanting to build on the lots but had become ill and backed out. Stevens said if they had infrastructure, it might have more interest from someone to develop it.
Ortiz said they have been busy working on the budget and have contacted all department heads and asked what needs they had. She asked the council to also contact her with anything they wanted to include. They have been working on the welcome packet and have asked for input from the departments to make sure and include everything they felt that would be important.
Langley asked what the new fees will be for the residents for trash pick-up. Ortiz said the mayor had asked for her to wait a few months and see what the true costs would be before the residents had to pay an increase. They had decided on 3-4 months to get a good average. Langley said, "So you are just going to add the actual cost increase?" Ortiz said yes.
The council approved the purchase order to Rascals Electric for the electrical update at the animal shelter. Jason Cox, animal control officer, had tried to get quotes for some time and had finally been able to get two and this had been the lowest.
The council approved moving forward with the zoning designations. They will contact the municipal league for guidance and Ortiz said they would have to have public hearings on the proposed zoning.
The council approved the intent to adopt 11-K of the animal control ordinance pending addition of the correct wording regarding the zoning. They will be contacting an attorney for assistance. Day said she had met with Cox and Christian McGuinness, police chief, and they had gone through the ordinance to close any loopholes. Ortiz has spoken to the attorney and had been advised that until they had a zoning ordinance that language had to be taken out of the proposed animal control ordinance.
The council briefly discussed the recreation improvements. Huerta has looked into a few things but didn't have any information to provide at that time. Langley said they should contact the engineers about the possibility of installing solar for the pool. Maynes asked Ortiz if she had any information on the fencing for the E Street Park. Ortiz asked him to remind her, they had been working on the budget.
The council went into closed session to discuss the police department.
The council came back into open session.
The council approved the completion of probation period for McGuinness and training in Georgia provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They also discussed sending him to the municipal league training for law enforcement in Albuquerque. The training will be paid with law enforcement funding.
The council tabled the discussion about hiring a human resource consultant to review and update the personnel policy. Ortiz and Langley spoke on using the municipal league guidance, but Day wanted to contract a professional service for the review. Ortiz said they could put together a committee to find a service. She added that the policies had not been updated for many years.
Mayor and councilors reports
Langley wanted to propose holding work sessions between each meeting because they have so many projects happening.
Ortiz said they would have to have a special meeting to discuss the budget. The council tentatively decided on April 30, 2024. They set a work session discussion of the Big Muddy for May 21, 2024, tentatively.
Some discussion took place about needing exact information for agenda items. It slows down the process, because, without the information, they must wait until the next meeting.
Maynes said a resident had a problem with the trash pickup. He thanked maintenance for stepping in to help. Langley pointed out by doing that it will cause problems because everyone will expect it. Ortiz pointed out maintenance doing it went against the anti-donation policy. Stevens said it had been an act of kindness.
Next regular meeting will be May 14, 2024, at 5:00 pm
Meeting adjourned.