Bayard proceeding with negotiations for the golf course

By Lynn Janes

The  Bayard Town Council held a regular meeting August 19, 2026. Attendance included Mayor John L. Ojinaga, Mayor Pro Tem Eloy Gonzales, Councilors Eloy Medina, Gilbert Ortiz and Charles Gray. Martha Salas, city clerk, also attended.

The council started with a public hearing concerning the change of ownership for the liquor license at the Food Basket. Salas said this would only be a change in ownership and the name would remain the same. No one from the public had any input and the hearing closed

The council started their regular meeting

The council approved the agenda.

Public input

John Saenz asked when the Conex container would be moved from the little league field. Due to it being public comment, the council and mayor could not answer.

The council approved the consent agenda that included meeting minutes from July 15, 2026, and August 12, 2026. It also included department head reports and attendance of wastewater employees to attend the New Mexico Water and Wastewater school. It also included the police chief attending an FBI supervisors' leadership institute and volunteer firefighters attendance to the annual New Mexico Fire Service Conference.

Eloy Gonzales had a question about accounts payable and the insurance fund. Salas explained it has been broken up and distributed between the departments. The insurance increases 10-15 percent each year.

Gray questioned sending the police chief to the training and maybe it should be for first line supervisors. Hector Carrillo, police chief, said captains could attend. He then explained who the training would be for. It has three parts, supervisor, command and executive. This training will enhance leadership skills but enables chiefs to run a better department in those three aspects. He does have some plans that will be presented to the council in the next month or so. He felt he could always be a better leader and person for the department. Gray continued to feel this should be for an up and coming leaders. Carrillo continued to address the reasons for him to attend but the class had been full, and he could not register and did not need the approval. He added they would have future ones and said he would outline in more detail why he should attend and why he would be wanting to send other supervisors to different trainings in New Mexico. Gray told Carrillo, "You are a very polished guy, and your credentials are beyond compare."

New business

The council approved the liquor license change of ownership for the Food Basket.

Jason Godfrey, Better Cities, had joined online to provide a presentation. He had 31 slides in his presentation that Salas had emailed to the council before for the Foy land vision plan. They went over the priorities of the project that would address housing and business opportunities. Salas said the next steps would be to approve the plan and start looking for the funding for infrastructure to move forward with the project. Freeport McMoRan had donated $58,000 for the master plan. Godfrey went over the plan with the council using the slides and pointed out the places they could start developing and the areas in a flood plain that would be addressed later. The council approved the vision plan as presented.

The next item on the agenda took place at a previous meeting. (Note: This information this writer obtained from those meeting minutes) Nancy Stephens, County Commissioner for District 3 and the Chair of the Southwest Solid Waste Authority Board, said the rate increases would be necessary because there has not been planning for contingency and the authority needs a reserve of debt capacity required by the State. Laurence Maldonado from Solid Waste in Albuquerque presented an independent review and budget analysis. This increase being doubled from last fiscal year will be minimally adequate to meet the needs of the landfill. On July 20th the Authority sent letters to each municipality, including City of Bayard, for which the increase will be $22,500 per month. The Authority Board did vote unanimously on the increases.

Ernie Beyers, Vice President of Universal Waste, spoke about the Solid Waste Authority. There has not been a rate increase in over 20 years. Beyers had to get equipment fixed and employees an increase to make an honest living. The landfill also needs to expand its space. Rates will include an annual CPI increase. Beyers will be obtaining back up equipment, if one would break now the landfill would have to shut down. A grand opening will be held next month. The new part of the landfill will be named after Eric Sanchez who worked at the landfill and has passed away.

The council approved the acceptance for proposals for livestock grazing on the Foy land Bayard had purchased. Medina asked if she would be presented with contracts, business plans or resumes. Salas said she would think they would be business proposals. She had five people already reach out to her about leasing the land for cattle grazing. A contract would be required, and the vision plan would have to be considered. The council would be approving the contract.

The council approved the recommended maintenance contract for the HVAC system at the community center. Salas presented two options to the council. One option would be $10,498 a year the second option had her recommendation would be $5,675 a year. They will come twice a year, and it would be a full inspection and maintenance including preventative maintenance. It would also include all supplies needed. This company is also the same one that installed the system.

The council approved to proceed with the land exchange agreement with Freeport McMoRan (FMI). Salas said they have a portion of the Foy land that they could not do much with because of the terrain and FMI owns property next to it. FMI has proposed a land swap offering a portion behind Cobre Schools and would be about 197 acres. She wanted to move forward with a survey and then appraisal. The land behind Cobre could be easily developed for housing. She had reached out to the New Mexico Finance Authority and received approval to use some of the funding they have on the exchange.

The council approved to proceed with negotiations and due diligence for the city acquisition of the Cobre Golf Course. Verenice Gutierrez, Cobre superintendent, provided a little background. She had been here two months now and one thing handed over to her had been the golf course. In her research she found out the district did not have the resources to maintain it. The maintenance department has not been trained to maintain it and with the current financial situation they can't afford the costs. She had discussed this previously with Ojinaga, Senator Gabriel Ramos and Representative Luis Terrazas. The Cobre board will be willing to negotiate an agreement. The equipment would stay with the golf course. Gutierrez will be contacting the county to take it over if Bayard does not. Salas said she would like to see it stay in Bayard. Gray said he always has seen a lot of the residents taking advantage of the golf course.

Gray wanted to recognize Brad Holmgren who had attended. He has been instrumental in maintaining the golf course for years. Gray thanked him but did express concern about the city's limited resources. "They already can't keep up with what they have." The golf course would require a lot of attention. Eloy Gonzales said the maintenance department was very capable. Sam Arellano, public works director, had said he would be able to care for it. Salas wanted to address the comment made by Gray and the maintenance department not keeping up. City hall had a lot of phone calls from people complaining about the weeds. "We have had a lot of rain, and the weeds are nonstop. Our maintenance is doing a good job and are hustling."

Gutierrez wanted to add something. They have been working on the rebuilding of the high school and how do they do it, a complicated process. They will need to determine what will happen with the golf course in consideration of where they place the new school. She will be moving forward with the project. A bond had been passed and promises made to the community. She felt that they could start building in late 2029 with a completion in spring of 2031. If the city takes over the golf course that plot of land will no longer be in consideration for the rebuild. Currently they have 30 students interested in the golf program.

Gray said he had not been denigrating the parks department but merely pointing out they have been doing everything they could to do with the resources they have. He understood the rain brings a lot of work and they do miracles with what they have. Holmgren said by himself he spent about 10 hours a week on the golf course.

The council approved Stantec's task order for the asset management plan. Salas said they had received $223,000 for the project and Stantec has provided a quote of $199,540. Salas said this would be for the whole water system in Bayard. This plan will be required when Bayard goes for funding.

The council postponed the EMS medical director agreement until the next meeting as Salas recommended. Salas said it had not been reviewed at this time by the council. She has still been waiting for Hurley's attorney to review it and approve it before she passed it on to the council. No changes had been made.

Ordinances and resolutions

The council approved resolution 22-2026 to sell or dispose of nonessential vehicles and equipment. Salas had provided a list to the council. It will be taken out to bid for the people before they try to dispose of the items. It will be put out for sealed bids and advertised in the paper.

The council approved resolution 23-2026 authorizing the application to the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission and Water Trust Board for water system improvements. Salas said this would allow her to submit applications and they already have the design, and it will be ready for construction. This will be for new water meters.

The council approved the intent to amend Bayard code 4060, landfill services to establish a solid waste fee based on regular landfill operations charges. The current ordinance only allows for CPI (consumer price index) increases. The landfill fee will be doubling what they currently pay. This will be published to the public and allow a period of public input.  At the next council meeting she will present the ordinance amended for approval. October will be the roll out for the new fee of approximately $30 per customer.

Department head reports

Stephen Estrada, wastewater director, has had a lot of call outs due to the storm activity, trip breakers, equipment issues and power outages. Dement Electric had done a complete rebuild of the aeration blower so now all five blowers are working. He went on to talk about the other maintenance they had done on the system in detail.

Gabriel Gonzales, fire chief, said they had responded to 4 fire incidents. They had answered 45 calls for service, 29 calls in Bayard and 16 in Hurley. The department has been focusing on wildland fire training and had a mock fire incident for the training. They had assisted in the Cobre Summerfest. The department does not have any current restriction but advised the public to submit burn permits if they will be doing any burning. Two probationary members have been added and two members that have passed certification for emergency medical responder. All but two firefighters have been EMS credentialed. Bayard volunteer fire department has the highest number of credentialed members in this volunteer sector.

Carrillo said the schools have started again and the department attended Summerfest. They have been conducting walk throughs in all three schools. Each officer has been assigned during their day shift to do a walkthrough. Every month Carrillo reports the number of calls that the sheriff's department has had to take, and his goal has been zero. In July they only had to respond to one of the calls. The department did have a call the sheriff's office did assist them on. They had 171 calls for service. Currently they had six dogs at the animal shelter. He has been working on a MOU (memorandum of understanding) with Hurley during the construction of the animal shelter in Bayard. Last month they had been recognized by Best Friends Animal Society as a no kill shelter with a plaque. The shelter had achieved the no kill status by exceeding the safe rate of 90 percent or more adoptions.

Medina asked about the person that had been making excessive calls spoken about at the last meeting and if they had reached out to them. Carrillo said they had not had any more calls from the person since the last meeting. Medina asked that they touch base with them to close the loop.

Salas said they would be having their first movie in the park the following Friday and will start around 8:00 pm, sundown. A different movie will be shown every other week. She listed dates and movies going into October.

September 19, 2026, will be national cleanup day and it will be done with the grant they received. Dumpsters will be provided in Bayard, Hurley and Santa Clara. They will remain there from September 8-20, 2026. A reminder will be provided to the residents on their water bill. Each municipality will have a designated day and mayors, council members and volunteers can help. Bayard will be October 16, 2026.

Mayor and council reports

Eloy Gonzales recognized all the department heads. Although they have some calls complaining at the same time, they have received calls praising them. He appreciated all the hard work they had done and proud of the way the city has been run.

Medina did not have anything to report.

Gray said the beautification committee will be planning an event October 31, 2026, at the community center along with a double bucket candy drop. He hoped they would have a car show along with the cookout and Mariachis. The committee will also sponsor a Bingo oon September 20, 2026. The cheerleaders have been invited to Europe by All-American Cheer, and it will be expensive so the committee will be helping with fundraising.

Ortiz had attended a volleyball game at Cobre High School. One of the girls with the visiting team had been injured and the fire department had been there on the spot to care for her. Ortiz thanked them.

Ojinaga addressed the plans they have for the golf course. He thanked the maintenance and fire departments. They had been working cleaning the drains so the rain could run off.

Next meeting will be held September 16, 2026, at 4:30 pm

Meeting adjourned.