By Lynn Janes
The town of Hurley had a regular meeting August 11, 2026. Reynaldo Maynes, Aron Phillips, Ester Gil, and Jason Cox attended. Robert Candelaria did not attend.
Public input
Archi Padilla came to ask the council to pass the TNR (trap neuter release) resolution on the agenda. A lot of work had been put into it, and she thanked them for their support.
Arlene Lucero wanted to thank them for the TNR resolution, and she hoped it passed. Hurley will be the first in the county to enact this worthwhile compassionate resolution.
Joanie Connors said she had moved here 20 years ago from Fayetteville, Arkansas and at that time it had been a policy of the humane society to do TNR. She had been involved with the program and trapped about 30 cats without any problems. The community had been grateful.
The council approved resolution no. 7-2026/2027 to accept the fiscal year 2025 audit after the presentation by the auditor. Dahlila Garcia, Beasley Mitchell and Company joined online to provide a presentation.
First would be the independent auditors report that would be the scorecard for Hurley. It says it audited the financial statements and each major fund. The opinion of the auditor said the documents had been presented fairly in all material respects and they do not have any reservations of the financial statements. The other report would be the audit of the internal controls, and they had a few findings. Another finding had been repeated and considered significant deficiencies. The auditor still had an unmodified opinion, the best they could receive.
Garcia then went over the findings that needed to be corrected. In the prior year they had three findings, and one had been resolved. Two repeated and considered modified. They had one new one this year with the bank statements reconciliations not coinciding with the trial balance of the DFA (Department of Finance Authority) report. She assured that this did not mean the money had been misused. The next finding concerned the town exceeding the budget in water fund and wastewater fund. This did not mean they ran out of cash but had just exceeded what had been budgeted. The town should be reviewing their expenditures throughout the period and posting adjustments. None of these had been of concern. The last finding had to do with outstanding checks and deposits. Checks not being cashed should be followed up on and should be voided and reissued and possibly reverted to the state for unclaimed property.
Garcia said the audit had been approved by the state several months ago and for different reasons had not been able to present it to the council. It had been submitted on time and the town has 100 percent compliance. The next audit has already been started. Darlene McBride, town clerk, provided some explanations for the reason of some of the findings.
The council approved resolution no. 8-2026/2027 and no. 9-2026/2027 authorizing the application to the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission and Water Trust Board. Priscilla Lucero, Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments director, came to explain the applications to the council. She knew many on the council were, new and she wanted to provide a full presentation of the project and what they would be reporting to the legislative interim committee.
This project had started n 1987 to regionalize the water, now moving forward to today. The New Mexico Unit money will be coming from a settlement coming to Grant County, Luna County, Hidalgo County and Catron County for water conveyance projects. These grants will not require matching funds or a loan component, it will be a 100 percent grant. This application will be for the remaining 40 percent design of the entire regional project. The 60 percent of the design had already been funded in the amount of $3 million. She spoke to the work being done to connect Hanover to Santa Clara because of the many years of water problems. An emergency pipeline had been tied into Bayard for Hanover, but they have been capped at the number of gallons they could provide per month. She continued with the challenges the mining district has had with water.
The New Mexico Unit Fund would be used for the well they would be drilling from the water rights donated to the town by Freeport McMoRan. They had already received funding but needed additional funding to finish.
The system will not just be the mining district and in the end will be a secondary source of water for the entire county stretching from Hurley to Tyrone. Each municipality will retain ownership of the water rights and system. Maynes asked her to address the 40-year water plan. Lucero said she has been the water ambassador for New Mexico and has been working with the water in the state for 40 years. In a recent report from the state engineer it says that the state has some municipalities running out of water. The state will be short 750,000 acre-feet of water. This project will be happening because of the collaboration and partnership of the communities to have a lifelong supply. Lucero continued with the history of this project and what had been done to move it forward through the years.
The council approved task order number 14 for the asset management plan. McBride said at a prior meeting they had been awarded $228,936 and this allows Stantec to start the plan, and their projected fee will be $204,657.94. Lucero wanted to add a comment. The asset management plan will be required for all future funding they would be applying for. The reason will be to ensure you have an inventory of all pipelines, age, and composition. This inventory will assist in replacement when needed. Through the years that knowledge becomes lost, and nobody remembers what kind of pipe had been installed and when. It maps the utility lines within the community.
The council tabled resolution no. 10-2026/2027 supporting the TNR program. Cox abstained from the vote. McBride said as part of the ordinance passed in June it had a stipulation that within 120 days of that ordinance, they have a resolution approved with an entity approved by the council. McBride had worked on the agreement with Padilla and how they would be educating the public. The council tabled the resolution to review the implementation plan and pamphlet that they provided to ensure it lines up with the ordinance.
The council approved the police clerk's attendance to the New Mexico property and evidence technicians annual conference. Interim Police Chief Aaron Ordonez spoke to the importance of the training. He felt this has been overlooked in the past and it will be a necessity. He went over the training she would be receiving.
The council approved retaining the library funding in the budget for the fiscal year 2026-2027. Maynes said they should keep it but on a volunteer basis. He added especially since the utilities would be going up.
The council approved the consent agenda that included meeting minutes and department head reports with the excepting of the library report. McBride wanted to let the council know that as part of the Copper Collaborative they will be doing a community cleanup on October 9, 2026, and April 9, 2027. A website had been done for the Copper Collaborative, https://miningdistrictpride.com/. They also have a Facebook page and Instagram page under Mining District Pride.
Maynes said he had spoken to Blas Rodriguez, maintenance director, and they have been coming to work a little earlier because of the all the weeds coming out. He had noticed it had not been included in the report.
Mayor and council reports
Phillips did not have anything to report currently.
Gill said she had talked to Rodriguez and the department have been working on the cemetery and trying to keep the weeds down. Some of the markers had fallen and she hoped in the future they could be remarked.
Cox had attended a training at the Gila Community Foundation on procurement. First part of the day had been reviewed and the second part they had provided a lot of useful information.
Maynes had attended the Corazon event (car show) in Hurley the previous weekend. Although hot, they had a good turnout and weather. He had also attended Summerfest at Cobre Schools and thought it had been a great event for the kids. A lot of free school supplies had been provided. It included a car show.
The board went into closed session to discuss personnel matters related to the police department.
The board came back into open session.
The next regular meeting will be September 8, 2026, at 5:00 pm
Meeting adjourned.
