By Lynn Janes
The Silver City Town Council held a meeting October 27, 2026. Attendance to the meeting included, Counc ilorsNicholas Prince, Stan Snider, Victor Nanez and Angela Salaiz. Mayor Simon Wheaton-Smith did not attend. Prince opened the meeting and chaired. He said the mayor had a chest cold.
The council approved the agenda with the exception of tabling of the museum society MOU (memorandum of understanding). The document presented at the last meeting now has been presented substantially different. They wanted time for a full review of all the changes.
Proclamations
The town proclaimed October 27, 2026, Chiricahua Apache Day. The town recognizes the culture and achievements of all Apache people. They have lived in southwestern New Mexico, southeastern Arizona and northern Mexico and led by historic leaders ,such as Mangus. Calderone, Victorio. Geronimo and Cochise. The Apache have contributed to the rich diversity of the state and community with a preserved rich culture and traditions handed down for generations.
A group of Chiricahua Apache had attended and thanked the town for the proclamation and acknowledging their history and potential to make the community a better place with projects and events. January 23 and 24, 2027 they will be having the Red Paint Pow Wow. They also invited people to attend an exhibit at the Branigan Cultural Center in Las Cruces that opens November 7, 2026.
Council comments
Salaiz said she didn't know where to start. She addressed her continued concerns regarding communication within the town government, particularly as it relates to the museum society. She went over the things she had in past meeting comments. She had not resigned from her appointment to negotiate on the MOU and has not been aware of any action rescinding that. She had learned about significant developments through Facebook and individuals outside of town government. She had received communication from Milo Lamber, acting town manager about information she needed to carry out her responsibilities in the matter. She supported transparency but also within the government. "We cannot carry out our responsibilities effectively when pertinent information is not communicated." It would be a reasonable expectation.
Salaiz thanked Jacqui Olea, assistant town manager, for her service as acting town manager and said she had done a wonderful job and welcomed Milo Lambert as the new acting town manager.
In the last meeting Salaiz had forgotten to thank Police Chief Freddie Portillo and apologized. She had a meeting with him and his leadership team. It had been very productive. Snider and several other citizens had also been there.
Snider did not have any comments except to thank Olea and welcome Lambert.
Nanez thanked Olea and said she had done a wonderful job. He also welcomed Lambert.
Prince welcomed Lambert and continued with what he wanted to see and reminded Lambert of what he wanted to see. He added they had to move past operations running through one person and spoke to the many departments involved in the process.
The council approved the minutes from October 13, 2026, regular meeting.
Public Input
Gary Stailey agreed that Olea and Lambert have been doing a great job. At the last meeting he had made a short presentation regarding concerns about Silver Schools moving the ball fields from Benny Altamirano Sports Complex to the campus of the high school and middle school. The town had three issues involved in the school's choice. They have been a significant partner in the sports complex in they have footed the bill for water and electricity for almost 30 years. The second would be the artificial turf that would eventually end up in the landfill after its use in 10 years. He pointed out how many other places also had artificial turf that would be ending up in the landfill after it had been used up. It included Cobre, Western New Mexico University, Scott Park and others. That will be a lot of tonnage in the landfill. The third thing had addressed had to do with the general obligation bonds. When the public realizes $6 plus million of their tax dollars will be putting in artificial turf the next bond issue will suffer.
Stailey suggested a letter to the school district and county requesting a meeting before the school district pulls the trigger on the project. He said they had quite a few meetings on this issue and would be willing to facilitate something. He added that he would not be sure they would have any real dialogue between the school district, town and county.
Richard Johnson, secretary of the Silver City museum society, appreciated the MOU and went over some of the items on it. In summary, this memorandum of understanding that has been drafted reflects the shared intent of the town and the society to formalize a cooperative framework that continues to support the preservation, growth and development of the Silver City Museum. Recognizing all the time this process has taken, they look forward to finalizing an MOU as soon as possible.
Reports
Lambert thanked the council for their trust in him to hold the position and thanked them for the opportunity. He thanked Olea as well because she had spent months tirelessly operating as town manager and assistant town manager with at times a devastating lack of support. Prince said she had done a fantastic job.
Lambert had been working with Olea for the past few days and met with the council on their goals and priorities moving forward. He has also started to meet with all the departments to find out their needs.
Prince said they would be coming up on the highway 180 and 90 safety corridor. They had quite a bit of public input. He wanted the town to do as much outreach to the people as they started to move forward into the "awesome fantastic construction season". He added that everyone would be mad and frustrated but like it when it had been done.
Committee reports
Nanez said they had an application from Caro Holt for the lodgers' tax advisory board. This would fill the last position. She had attended for any questions they might have. The council approved her application.
New business
The council approved ordinance 1342 repealing and updating the court costs in the municipal code. Olea said it would be an update on fees within the unified traffic code.
The council approved resolution 2026-29 establishing a moratorium temporarily suspending the issuance of permits for data center facilities in the town of Silver City. Salaiz had brought this resolution forward. Prince commented on the resolution and had been happy to see the opposition with the county.
The council approved resolution 2026-28 for the extension of a chip seal project. Olea said they apologized to the residents in the historic district. They had a critical failure of the street sweeper that required a part from El Paso that they had to back order. This made them unable to address the chip seal project. As soon as they receive the part, they can begin the project again.
The council went into executive session for pending or threatened litigation.
The council came back into open session.
Meeting adjourned
