Front Page News

By Mary Alice Murphy

The Grant County Commission held a special meeting on Aug. 20, 2024, to consider an appointment to the Gila Regional Medical Center board of trustees to replace a member who left before his term ended.

Two applicants had applied for the position, Gail Stamler and Don W. White.

District 3 Commissioner Alicia Edwards moved to appoint Stamler and she was approved.

Photos by Lynn Janes
Article by Mary Alice Murphy

Romeo CruzSilver City-Grant County Chamber of Commerce Director Romeo Cruz at the August monthly luncheon on Aug. 8, 2024, introduced Grant County Prospectors President Carlos Lucero.

Carlos Lucero"Thank you so much for being here to support our lieutenant governor, Howie Morales, today," Lucero said "I just want to talk to everybody a little bit about the Prospectors. The Prospectors is a community organization that advocates for the needs of Grant County. We do that by hosting our legislative forum, usually in November, where presenters have the opportunity to speak to our legislators one-on-one, and then we provide the legislators information when it gets up to the Roundhouse, so they can know exactly what our community needs. And then we also host a Grant County Day each year in Santa Fe to have the opportunity for everybody in Grant County to attend and see what does happen up there at our legislature. So thank you all for being here. We really appreciate it. Our officers for the Grant County Prospectors this year is myself as the president, Romeo and Bart Roselli, our first and second vice presidents, and then our treasurer is Vladimir Gnilozubov, and our secretary is Misty Pugmire."

By Lynn Janes

On January 2, 2025, Western New Mexico University faculty senate held a virtual meeting. Dr. Phil Schoenberg called the meeting to order, and the agenda  was approved. All senators attended.

Schoenberg had a few comments to make before the special meeting started. He welcomed all senators, WNMU staff and guests. He thanked everyone for their interest in the proceeding. For people not familiar with what role the faculty senate has, Schoenberg explained. He read the powers of the senate out of the faculty handbook.

The powers of the faculty senate have been delegated as the general assembly and approved by the board of regents. It also would be the ones implied by its existence as a university to preserve, augment, criticize, transmit knowledge and to foster creative capacities. The senate can unilaterally initiate investigations and discussion of items in its domain. Schoenberg said: "That is what we will  be  doing today."

By Mary Alice Murphy

[Editor's Note: This article continues the Grant County Commission Aug. 6, 2024 work session and completes the Aug. 8, 2024 regular meeting.]

County Manager Charlene Webb began the review of the Grant County Commissioner Aug. 8, 2024 regular meeting agenda at the work session on Aug. 6, 2024.

Public input took place at the regular meeting. Simon Wheaton Smith spoke, as a private citizen, to the essential air service contract. "My personal recommendation is to go with Advanced Air for a four-year contract, not a two-year contract. I have worked as a pilot, a manager, and as an FAA operations inspector. I have experience in managing air carriers and as an inspector I have certified air carriers. Although I have nothing negative to say about either air carrier, I do have positive things to say about Advanced Air. I've chatted with their pilots and I was very impressed with their knowledge and attitude. If it's not broken, I do not recommend fixing it and that's another reason why I recommend a four-year contract."

By Lynn Janes

The Silver City Town Council held a regular meeting December10, 2024. Attendance to the meeting included Mayor Ken Ladner, Mayor Pro Tem Guadalupe Cano, and Councilors Nicholas Prince, Rudy Bencomo and Stan Snider.

The fir fighters for the Silver City Fire Department presented Fire Chief Milo Lambert with a plaque of appreciation and special firefighter axe. Many of the department attended for the presentation but Ben Schlamb made the presentation. He commented that it had been a very challenging four years for the fire department. Many of the personnel had moved or left to pursue other endeavors. It had left the crew to work a lot of overtime to continue to provide Silver City with a trained emergency response team.

By Lynn Janes

The Village of Santa Clara held a regular meeting December 12, 2024. Mayor Arnold Lopez called the meeting to order. Mayor Pro Tem Albert Esparza, trustees, Peter Erickson, Olga Amador and Ralph Trujillo attended.

Mayors report

Lopez commented on how busy Larry Montoya, fire chief, had been with EMS calls and thanked him. He asked if it had just been for Santa Clara and Montoya said it had been the tri-city area.

Lopez gave an update on the renovations of the animal shelter and said they would be having the new flooring and carpet installed on December 20, 2024.

The sidewalk project has almost been finished and the students from Aldo Leopold charter school will be planting trees. Rosemary Arciero, code enforcement officer, said they had to do a ramp also and fill in some asphalt to finish the project.

By Mary Alice Murphy

At the Grant County Commission work session on Aug. 6, 2024, commissioners heard two presentations. The first was from Boutique Air, a former essential air service provider to the Grant County Airport, and the second from Advanced Air, the present EAS provider.

Eitan Spiegal and Nadim El Khoury presented for Boutique. The company began in 2009. It is a "reliable daily air service with 100 employees across the country." They cited safety, reliability, customer service and technology as their focus. They fly Pilatus PC-12s, which are 8-passenger planes, with two passengers that can be put in the back. The cabins are pressurized and climate controlled. They cruise at 300 miles per hour. They have in-cabin storage space and a large TSA secure cargo compartment. and an enclosed lavatory. They had two proposals, the first with 24 roundtrips to Albuquerque and the second proposal with 18 weekly round trips to Albuquerque and eight weekly round trips to Phoenix, which could be expanded to 12 weekly. Their reliability for the past two years has been 99.66 percent and no fatalities. Their objective is to provide consistent air service year round. The goal would be to have 70 percent load factor by their second year in Silver City. The airline has a voucher program for purchasing multiple tickets at a lower price and uses robust marketing for their flights..Their flights are available on all major global distribution systems and travel agencies. It also has a interline agreement with American Airlines with baggage transfer.

By Lynn Janes

The Silver City Consolidated Schools held a work session and regular meeting December 16, 2024. Members in attendance Ashley Montenegro, Michelle Diaz (came an hour into the meeting), Patrick Cohn, Mike McMillan and Kimberly Klement. Superintendent William Hawkins also attended.

Work session

Peter Morrison, Goodside Health chief strategic officer , had a presentation for outlining the services they will provide. They have over a thousand schools in Texas and have been expanding into New Mexico and now have 50 schools here.

Goodside Health provides pediatric services in partnership with UnitedHealth Medicaid program. They also work with other insurance providers. The nurses will have the ability to use their telehealth kiosk to connect with their health care providers for students and staff. Parents will have the option to join in on the visit, making it a three-way call. They will also come on to the campuses periodically for wellness care services.