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Category: Front Page News Front Page News
Published: 27 October 2019 27 October 2019

[Editor's Note: This may be abbreviated because of the sheer length of the meeting but will likely be several articles. This is the first.]

By Mary Alice Murphy

The first item of business was the Gila Regional Medical Center monthly report.

Chief Executive Officer Taffy Arias:
We are very excited about the past month. One of the most exciting things was our participation in the Mimbres Valley Harvest Festival and Health Fair. The hospital hadn't participated in five years. We, led by our nursing leadership Chief Nursing Officer Rose Lopez, took several folks. We had Native Air and an EMS crew. We had Roberta "Bertie" Berry with the Stop the Bleed program. Bonnie Stone was there as a diabetes teacher. Pediatrician Dr. Andre Worrell was there, as well as surgeon Dr. "Butch" Rosser who gave a 1½-hour presentation on GERD and heartburn. Chris DeBolt, who helped organize the health fair, did an excellent job. We are hoping to be more involved with community activities such as this.

Last month, the GRMC Auxiliary celebrated the first of its 50th anniversary activities at its annual awards banquet. They put on a video show of the history of the hospital and the auxiliary. It shows the tremendous dedication these volunteers bring to the hospital. They are putting others above their own interests. On Oct. 28, they will hold a reception in the courtyard from 2-4 p.m.

The GRMC Foundation is still looking for a director and grant writer.

Nursing is active in programs, such as the new teleneurology and telephysch in the emergency department. The latter is credentialing right now. The programs will be extended into the inpatient part of the hospital. We are looking at other opportunities for telemedicine, such as pediatrics and surgery to be able to go out into the rural areas with them.

Dr. Rosser will be on a two-hour radio show and will speak to Rotary and to the Silver City-Grant County Chamber of Commerce. He already has 140 patients lined up for procedures. He's waiting for special equipment (which at the most recent Board of Trustees meeting, it was announced, the hospital has received). He is a visionary and wants to expand his services. He and his wife are very committed to the community.

Chief Financial Officer Richard Stokes:
I have mixed results for August. In excess expenditures over revenue, we experienced a $356,000 loss, which gives us a $279,000 loss year to date, compare to a loss of $338,000 last year at this time. EBIDA (earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization) is a positive $175,000 year to date. Cash collections were at 29 percent, with cash to net revenue at 123 percent.

We've been cleaning up the balance sheet. In a hospital, we make certain assumptions and accruals. We have gone through all the more than 100 balance sheets and are finding issues. Patient receivables is the largest part. We will bring it to zero for various reasons. We have hired a company to look at all the balance sheets and to look at administrative denials. This is not normally seen in smaller hospitals, but we are filling the hole.

Dr. Rosser is driven, but we don't want anyone to think we are paying more attention to him. All our surgeons are important to us.

We should receive this week a TNE (Trans nasal esophageal) machine to examine the esophagus for those at risk for cancer or other disorders. The next piece is coming from Medtronics. We will have to train the nurses and staff on how to use it. We expect it to be operational by the middle of November. With patients lined up, we expect the payoff time to be short.

Collections in August were $4.88 million, up from July. Days cash on hand were 23 at the end of August. We have 45 days in accounts receivable. Our goal is 40.

We are feeling the effects of losing the $5 million in safety net care pool funding. We will take the $2 million they are offering, but it leaves us still down $3 million. We would have had $8 million in cash that didn't come in but would have if the program had remained the same.

The case mix was 1.27 indicating a lower severity of illnesses. The summer months have not been good to Gila Regional. But summer is good for Silver City, because the temperatures moderate.

We are looking ahead to September, which will continue the slowdown. So far in October, we are seeing a creep up in activity. We're glad to be here for the citizens of Grant County.

Arias:
We have a new director for the ER starting on Nov. 4, and an exceptional new OR director.

We were able to do salary adjustments for CNAs, OR techs, risk therapy, registration and another one I can't remember.

No one gave public input.

Detention Center Administrator Mike Carillo:
As of Oct. 7, we had no vacancies, although we continue training for one newly hired, with two in field training, who are close to being on shifts. We are anticipating four new ones. We are working on the inmate art program and discussing promotions.

The average daily population of inmates was 97, with 98 on Oct. 7.

Commission Harry Browne:
It seems like long times in jail for special management cases.

Carillo:
Most are because of disciplinary sanctions. We are in compliance with the statute and exceeding the required amount. We try to do the Step Down program with special management inmates, but some are still a threat to themselves and others. We, staff and medical and social work representatives, determine if it's OK to let them out of restrictive housing and into the general population.

Road Superintendent Earl Moore:
It's business as usual. We're still patching and mowing.

General Services Director Randy Villa:
Advanced Air moved into the temporary terminal at the airport on Oct. 3. The transition was smooth. The abatement construction for hazmat in the regular terminal will begin Oct. 22.

Whisky Creek Volunteer Fire Station expansion is 75 percent complete. The County Wildfire Plan is in full force to get done. Work at Bataan Memorial Park continues. The concession will close down Nov. 1.

Browne:
Do people still park in the same place at the airport?

Villa:
Yes, but there will be barriers around the construction equipment. We shouldn't have parking issues. We expect to be in the temporary terminal six to seven months. We are doing staff training at the airport. We will have additional staff trained for the fire-fighting aircraft.

Browne:
Has the forest order impacted fire fighting?

Villa:
They were pretty much finished for the season. SkyTech, doing surveying, came in and gets fuel and hangar space. The airport manager is doing a great job generating revenue.

Commissioner Javier Salas:
Where are we on Bataan?

Villa:
We are setting up a schedule to begin the ADA work. The purchase order has been issued.

Salas:
Has Lordsburg approached you about resuming the Corre Caminos route?

Villa:
Not that I'm aware of.

Planning and Community Development Director Michael "Mischa" Larisch:
The Tyrone ADA contractor was scheduled to begin last Monday, so he should be mobilizing if not already started.

The applications to the Water Trust Board have been submitted. Tentatively, we will present on them in early November.

The Census Complete County Committee was one of the first to get a grant. The check's in the mail.

We are working with SkyWest Medial to ramp up the campaign starting in November, then we'll do a big push in March. We are looking to have four kiosks in the county. We are putting together a plan as to where. One will be permanently at Western New Mexico University. I will let you know where. We have radio awareness scripts already established. The timeline is for the education portion to be Nov. 1 through Dec. 31. We will begin a slow ramp up in January to mid-March. March and April, we will be very active. Then we will go into the non-response stage.

We are planning a letter of intent to the Freeport-McMoRan Community Investment Fund for trails.

For the administration center parking lot, we have a schedule to start Nov. 1.

(Commission Chairman) Chris Ponce and I met with New Mexico Department of Transportation on the rumble strips issue at Arenas Valley Road and Kirkland Road. The DOT can cover up the rumble strips at those two locations and will be working on the stop light near the Conference Center. Some can't be covered up because they are specifically non-turning, because of visibility. One example is coming east, you can turn onto Arenas Valley Road, but coming out, you're not supposed to turn left, but are supposed to go down the frontage road to where the trailer place and pole line rental is and turn there to come back westward.

Ponce:
Who does the frontage road belong to?

Larisch:
DOT.

Commissioner Billy Billings asked about trees. And we got the response I expected that they had to look at migratory birds and nesting. And if they get into the stream, they have to study the fish. They have their requirements.

Elected official reports came next.

Sheriff Frank Gomez:
We have a letter from Sgt. Manny Maldonado thanking you for your generous support to the D.A.R.E. program. Grant County brought the program back in 2009 and it has steadily grown. We have impacted more than 1,200 students. We also have new partners at the Silver City Police Department and with state police. We are meeting a more targeted audience. We have a commitment to expanding the program. We have an anonymous donor that gives us $25,000, but our expenses will grow. We spent about $30,000 last year. We had about $7,000 in uncovered expenses. To my knowledge, Grant County is the only government entity to fund the program.

Billings:
You transferred $5,000 out of the Reserve Deputy fund—twice.

Gomez:
We don't have the Reserve Deputy program right now. Usually we get the anonymous donation at the end of December. We're asking for $7,000 from the county, if possible.

County Manager Charlene Webb:
We could include it as a budget adjustment because that's what it would require. (Financial Officer) Linda (Vasquez) will be doing BARs next month.

Ponce:
What is the plan for the Reserve Deputy program? Let it go, start it up? That's why I want it on the agenda.

Gomez:
We plan to look at starting it up again. We are revamping policy.

Webb:
If we are moving money from one account to another, we don't need a budget adjustment.

Browne:
Are we funding it now?

Gomez:
If we get funding from the county, it will be the first time.

One of our deputies was traveling with his family. A fellow showed up. It went bad. A fight ensued. A state police officer stopped and gave great help to assist the deputy.

During a rainstorm, a semi and two vehicles collided. It shut down the highway.

[He listed the names of the ones that assisted.]

We thank them for assisting our deputies. Silver City Police Department was tied up with a situation on a called threat to Silver High School. A shoplifting situation happened at the same time, so Officer Villanueva and another responded. A deputy also paid for groceries for a woman and her three children, who was accused of shoplifting. She said it was for food for her family.

 

We will work with the DWI program and we will continue to offer D.A.R.E. We are also offering driving tests to benefit teens. We are working with the Western Police Academy through a cooperative agreement.

Joseph Marquez from Lordsburg started working for us. A couple more certified and one uncertified officer are coming. We are two short. Detective Adam Arellano was offered a job with the Attorney General's office, so we will be losing him.

In September, we had 23 domestic violence calls. I have created a spreadsheet on calls since January. Burglaries have decreased, but domestic violence continues to rise. We have responded to 233 crashes this year. In the past month, we've given nine driving tests. In the past month, we've also taken in 130 grams of methamphetamine and five grams of cocaine.

We continue to patrol Fort Bayard. Bayard is mostly taking care of its own. We continue to help Santa Clara. Hurley is pretty slow.

Assessor Raul Turrieta:
I yield my time to Deputy Treasurer Veronica Rodriguez.

Rodriguez:
We are now working on the 2019 tax rolls. We have received about $5.5 million for the county. We have collected 93.24 percent of 2018 taxes. We rolled everything over on Friday. By the end of October, we will mail out 2019 bills.

Commissioner Alicia Edwards:
How does 93.24 percent compare to last year?

Rodriguez:
We collected 95 percent of 2017 taxes.

Edwards:
Do we generally max out at about 95 percent?

Rodriguez:
About 10 years ago, it was at 97 percent. The big problem now is mobile homes. They move and we don't know where they went, and they haven't paid. We are working to increase that collection rate.

County Clerk Marisa Castrillo:
We are now open for early voting, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the Bayard Community Center is open Tuesday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. We are averaging about 40 voters a day. We hope it will pick up. Sample ballots are available on the website and also on the New Mexico Secretary of State website. We will mail absentee ballots, if requested.

Turrieta:
I thank my staff who are doing a fantastic job. It's a busy month. We are going over the assessment rolls. On the tax rolls, the completion of certified tax rates was done on Sept. 12, 2019. We have completed the abstract reporting. We completed the tax form abstract and it ran without errors. The Tax Increment Financing (TIF) for the town of Silver City is 9.55 percent on residential property and 3.69 on non-residential.

I just got back from the Assessors' Affiliate meeting, so I got this information from the deputy assessor. We are trying to fill vacancies. Diana Maestas is the new director.

At the New Mexico Counties board meeting, we discussed House Bill 2 appropriations. It's actually a priority to restore detention centers back to $5 million across the state. Now it's at $2.3 million. Also ,there were two big yesses to transportation and EMS funding. For law enforcement, they voted yes to increase the distribution by more than $20,000.

PERA (public employees retirement association) was shut down as a priority, but they want to increase retirement for volunteer fire departments' volunteer personnel. Probate judge salaries will be for commissions to determine. If the probate judge is not available, the clerk can also sit in for the probate judge.

HB 407 will have a couple of amendments on assessors and treasurers.

One of the biggest issues we talked about was the census. New Mexico is one of worst to be counted in the country. We are losing $3,700 per individual not being counted.

Browne:
When you said PERA was shut down by the board as a priority, it's still coming. What will it cost?

Webb:
It was the NMC board of directors opposing PERA as a priority.

Turrieta:
They also opposed as a priority PACE (programs of all-inclusive care for the elderly).

Edwards:
I am clarifying. NMC created priorities for the upcoming legislative session. PACE is not a priority, so they are opposing support for it? The Treasurers' Affiliate talked about a strategy for solvency for PERA, but the board is not supporting it? Are they not supporting the current solvency plan? Are counties at more risk?

Webb:
One of the positions of solvency is to increase what the employer and employee pay. I'm confused.

Turrieta:
The board is just not supporting it as a priority.

I attended the NMC economic development session. It was very positive.

I am looking for a couple of temporary employees, so we can continue the reappraisals.

The next article will begin with new business on the agenda.