[Editor's Note: This second and final portion includes the business part of the meeting.]

By Mary Alice Murphy

At the Grant County Commission combined work session and regular meeting, commissioners addressed business agenda items after hearing the monthly update from Gila Regional Medical Center and county reports. The article can be read at http://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/54026-grant-county-commission-held-a-combined-work-session-and-regular-meeting-on-oct-10-2019

Commissioners approved the Santa Rita Volunteer Fire Department and Tyrone VFD applications for fire protection funding for fiscal year 2020.

Under agreements, commissioners approved the appropriation agreement from the New Mexico Aging and Long-Term Services Department in the amount of $7,883 for the purchase of commercial kitchen equipment for the Gila Senior Center. A separate capital appropriation from the same department provides $120,000 for code improvements to the Gila Senior Center.

Planning and Community Development Director Michael "Mischa" Larisch said these applications are still not written up, but they will involve a complete renovation of the kitchen. "We are now doing the agreement."

County Manager Charlene Webb said the agreement for a professional services contract between Grant County and Gallagher and Kennedy, P.A. is needed for a suit that former County Attorney Abigail Burgess brought in the spring for counties and municipalities to join and effort to go after a clawback of funding. "This is just the formal approval of the agreement. There will be no out-of-pocket expenses by the county, unless a settlement is reached, which could recoup several hundred thousand dollars for the counties and municipalities who are part of the suit.

Present attorney firm, Holt, Mynatt and Martinez, attorney Brad Springer said the agreement is in the proper form. All the provisions are laid out. "I did participate in an update on the suit. It is moving forward. It does have hard costs and fees. If there is no recovery, I believe the county would have to reimburse costs."

Webb explained that the costs of recouping the funding would be spread across all those participating in the suit.

Springer said a couple of dozen municipalities and counties were on the update call.

Commissioner Alicia Edwards asked Webb. "At the time we did this, you were comfortable given that we were likely to recover funding."

"Yes," Webb said.

The agreement was approved.

One resolution was under consideration—the amendment to Article 2.1 Vacancies of the Grant County Employee Manual—as requested by Commissioner Javier Salas.

Salas:
I want this open for discussion. I feel county employees should be given the first opportunity to be hired for vacancies. If we have a job description that says the job has to have an AA degree, but an outside person with a BA degree applies and gets the job, it may be because it is felt he is a better fit. Employees should have an incentive to move up. If not, I think dedication to the job is not as much. The policy I would like to see is that the in-house person be granted an interview. I also want to expand it from exempt to include non-exempt employees.

Ponce read the change:
It stated that the in-house person will be given an interview prior to outside advertising.

Salas:
Maybe the person can be weighted as an employee or get extra points. I know some are opposed to this for exempt employees. If the county employee is qualified he should have the first shot.

Ponce:
Exempt is an at-will employee.

Springer:
Legally, you could change it to create a preference. If you want to go more in depth with preference points, it would require an additional policy change. I suggest exempt, non-exempt and bargaining unit employees.

Edwards:
How does it work now?

Webb:
If we have a vacancy, we advertise in house first. It gives employees the first opportunity to apply. For example, we have one internal application, then it is advertised outside the county and we have an external application. We have an interview panel that interviews both of them. They score on the quality of the interview. Each applicant receives the same questions, and the scores are tallied. Each question usually can have up to 10 points. The panel considers the physical test, if required, and moral ethics are taken into consideration. The Sheriff's Department has different tests. We have a consistent scoring process now. When I came, it was in shambles, but what we have now is far more consistent than in the past. It goes back to the department head to make the determination who he or she wants to hire.

Edwards:
Is there anything in the scoring sheet that asks if the person is an employee.

Webb:
No.

Edwards:
So being a current employee is not a qualification.

Ponce:
There is an internal reference check, to make sure the employee has no disciplinary or other issues.

Edwards:
Would this include the performance evaluation? How do you address favoritism? The change that Salas asked for says granting an interview prior to advertising outside. That doesn't change anything. It seems to me that everyone interested in the position should be interviewed at the same time.

Ponce:
If the person is qualified, he or she will be interviewed.

Edwards:
The language says interviewing, not offering the job.

Commission Harry Browne:
I don't see any advantage in this language.

Salas:
The person must be qualified.

Webb:
I see puzzled faces. Over 90 percent of the vacancies have hired internal candidates. We are giving internal candidates opportunities, but we are still granting interviews at the same time to get the best employee, without having to convene two interview boards. It's efficient, because scheduling interview boards can be a challenge.

Browne:
I am in support of the current procedure. I don't think we should go back to non-exempt and just keep it to exempt positions.

Salas:
If the person is qualified and is an employee, he should be given additional advantage for being a loyal employee to be promoted to supervisor, for example.

Commissioner Billy Billings:
The incentive for the employee should be to take advantage of all the training that the county offers. If the employee has an excellent job performance, then they expect to have the opportunity to move up. What would make a mediocre employee would be if applicants knew county employees would have an advantage in moving up. It makes sense to compare candidates at the same time. I like the five days internal advertising advantage, but we all want the best employees we can hire.

Ponce:
My No. 1 goal is to develop employees. I can see both ways.

Salas:
I don't oppose interviews at the same time. In procurement, we give extra points for local vendors. We should give extra point for satisfactory employees. Just somehow give them weighted points. Once we create good training programs, it will help.

Edwards:
I think we have to be careful with the language we use in conversation. I think there is a fine line between just promoting because they work here and are faithful. The procurement process is to assure the taxpayer dollars are spent on the best contractor. I don't believe we should give weighted preference because the person is a county employee, but we should grow the employees to be the best applicant. I would like more than $2,500 in the training budget. We have to make sure our employees are competitive, not just because they are employees.

Salas:
I'm not opposed to tabling this. If we are going to grow the employee, we should table until that's done.

Edwards:
We have ongoing work on many aspects. We are reviewing the job descriptions and the salary scale.

Salas:
I don't want it to languish. I want to see action.

Edwards:
I think we are doing things.

The resolution was tabled.

Edwards:
I have a point of order. Should we have had all that discussion before the motion?

Ponce:
We did the discussion as the work session part of the meeting. I will meet with the county manager about the job descriptions.

As the Health Care Claims Board, commissioners approved $709 in claims to Gila Regional Medical Center.

Billings began the commissioner reports by saying he had nothing to report.

Salas:
I am ecstatic that we got the CDBG grant. I look forward to the planning for trails. The Outdoor Economics Conference was really good. We got to learn about great opportunities. I see the need to coordinate opportunities. I saw the possibility to help us on our trails using federal funding. Sometimes, we don't follow up on the possibilities. Can we hire or assign someone? I foresee Fort Bayard and Bataan Memorial Park being a hub.

Browne:
It was an excellent conference. I wish we had had more chance to talk about what Silver City and Grant County are doing, because we're doing a lot. I made a list of things going on in economic development. They include Creative Startups coming down, USDA economic development diversification, code starters, promoting entrepreneurs, workforce development by Silver Schools, Aldo Leopold got a grant for career development, outdoor economic development, our efforts on a trails masterplan, the Forest Collaborative is still developing, the Wild and Scenic designation, our efforts to get five significant historic sites developed, including the waterworks, history in Santa Clara, Fort Bayard, the Hurley train station, and the Big Ditch.

I appreciate every one of these efforts and they are not duplicating. We have a broad range of stakeholders incorporating all the efforts and all of us benefit. The most heartening of all was the emphasis on economic development at the conference by strengthening existing assets and natural resources and building on history and a sense of place.

Edwards:
It was a great conference. It was really important to hear all that at one time. I agree with everything you've both said. Getting the CDBG grant is exciting. I thank Charlene and Mischa for their work. Eric Gibson with Better Cities has a 30,000-foot view of the Council of Governments grant creating an entrepreneurial eco-system and revitalizing downtown Silver City. They are applying for an I-6 grant. What we need to push us over the top is money. I really believe Grant County is at a tipping point. Economic diversification is one of those things. It is not in opposition to what's here. It's an expansion. Other things are also going on. Little things are happening. Going to the Boston Hill celebration, I saw so many people going on hikes and seeing the fantastic trail work in the context and awareness of what's happening in our cultural diversity. I appreciate Martyn and Mischa for their work on Fort Bayard trails. It's not just about trails, but also soccer and baseball.

I make a pitch for a trails and open space master plan. I think it's most critical. We have to make sure everyone is participating in the planning process. Do we need an employee or a non-profit to move forward? It's less than six months until the legislators decide on funding. There are so many parallel activities happening. They are now getting ready for the future.

Ponce:
So many activities are going on. I learned a lot at the Outdoor Economics Conference. We need someone with time to write grants.

October is domestic violence awareness month.

It's great to be able to meet with state and federal officials.

Western doesn't have the golf course anymore. The town has it. We budgeted $25,000 for the course. Maybe we should have on the agenda next month to help out Silver City.

We have to figure out how to cut false alarms.

After moving to table the executive session, the meeting adjourned.