[Editor's Note: This is part 2 of a multi-part series of articles on the Grant County Commission work session and regular meeting.]

After hearing county reports and four presentations at the work session, Dec. 10, 2019, which can be read at https://grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/55082-grant-county-commission-holds-work-session-121019-part-1-hears-presentations, commissioners had a review of the regular meeting agenda set for Dec. 12, 2019.

County Manager Charlene Webb led the review of the agenda. Two presentations would begin the meeting—the monthly Gila Regional Medical Center update and an update on the Gila National Forest Plan revision.

[Editor's Note: They will be covered in a future article.]

In financial reports, County Financial Officer Linda Vasquez gave the first quarterly report of the fiscal year 2020 for the quarter ending Sept. 30, 2019, as submitted to the Department of Finance and Administration.

The General Operating Fund began the quarter and fiscal year with $4,729,274 in cash and $8,536,674.87 in investments, with revenues during the quarter of $1,058,392.32, transfers out of $45,203 and expenditures of $2,253,363.51, leaving a balance of $12,025,774,68, minus required 3/12th reserves of $563,340.88 leaving an adjusted balance of $11,462,433.80.

Similarly, the Road Fund at the beginning of the quarter/fiscal year had $361,028 in cash, with revenues of $91,205.85, expenditures of $437,353.97, leaving a balance of $14,879.88 and required reserves of $36,446.16, leaving an adjusted balance of -$21,566.28, before transfers into the fund.

The Detention Center Fund began the quarter/fiscal year with $741,147, had revenues during the quarter of $175,306.09, expenditures of $856,867.76, leaving a balance of $59,588.33.

Vaquez:
These numbers are about the same as last year at the same time.

District 5 Commissioner Harry Browne:
Sometimes, we get the format for the DFA and sometimes, we get our format. This is the local government format, right?

Vasquez:
This is the format submitted. This is the second year for this format.

Browne:
This is a much easier format. It's helpful to have and how this relates to our Tyler format. Would it be reasonable to have our numbers in the same format as the DFA?

Vasquez:
The numbers are broken out in more detail in our format. We are looking at what will work best for us. But to get the details in ours, we ran into challenges. We are still pursuing it.

District 3 Commissioner Alicia Edwards:
Why would the DFA use something different from what counties use?

[No answer was given.]

Vasquez:
The expenditure report, ending December 5, 2019 had a total of $2,188,182.43, including two payrolls totaling $436,695.56.

Edwards:
We have no Chevy dealer here. Why did we have to go to Las Lunas to buy three Silverados?

Sheriff Frank Gomez:
We needed four-wheel drive, so we got it off the state contract. We have to go to Sisbarro in Deming for service. We used grant funding for them.

Edwards:
Why didn't we purchase locally?

Gomez:
We wanted Chevys. We've had issues with Fords and have put four new engines in our Dodge trucks. The Ford Expeditions here have no skirt plate. They are good for streets and highways, but not feasible on some county roads.

District 1 Commissioner and Chairman Chris Ponce to Administrative Assistant Bernadette Coleman:
Is the billing process getting better with Gila Regional Medical Center on the health care claims?

Coleman:
Yes, it has.

New Business

Webb:
We have one vacancy on the Lodger's Tax Advisory Board and one applicant, Doug Dinwiddie.

We have had a discussion on the 2020 Commission meetings and have considered going back to one meeting a month. We will have a better idea in January for our Open Meetings Act resolution.

District 4 Commissioner Billy Billings:
What did you and your staff decide?

Webb:
We want to go back to one meeting a month.

Billings:
That is my preference plus an occasional special meeting when needed.

Browne:
I haven't seen us properly implement the two meetings a month. I envisioned having staff at one meeting a month and leaving after their reports. Maybe that's not possible, because sometimes they have to answer questions during the rest of the meeting. I think I have seen the meetings get shorter. I think that's because we have more of a routine. I would like to keep trying two a month. Special meetings are harder for the public.

Edwards:
I thought we would have elected officials report at one meeting and county reports at the other and they could leave after their reports.

Webb:
A lot of times, they choose to stay because items on the agenda affect them. The workload in our office is heavier because we are continuously preparing for a meeting. It has become chaotic for our workload.

Edwards:
I want to modify my comment. It was not meant to discourage county employees from attending the meetings.

Ponce:
When we have an agenda, we get information from the items. I'm open to either one or two meetings a month. I think this is good input from the county manager. I think the goal was to take stress off the staff, but it seems to have increased it.

Billings:
Can we have one meeting a month, but if you see that there is more business, then two meetings?

Webb:
I'll prepare two versions of the OMA, one with two meetings a month and one with one meeting a month.

Edwards:
One of the other expectations I had, which was maybe absurd. I thought our work sessions would be conversations like this and the regular meeting would go faster, but it seems the work session and regular meetings have been about the same length. Sometimes we don't have enough time for preparation between the work and regular meetings. We learn stuff that has to be discussed at the regular meeting. I would like them farther apart, but I'm not asking for a third version.

Ponce:
I agree. We start digging and other questions come up, and that lengthens the regular meeting.

Edwards:
Over time, the work sessions have stayed long, and the regular meetings have gotten shorter.

Ponce:
One meeting a month would be my preference, but not wholeheartedly.

Edwards:
We will have only one in January, because of the legislative session.

Agreements

Webb:
We will renew the leases with Hidalgo Medical Services for the Mimbres and Gila Senior Centers, with no changes.

Edwards:
If our contractual agreement to provide senior services?

Webb:
This is for the buildings only. It's much simpler this way.

For item I, we have a subaward agreement with CHI (Center for Health Innovations, because the county is the fiscal agent for the $270,000 appropriation through the Department of Health to CHI, which I believe is recruitment funding. Charlie Alfero will speak to the intent for the funding.

Edwards:
The money comes from the state to the county to CHI? CHI will submit invoices. Are we obligated to manage the funding?

Webb:
If they do not meet the deliverables, we do not have to reimburse them. Our attorneys and (Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments Executive Director) Priscilla (Lucero) helped us with the language that does not obligate us to police it.

Resolutions

Webb:
This specifies salaries. We revised it when we had to change the district numbers 1 and 4. The Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional, so we flipped it back to the original district numbers. There will not be district number changes. It's back to the original numbers.

Browne:
Next year we will determine the salaries for districts 3, 4 and 5.

Webb:
Item K is vacation by the county of a strip of land. It's a small strip of land between the parking lot and In-n-Out Lube. We actually own it. We had it appraised and we will sell the 1,400 square-foot strip for the appraisal of $730. In-n-Out Lube paid for the appraisal, too.

Item L is proposing to designate Silver Acres as a colonia. Priscilla will speak to it on Thursday. There is a large amount of funding in the Colonias Infrastructure Fund, so now is the time to go for it. It's just another way to fund infrastructure needs in the county.

Billings:
Indian Hills is a colonia.

Browne:
I would like a process for Silver Acres residents to have their say.

Webb:
I don't know if they have been polled. The septic tanks are an issue.

Ponce:
The Colonias fund is just another vehicle to fund projects.

Planning and Community Development Department Director Michael "Mischa" Larisch:
Colonias are only in the southern part of the state. Often, we down here are left out of state funding, but Colonias has been a great funding mechanism for us. The notice of intent opens Dec. 16. If we don't designate it as a colonia, we miss the deadline for the notice of intent, which gets the issue in their system.

Edwards:
If there were people who didn't want to give up their septic, is that an option?

Larisch:
Typically no, because usually there is a timeline for replacing them with sewer.

Edwards:
If the homeowner liable for the costs of replacement or just for the monthly bill?

Webb:
We have not gotten feedback into that much detail.

Browne:
I'm not an opponent nor a proponent.

Larisch:
I've heard people think of being a colonia as a stigma. But it's just a mechanism to get more funding in the southern part of the state. The proposed area is not just Silver Acres subdivision, but all the way to the Detention Center and Filaree.

Ponce:
If we pass the resolution, say we go for the roads, but leave it open for the sewer. Would each individual project have to come to us?

Browne:
I don't think it's a stigma, but I regret we don't have longer to explain it to the residents, but I wouldn't want to miss the deadline.

Road Superintendent Earl Moore:
The old pavement on Ridge Road is very narrow. It needs to be replaced. And some roads in the area proposed to be designated are still dirt roads.

Larisch:
The project we are proposing would be to bring up the septics to sewer and replace the roads. We don't want to do the roads and then come back to tear them up to put in the sewer lines. Why not do it all at once?

Webb:
I don't know that we have enough rights-of-way to do sidewalks, but we can keep them in mind. We have figured out we can't do sidewalks on Little Walnut because of right-of-way issues.

Edwards:
What is the standard for roads?

Moore:
Some older ones are 18-feet wide, some 22-feet and some 24-feet.

Edwards:
At some point in the past, commissioners accepted the widths, but it's not conducive to the future. People may own land right up to the road.

Moore:
Most roads are 19 feet or 20 feet. Ridge Road was in a request earlier for $300,000 just for design

Larisch to questions about the map:
We tried to find a good definition of boundaries for the designation. We can do a notice of intent prior to making the application. I'm not sure what is the next step once we pass the resolution.

Edwards:
Can we submit this map and extend out the boundaries or do we have to go through the process first?

Larisch:
That is a Priscilla question that she will answer on Thursday.

Webb:
Item M is a loan and intercept agreement for $671,550 to purchase trucks for the Road Department. We will make the last payment on the Fairgrounds, so this request for a loan would be a wash. It's in the budget to finance these trucks.

Browne:
Is this an increment of gross receipts tax?

Webb:
This is the general GRT. It's good for seven years. Then we will continue to look at projects for further loans after this one is done.

Edwards:
Are we thinking about future projects?

Webb:
I am doing that all the time to strategize the future use of GRT increments.

Item N is a request from Hidalgo County.

Billings:
Evidently the state Game Commission changed the pronghorn season from October to August. We got a letter from the Hidalgo County Commission saying that the change, because the weather is much hotter in August, causes stress on the does and the young. They are asking us to support their request to change it back to October.

Larisch:
I spoke to the big game director. He said they have gotten a lot of comments on the issue.

Billings:
He told me the state commission did it as a matter of convenience. They didn't take into account the different temperatures. The hunters want it back to October.

Larisch:
I think the season is usually just one or two weekends during the month.

Browne:
I totally support changing it back.

Billings:
The issue stuck me as significant to critical.

Edwards:
We can support it, but not change the law.

Health Care Claims

Coleman:
There is one indigent burial from Terrazas Funeral Chapels and November 2019 claims in the amount of $6,597.43. I recommend approval.

[Larisch explained to the Beat the financing of the Colonias Infrastructure Fund as being a grant, with a 10 percent loan and a 10 percent match. He also clarified that the notice of intent to get into the system is for design of the sewer and roads systems only, not construction.]

The commissioners went into executive session. When they came out, they made no decisions and had no reports.