By Lynn Janes
The Silver City Town Council held a regular meeting April 9, 2024. Attendance to the meeting included Mayor Pro Tem Guadalupe Cano, Councilors Rudy Bencomo, Nicholas Prince, and Stan Snider. Mayor Ken Ladner joined the meeting by phone.
Council comments
Bencomo wished Ladner a speedy recovery.
Snider wanted to let everyone know about a project at the Silver City wastewater plant. Silver City recyclables will be mixing green waste with wood chips and sludge from the plant to form compost. Snider explained sludge is a byproduct to make wastewater clean. Currently the sludge has been taken to the landfill. This will make it useful for soil amendment and not take up landfill space.
Prince announced the upcoming Toss No Mas on Saturday since Ladner had not been there to promote the event. He thanked The Commons for all they do, and everyone involved.
Cano thanked Police Chief Portillo for the article in the Silver City Daily Press. It had actual information on what has been going on. She commented she had received a lot of calls concerning the number of cannabis businesses and especially one in particular. "I personally feel we have too many also." However, they, as a council can't do anything about it. When the legislature passed the bill, they had not made any provisions for limiting them. "One can be on every corner at the rate we are going."
Ladner thanked everyone for the many well wishes.
Public input
Richard Grossman said he had not been aware of the dog nuisance ordinance intent to adopt being on the last council meeting. He would have come then to give his input. He said he had been referring to ordinance 1327. "I like dogs, but we have 26 dogs in our neighborhood and 14 of those are in households of my friends. I hate the ones that bark frequently and continually." Fences will not solve the problems and many people can't afford them. He agreed that the section 14 of the ordinance did need more clarification but not deleting of the whole thing as had been discussed. The 2011 ordinance he had found and looked up the true definition of nuisance. He had viewed the last council meeting and had been disturbed by some of the comments made by the animal control officers and found them unacceptable. He quoted some of them. He had brought videos for the council on a thumb drive and wanted them to view them.
Marla Grossman said she loves dogs but has problems with the excessive barking. "I can't go outside without them barking. People should train their dogs and be responsible." A suggestion was made to form a citizen committee and enforce the laws that the city already has, and employees should not have the choice to not enforce the laws.
Paul Barsom said he lives in the same area as the Grossmans, and he loves dogs. He had been following the goals of the township and they have not been following them. "Dogs barking at people as they walk by is not the fundamental problem. People leave their dogs outside all the time, and some have many dogs." The dogs never get out and he made a reference to them being kennel houses. He felt sorry for the people living next to any of the kennel houses. He pointed out that these problems could affect property values. He gave the example if someone had their house on the market and someone came to view the home and the dogs next door barked the whole time the buyers would leave. "It should not be hard to draft an enforceable ordinance that sets clear expectations. Some of these homes have three or more dogs and the town limit says two."
Doreen Buchan said, "I live in a neighborhood that is nice and people like to walk in the area." She spoke about a specific address on 8th Street and California Street. The dogs come out and bark at her, and it scares her. Next door she has a neighbor with three small dogs that bark all the time. "They are a detriment to my health. They bark all the time for no reason and are just three little yippers." She said she knows other dogs in the neighborhood she loves. She brought up some other areas in the neighborhood that had dogs that scared her and recently when they did, she fell and injured herself. "I want the 2011 ordinance to be enforced."
Georgianna Duarte lives at 408 Chavez and came to speak to the council about the speeding problem on Little Walnut Road. She said it has been out of control and she has called the police numerous times, provided videos and photographs. She had spoken to dispatch countless times and has been asked if anyone asked them to slow down. She said she had, and they had thrown full beer cans at her, trash, and cursed at her. They have also sprayed gravel at her and smoked her out. "I have had dispatch ask me if I have a speeding device and know what speed they were going. I am growing tired of calling and having them say oh it is you again. Videos and photographs don't seem to work and there never seems to be a plan of action." She gave the council some recommendations and pleaded with them to find some solutions.
Reports
Representative Luis Terrazas addressed the council with updates on the recent legislative session. They had been able to bring $83 million to Grant County and $70 million would be used for the second phase of highway 180. Phase one would be starting any time and go from just outside of Bayard to the Hurley railroad tracks and the second phase will be from the railroad tracks to the county line.
He went over some of the capital outlay funding they had received. One of them had been $200,000 for the WNMU vocational center.
"I tried to focus on struggling families and stop legislature that would hurt them," Terrazas said.
The changes in the redistricting had effects on the capital outlay. At the Prospectors presentation they had received $90 million in requests. He had been able to obtain funding for schools, libraries, El Refugio, and SASS (sexual assault support services). The junior money he receives went to help the state police for license plate readers to help them monitor cars coming. It will help stop the fentanyl and human trafficking. "It is only a small tool for a huge problem."
Terrazas had worked on HB236 for the last four years and finally it passed. This bill allows for state employees to come back to work and not lose their pension. Some of the police departments, fire departments and dispatch have been understaffed by 40 percent and this will hopefully help with the problem.
He went over the bill concerning the 4-day week for schools. They had put an amendment that they could not use funding to enforce the rule. The governor vetoed that item. "We need local control of the government and the school boards." This legislature has now caused lawsuits across the state.
"I worry about the people living paycheck to paycheck. New Mexico is a poor state and many live below the poverty level." He brought up the clean fuel standards bill that although it sounded nice, it will add approximately 30 – 50 cents on each gallon of gas. The paid family leave bill did not pass. It had gone through several changes but when Terrazas asked what it would cost to the businesses and employees had had been told they didn't know and would figure it out after it passed. It would have made a mandatory payroll tax to employees. "Many questions need to be answered first."
"We need to continue to find ways to support our youth," he continued. He said he had a hard time obtaining support for the WNMU vocational school because of all the press. They took it out on the whole institution and didn't wait for the process to happen.
"Many of the bills introduced were not a party issue and are only as strong as the support they receive." Many had been about public safety, and that issue affects everyone. Pressure needs to be put on the legislature. He said it takes everyone's support and thanked the council for the time. He asked if they had any questions.
Bencomo said he would be speaking on behalf of all that had the questions concerning the cannabis dispensaries. Many of the businesses have been doing the right thing and they need people from the state checking on those that have not been. Terrazas said, "We need to make the legislation better even though I am not for it. I would love to help make it better and clean it up."
Reports
The council approved resolution 2024-07 to accept the fiscal year 2023 audit done by Stone McGee and Company. Mike Stone attended and said they had an unmodified opinion, the highest opinion. They didn't have enough federal grants ($750,000 or more) to be required to do an audit on them, but they had done them anyway and did not find anything wrong. The audit did receive one comment due to the audit not being turned in on time and Stone said that had been because of them and staffing issues. "The town of Silver City is bigger than you think. It is a small town but an awfully big budget."
The council approved the public celebration permits for Little Toad Creek Brewery and Distillery and Q's Southern Bistro for the Blues Fest to be held at Gough Park on May 25 and 26, 2024 from 11:00 am to 5:30 pm.
The council approved resolution 2024-08. This allows the town manager to execute the joint powers agreement, organization provisions and bylaws by and between the New Mexico Self Insurers fund and the town of Silver City. Alex Brown, town manager, said, since 1982, it had been amended many times, but the municipal league had found that they didn't have an actual agreement with the town. This will ratify all those amendments and authorize the town manager to sign any future amendments.
Meeting adjourned.