By Lynn Janes
The Silver City Town Council held a regular meeting June 25, 2024. Attendance to the meeting included Mayor Ken Ladner, Mayor Pro Tem Guadalupe Cano, Rudy Bencomo, Nicholas Prince, and Stan Snider.
Council comments
Snider wanted to recognize the history and legacy of the 6th Street Elementary School on the long history of education facilities located on that property. "It is the oldest continuing education site in New Mexico." The first had been a brick schoolhouse in 1882 when the state had still been a territory. The school survived by fundraisers. The second facility in 1883 would be the Academy of Our Lady of Lords run by the Sisters of Mercy. The third in 1910 would be called the Central Building and the fourth in 1926 the Washington Building. The present school built in 1938.
"All of my children attended 6th Street School and received a quality education." He said Silver Schools does an excellent job educating the kids, and he met with William Hawkins, school superintendent, about the future of the school. Hawkins said the next three years some decisions would have to be made because of the declining enrollment and the schools only being filled to half the capacity. A task force will be formed to help the school district make the difficult decisions of what facilities need to be closed. "I hope if the decision to close 6th Street Elementary is made that the community, school district and other educational institutions can come together creatively to enable the historical education site to continue to provide a quality education."
Prince said he usually has a speech prepared but had some challenges especially when it comes to how the community responds to poverty and long standing issues. He has had to make some decisions based on what he has seen. The language heard from both the public and government about their humanity and lack of it will only hit the symptoms of poverty but not hire the necessary professionals so they can start doing the best practices. They have had years of public meetings and the best presentations with the best models set from the federal government underneath the health and human services. "There is a need for a dedicated crisis intervention team." The police do not need to be responding over and over and has caused a lot of burnout and frustration. The types of illnesses seen has caused the removal of benches because people don't feel comfortable sitting down and talking to them or helping them. "Those people need a lot of help because of years of addiction when little has been done. Resources have been lost time and time again in this community. We have plenty of resources."
He continued to speak directly to Alex Brown, town manager the whole time, saying the system the town has makes it very difficult to seek help. "We can't keep waiting. We need the crisis intervention team. It is horrifying and sad our government can't get more creative and spend money more effectively to solve this issue instead of punishing poverty."
Bencomo had attended a ICIP (Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan) meeting. They had gone over ideas from the local districts and constituents that have requested projects for the town to make improvements. Bencomo wanted to recognize an employee that retired that day and worked for the town for 30 years.—Steven Lopez, the town's payroll director, who had also handled ten grants. He wanted to find a way for the administration to recognize all employees retiring and not just department heads.
Cano wanted to echo what Bencomo said about Lopez being a valuable employee. "He did many things behind the scenes." She wanted to announce a meeting that Representative Luis Terrazas would hold concerning emergency preparedness. She added that the county did have a plan, and they have brochures and other information available in the lobby.
She asked that people continue to pray or send positive thoughts to Ruidoso. She serves on the board of the municipal league with the mayor of Ruidoso. She said he had a lot on his plate because he also would be a state senator in January.
The council would hold a work session July 16, 2024, at the Grant County Veterans Memorial Business and Conference Center from 6pm to 8pm. She had specifically asked to have this to discuss the issues downtown. It would cover every issue downtown and not just the unhoused. They will only be talking about ideas and solutions. If residents come to complain they need to wait and do it at a regular meeting. The first hour people would allow public comment. Each person would be given three minutes to speak, and it will be a first come first serve. The second hour would be for the council to discuss the issues because it cannot be done out of public meetings. She hoped both the police and fire chiefs would be available for questions along with someone from code enforcement. This would not be like a townhall and hoped people understood. No decisions would be made.
Cano addressed what Prince had said about the unhoused. They had a presentation three months ago from the people in Farmington and what they had been doing to address their issues. Since then, things have been moving in the background. Next, they will be reaching out for public comment. "We do have a plan we are working on right now. Currently it is a small group until the next phase when public comment is requested." The plan has been based on the work that they did in Farmington. The group has been working with the same company that helped Farmington. Eventually a presentation will be done to the council to decide how they want to move forward. She asked to trust they have a process and they have been following it. They will have public comment in that process. "Nothing happens in government overnight no matter who is elected."
She addressed the bench removal. Cano had met with the people that had removed them and the Department of Health. She said she had been receiving about ten calls or more a day concerning issues with downtown in the past three months. The calls have been about many things not just the benches or the unhoused. She had met with some of the downtown merchants and had a plan but had to be held back due to the state having a process and they have to wait for the state to finish their process. Cano said she noticed that after the benches had been removed the calls went down considerably. She noted that they still have 16 benches downtown. The Department of Health had expressed concerns of a communicable illness passed around downtown and especially spreading through the use of benches. She understood people wanted some place to sit and added that some of the businesses have provided chairs and benches inside their businesses. Cano said she felt they needed to continue to remove the benches until they see a change downtown and they could always put them back down the line. The employees had been harassed that had been removing them. Cano asked that the public please not take it out on them. If they had problem to contact the council with their concerns.
Ladner thanked the council for being engaged in the community. He also thanked the community members and volunteers that engage in the community for events. He brought up that they used to have an employee of the month posted outside of the city office and said they needed to continue that and do a press release. He had spoken to the mayor of Ruidoso, and he thanked and appreciated the outpouring of help. He did ask that they not head up with truck loads but take items to the collection points in Deming, Las Cruces or Alamogordo.
Public input
Amy McLane provided the council of a list of requests to consider. She thanked the town and staff and knew they had some challenges to face. Her first request had to do with the current problems with outright arson and fire setting in encampments and asked the town to address this. "They are a real danger to humans and property." The second request had been to ask for help from the representatives when they attend the next legislature to support SB16. It will allow low level suspects behavioral health treatment to restore competence to stand trial. The third request had to do with accelerating the proposed homeless shelter on the ICIP (Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan) from 2028 to this fiscal year. The fourth request would be to increase staff capacity. She said they had eight advertised openings and five of those had been vital to public health and safety.
Kendra Milligan addressed the council to ask that the benches be returned to not only Bullard Street but the whole downtown area. No one ever contacted the community, and they had never had a discussion over the removal. She went over all the places the benches had been. Milligan said if public health is the issue she said they need to remove them all and inform the community what health issue they will be facing. She also added they would need to remove the illegal benches downtown like the one on Yankee Street.
Brian Stengel said they already have a designated crisis intervention team in response to Prince's comments earlier in the meeting. This has been provided by New Mexico Recovery Coalition. He went over all the services and provided a document to the council. It had been started in April and provides a mobile crisis response in person and offers trained crisis intervention and de-escalation. They address homeless outreach, overdose prevention education, Narcan distribution, provide HIV, hepatitis and syphilis rapid tests, community referrals, peer support, etc. Their current response time has been 30 minutes or less. They have been interfacing with the unhoused on a daily basis. On Fridays they put out tremendous amounts of food because they know that no other food service will be open to them over the weekend. He provided the phone number 575-519-5811.
Pamela Morgan said she realized the issues downtown to be very complex and they had no easy answer. She has lived here for twenty one years. "I guess someone thought removing the benches would be a quick solution, but I don't think it was." She wanted to see the benches put back and said Bullard Street has been the heart of the community. She has always wanted to go downtown but now without the benches not as much. "I don't know how the benches can spread disease." She pointed out that people inside buildings would be more likely to spread disease. She suggested the idea of putting the benches back but adding no loitering signs. "We are all being punished for the misuse of the benches. I guess maybe more benches would help so if you didn't want to sit next to someone you could use another bench."
Nicole Eleck said she lived close to downtown. One day she saw city workers taking benches out but had not seen anything in the paper saying they would be doing this. She had lived in a big city with a real homeless problem, and it has been very minimal here. "It is sad to see no place to park cars or bottoms downtown." She asked them to bring back the benches.
Laura Aubry said she appreciated the council for all they do and did not envy their job. She owns the Mint Chip Creamery and has been downtown for five years. She wished she had been invited to the meeting Cano said she had with the downtown merchants. "I am excited about the meeting focused on solutions." She did add she would like a way for them to communicate with the downtown businesses before they make drastic measures. "I think we can make downtown much better. We want people to feel welcome." She had recently moved to the mining community and when talking to the people they told her they had not been downtown in years. "We want to draw people in. I want to be part of the conversation."
Hana Rose said, "What I am hearing is that the benches are not up for discussion and you are taking out more." She said the benches have not been the problem and they need to address the root. How do they respond to the unhomed and health issues? She felt Walmart would be more dangerous. She brought up a person downtown that she wanted to make a compliant about and said his name is Matt. He had been masturbating at a dumpster in front of her kids. "I am sure no one here is going to say let's take the dumpsters away." She encouraged them to look at the big picture and Prince's idea about the Farmington protocol. The guy masturbating had been chased off but the next day she saw him on a bench with a pipe fiddling with it. He left the meth pipe behind. She had called the cops, and they came but didn't make him leave the area. "Something is getting lost here." She had not wanted her daughter to see any of these things. She cried and said she felt disturbed by all of this. She said a social worker would be an appropriate response and not a cop to deal with the mental health crisis downtown so my children can feel safe. "This is bigger than benches."
Reports
Hawkins attended the meeting to give a presentation to the council concerning the upcoming special election on the tax extension and GO Bonds. He provided the council with documents and said he would highlight the main points.
The schools master plan has $63 million in needs and a need to qualify for the state waiver. The Silver Consolidated Schools website has all the information. He went over all the maintenance needs of the district and costs. He went over the cost to replace the facilities, the size of them all together. Enrollment had been approximately 4,000 students 15-20 years ago and now they only have a little over 2,000. The state estimates say that will continue to decrease.
Hawkins said they have been able to do a lot of maintenance with the funding they receive but it has only been enough to get by. In the past the state would match 6 percent of a project. Right now, they will match 37 percent through 2024, and it will revert back to the 6 percent. The state has rated 788 schools and Cliff rates number 12 on that list of being in the most need, 6th Street Elementary rates number 33 and Jose Barrios rates number 158. To be eligible for the waiver they need to have an enrollment growth of 2.5 percent, equaling fewer than 800 and high poverty or have a 10 mill levy. Currently the only way right now would be to raise taxes. He provided a tax rate comparison for the state and locally the district has been 1.972 and he said, "We are the 20th lowest in the state." That ranking does not take into consideration that four of those districts do not have tax levies because of gas and oil.
They must address the consolidation of some schools due to only using 45 percent of the capacity of the facilities. The board will be putting a task force together in the fall to address the consolidation. It will take time, a year for the decision and several to consolidate. Hawkins said Aldo Leopold School would probably be needing a building
Cano thanked him for the presentation. She asked if they increase the taxes would it just be Silver City or the whole county. Hawkins said it would just be for the people in Silver School district.
Prince said, "Some people think tax is theft and the worst thing to exist and it is exhausting but we have all grown up in a society able to enjoy many things because of it. Many people have moved here because of the quality education, and they have been able to do a lot on shoestring budget." He asked Hawkins why the decline in students. He said birthrate changes in New Mexico and nation.
Hawkins said he would put the information in a pdf format on their website for people to download. The mail in ballot will be coming July 24-26, 2024, and end August 20, 2024. He did not address the cost of the special election.
Managers report
Brown did not have a report but asked Fire Chief Milo Lambert to address the fireworks for this year. He said nothing had changed since last year. They would not allow fireworks in the downtown area. The fire department has also asked that people only set off fireworks in a barren or paved area.
Public hearing
The council approved the zone change request for Katheryn Eaton at 3155 Pinos Altos Road. Eaton and Jacqueline Olea, planning and zoning, had been sworn in. The property in question referred to a 6.9 acre lot and has been single family resident in a commercial highway district. The 1960 land use code residential had been allowed but since 1999 it had been changed to not allow. The home had been built in 1971 and conformed to the land use code at the time. This zone change would allow for mixed use.
New business
The council approved the public celebration permit for the 2024 Gala in the Garden July 20, 2024, with alcohol served from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm by Open Space Brewery. The event will be located at The Commons.
The council approved the notice of intent to adopt an ordinance amending the affordable housing act. Olea said they had one but have made changes to be able to use the new NMFA (New Mexico Finance Authority) funding opportunities. Olea said it would help with Vista La Plata and other projects. More people will be able to qualify for the funds.
The council approved the mayor's reappointment of Jeremy James Amaworo Wilson. They had only received one application.
Meeting adjourned.