By Lynn Janes

The town of Bayard held a special meeting February 19, 2025. Attendance included Mayor John L. Ojinaga, Pro Tem Eloy Medina and  Councilors Frances Gonzales, Eloy Gonzales and Gilbert Ortiz. Martha Salas, city clerk, also attended.

The council approved the consent agenda. It included meeting minutes from January 15, 2025, and February 6, 2025, reports for accounts payable, police department, maintenance department, wastewater department, fire department and library. It also included several out-of-town training events.

Ojinaga wanted to go over the training and provide more information. The public works department would be sending three employees to the New Mexico Rural Water Association conference in Albuquerque. This will provide them with necessary training needed for certification. The city clerk and deputy clerk would be attending a workshop in Taos for training needed. The NM Municipal Judge conference in Albuquerque will be paid for out of the judge's fund and will be a mandatory training.

Planning and zoning

Cordell Jones, chair, attended to bring several items before the council for approval.

The council approved the variance application submitted by Cobre Schools to increase the width of parking spaces at the portable building parking area. This has been the office buildings being renovated into apartments. They have an eight-space requirement. Frances Gonzales abstained due to being on the committee.

The council approved the conditional use permit application for Bros Detail Enterprises at 112 S Foy Street contingent on an email from Judge Jose Diaz. Medina didn't want to go above and beyond like they had before. Frances Gonzales had abstained due to being on the committee. It has been used for auto work for a very long time. They had come to the council before and had been asked to do some things before they would approve a license. The council wanted to know if that had been done, and it had not. The reason for them coming to ask for a license had been because of a citation. They told Jones they had been told by Judge Diaz that they could continue work while they put all the requirements in place.

The council approved John Saenz to be on the planning and zoning committee.

New business

Ann Lowe with the Silver City Indivisible Group which is part of the National indivisible Citizens Action Organization came to speak to the council about supporting immigrants and parents in the community to ensure they know their rights. "I have lived in Silver City since 1991. I am a graphic designer and painter." She had helped design projects for Silver City Main Street and Western New Mexico University (WNMU). She said the community's law enforcement workers and Bayard city officials have been respectful of families and treat them equally regardless of documentation. Her group had been reaching out to local organizations to better understand the policies regarding undocumented individuals. She said Silver City Mayor Ladner and the town council's official position states that none of the town's departments will cooperate with federal law enforcement to detain or identify persons of possibly being undocumented. She had included information from the town of Silver City for the council.

Sheriff Raul Villanueva said he will be following the New Mexico Attorney General's guidelines on immigration enforcement. It says New Mexico law does not require state and local law enforcement to cooperate with ICE. She said Attorney General Torres's guidelines had been included in the information she provided them. William Hawkins, Silver Consolidated Schools superintendent, had put out a letter saying they would not allow ICE raids in the schools without a warrant. Jack Crocker, acting interim president of WNMU sent a letter to students assuring them no information would be given out to ICE. El Refugio does not require documentation from the people they serve. Greyhound buses will not allow border patrol agents to conduct immigration checks on its buses.

"I am here tonight to ask the city of Bayard their official position regarding undocumented individuals. I am asking you to join other groups in this endeavor." She had provided them with posters to put up and cards that give undocumented individuals their rights. It also provides a Catholic Social Services number for people to obtain legal advice.

Police Chief Hector Carrillo, "I would have hoped you would have met with me the way you met with Sheriff Villanueva before so we could discuss some of this with you." He had been called to a chiefs' meeting and the sheriffs had been called to a sheriff meeting with the higher up leadership of Homeland Security. It had taken place a few weeks earlier. What they had said was that  they would not be traveling to the rural communities for ICE raids. They did ask for cooperation if criminals would be in the community and that the department reports them.

Homeland Security assured them that what Lowe had talked about will not be their intention. If the community does have an undocumented criminal that continues to cause problems, they asked that they contact ICE and they would take it from there. Homeland Security would not be coming down to check the status of kids or their families.

Carrillo said he would not interfere with the federal government if they came in. "They assured us that they want to work hand in hand with local law enforcement. They assured me they are not going to come and start raiding my county." They would not be coming to raid churches, schools or anything of that nature.

The council will be tabling this until the next meeting.

Salas had contacted the judge concerning the conditional use permit. He said he had never advised anybody to keep conducting business without obtaining all the paperwork needed. He told her that now that he has been made aware of this, he would take care of things on his side. He wanted the council to know he would never advise anyone to continue doing business without a permit or business license.

Medina had asked for a discussion on paying volunteer firefighters $25 a call and applying for the grants to fund it. This would only pertain to a fire call or emergency medical services. Salas wanted it understood they could only do this if they receive the grant and didn't want that misunderstood. The stipend would help with recruitment.

The council discussed the master plan that had been presented to them at a previous meeting for the union hall. Ojinaga told them they didn't have that kind of money for what they proposed. The council needed to decide the next steps. Salas had talked to Pricilla Lucero, Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments executive director, and she said the next step would be to apply for design money. This had just been a master plan. A tourism grant would be available to apply for the design phase. The master plan had estimated the cost to be over $3 million. The council felt that would be high and they could adjust the ideas. Ojinaga had talked to the people that have the church about the parking, and they just said they didn't want to deal with what they had in the past when it had been used as the union hall. A lot of drinking and left over beer bottles and cans were left.

The city will include it on the ICIP (infrastructure capital improvement plan) for next year. Salas said they could also do it in phases.

Frances Gonzales said they had some great ideas, but some had been outrageously expensive. The other council members agreed. Salas said the cost could go down with some changes. Ojinaga had suggestions to just knock it down. All were against it and said it needed to be restored.

Salas wanted to discuss the problem with the little league building access. They don't know who all has keys at this time. Michael Paez, maintenance director, has rekeyed the locks and has ordered some new locks. They will be issuing keys that say do not duplicate. She had issued a key to the vice president of the little league. He wanted keys for everyone on the board and had not been too happy. They have 8-10 board members. She did understand their issue and brought up maybe doing a security deposit, so if they had to rekey it would defer costs to rekey.

The little league will be having a meeting and will discuss paying a security deposit. They will be coming before the council to ask permission to use the facility.

The city has been having problems repairing things and no one knows who had been there. Last year the little league had called a number of times saying things had been broken. The discussion of the past problems and responsibility went on for a while.

Ortiz pointed out that they have had a lot of travel teams come and that brings business to  Bayard.

Salas said they would just need to have control over how many and who had keys.

The council approved the proposal for website design for the Bayard Public Library. Cindy Renee Provencio, head librarian, had obtained quotes. She had not chosen the cheapest, but the proposal had been for $2,500 and a $200 a month maintenance fee from Christian Uribe. Provencio said he had been the only one she met with that had a good understanding of the needs. He had the skills to provide a more innovative website. The highest proposal had been $18,000. They have a grant (expires June 31, 2025) that would pay for the website and then she would use another grant to pay the monthly maintenance fee.

The council approved a speed bump on Royal Street at the intersection of Lusk Street. Salas had provided the council with pictures and the cost to install it.

The council approved the allowance of an officer to take home a police unit for four months. Carrillo said some other departments have allowed this. He had restructured the schedule, and the officer will be working eight hour shifts. This officer lives in Lordsburg and had been trying to find a home in Bayard but has not yet. Carrillo had been talking to Ojinaga and Salas to see how they could help him for a little while. Carrillo also thought of a stipend. The officer has been doing a good job for Bayard and looks like he will stay. The council had some ideas of homes they saw or heard about for the officer. Carrillo will be passing that information on.

Medina asked about the clock-in-time and it being a Bayard vehicle and if he would be paid that travel time. Carrillo said no they would call dispatch as usual when they left Bayard. He did say if something came up such as a car accident in that travel, he would call dispatch and clock back in. Salas said she has seen Lordsburg and Deming departments do that because she passed them all the time in her commute.

Ordinances and resolutions

The council approved resolution no. 2-2025 which will allow for the application of a colonias grant for the well field and pressure-reducing valve improvements.

The council approved resolution no. 3-2025 which will allow for the application of a colonias grant for the Oak Street lift station construction.

The council approved resolution no. 4-2025 which will allow for the application to the New Mexico Department of Transportation municipal arterial program with the understanding of applying also for a match waiver. Salas said this would be for design of street sidewalks and gutters. This funding can only be used on streets that connect to the state highway. She went over the streets that would qualify. The match would be 25 percent. They do have match waivers that can be applied for but in the past Bayard has not received one for this. They went over some of the problems on these streets and how it could really help.

Action for personnel

The council approved the completion of the probationary period for  Provencio, head librarian. Eloy Gonzales abstained due to being a relative. Frances Gonzales wanted to have her receive a $1 hour raise instead of just the 25 cents. They approved for the 25 cent an hour raise and will review the budget.

The council approved the completion of the probationary period for the assistant librarian.

The council approved the hiring of Myra Delgado as utility clerk at $14.75 an hour with a 25 cent raise at completion of probationary period.

The council approved the hiring of Robert Mares for maintenance at $14.75 an hour with a 25 cent raise at completion of the probationary period.

The council approved the hiring of Valerie Balboa for code enforcement officer at $16.00 an hour with a 25 cent raise at completion of the probationary period. Carrillo said she used to be a police officer with Bayard.

The council approved the hiring of Thomas Murillo Jr. as a part-time animal control officer at $14.75 an hour with a 25 cent raise at completion of the probationary period.

Carrillo said Silver City will help out training Murillo and Balboa.

Department head reports

Carrillo has some changes to his report in the future to make it easier to read for the council. They had 193 calls and had been a little busy with the schools. They had ended up charging a student for making threats. The department has a new CAD system and has been looking at a camera system. They talked at length about the camera systems. The department had conducted a search warrant on a house on Central Avenue and had recovered 100 fentanyl pills and arrests will be coming. They have had constant complaints on that house. The officers had finally been able to act on information that they received.

Paez said he had 97 work orders they had completed. The million-gallon tank project will be wrapping up. They will be painting and then disinfecting before they fill it back up. It will take two-to-three weeks. The next project will be the community center parking lot repairs.

The little league ADA upgrades have started with a walk through. The proposed cost for design will be $43,100. Eloy Gonzales said he had gone out and had some concerns about the concession stand and stairway that someone could fall. Paez said It would be part of the design to fix that. Salas said they will have funds left and she wanted to use it to install a Conex box for the little league. The funding expires June 30, 2025, and Salas has asked for an extension. Ortiz said he had concerns about the fuse box and Paez said he has been aware, but they will have to have apply for some grants because to do it will cost $250,000.

Robert Terrazas, wastewater director, said they had been working on the cemetery and have started watering the grass. He does not have any projects currently. They have been waiting on some paperwork from Steven Deal, New Mexico Environment Department engineer. Everything would be on hold until Deal approved them. As soon as he approves everything they can go out for bid. Bayard has $1.6 million to repair and upgrade the system. Salas said the grant expires in December 2025. Terrazas will also be meeting with Trumm Engineering for guidance on some of the project. Salas said Deal works at his own pace.

Chuck Gray, beautification committee chair, said they have planned a Bingo for March 23, 2025. They had done a big cleanup the past Sunday in the area of Snell Middle School and the turn into the community center. The car wash wall had been prepped for painting. A person that has been ordered to do community service will be contacting them. Gray hoped he worked out.

Salas said the baby surrender box would be part of the upgrades to the fire department and would do it at the same time. She had provided the council with an update on all the projects and would try and have it updated each month. She reviewed each item with them.

Mayor and council reports

Eloy Gonzales had a question. He spoke to the park that is close to the Snappy Mart. He remembered several years back they had talked about making it a veterans' park but had not heard anything else. Medina said they had some major drainage issues that had to be fixed first and it would have been costly so they couldn't move forward with the project. Salas didn't know about it and would check and see if they could use colonias grants for it. They talked about ideas on how to obtain funding to fix the drainage.

Medina didn't have anything to report.

Frances Gonzales said not a lot of people have come forward yet to run for governor. She encouraged people to go see what they had to say and be informed and know how they will be support the community. She had attended the meetings done by Deb Haaland in Silver City and Deming.

Ortiz thanked Salas and Paez for a very detailed report. It will help to keep track of all the projects.

Frances Gonzales thanked the office staff for their making sure they would be set up for attending Grant County Days.

Ojinaga passed on the thanks he received from Mayor Ed Stevens of Hurley for the fire department's recent help with a fire. Ojinaga had met with Haaland, and she would come and speak to the council.

Salas said she needed them to have a special meeting the next week. They have a resolution that needs to be turned into the USDA by February 28, 2025. It will be for a small business grant to help three businesses.

Special meeting will be held February 25, 2025
Next regular meeting will be held March 19, 2025.

Meeting adjourned.