By Lynn Janes

The town of Bayard held a regular meeting June 10, 2024. Attendance included Mayor John L. Ojinaga, Pro Tem Eloy Medina, councilors, Eloy Gonzales, and Frances Gonzales. Gilbert Ortiz didn't attend. Martha Salas, city clerk/treasurer also attended.

The council held a work session. Priscilla Lucero, director of Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments, attended to address the list for their ICIP (Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan). The top five will be the most important and be looked at for funding. They do this plan each year and turn it into the state.

Medina addressed the need for more restrooms at the baseball field. Currently they have $75,000 but that would not be enough. Lucero recommended they put that in the top five and put a cost of $250,000.

They listed a new fire truck and public safety. In the conversation the Mine Mill project came up. Lucero told them they have the funds now for the preliminary work and would not be ready for construction for 9-12 months. Medina said, "The ICIP needs to be for the community to make it better."

Prioritizing the projects and where they should place them on the list went on for a while. Lucero refereed to having the fire truck as number nine, which did not prohibit them from looking for other funding sources. For public safety they would be asking for $1 million, and it could be used for police and the fire department.

They brought up the library and the need to have that fixed. Salas said they had an engineer come in and it will be taken care of with the current budget.

The tentative list will be number one, wastewater; two, heavy equipment; three, regional water project; four, police vehicles; five, little league bathrooms; six, community center; and several others after that.

Medina came back to the library and the problem was with the wall. He said they had heard about it for the past eight years. Salas said the engineer said it will be a cosmetic problem and they didn't have a problem with the structure. The library had listed on her needs to have more ADA access. Those changes would have to be made and approved by the DOT (Department of Transportation)

The regular meeting started

Public input

Chuck Gray, beautification committee chair, said they had met and had received an application from the former mayor Chon Fierro to join the committee. He submitted the application to the council

Frances Gonzales spoke in public input as a resident of Bayard. She had fallen in her home and for two hours could not get up and didn't have her phone with her. She managed to call out to a neighbor passing. They called 911 for her. "I was shocked no one from Bayard police, fire department or EMS showed up." It took a long time and Santa Clara EMS, police and code enforcement all showed up. It had taken awhile because the address they had been given had been in Santa Clara. "I was very disappointed that Bayard did not show up." She said she had to be hospitalized longer because of being unable to move on the floor for so long.

The council approved the consent agenda except for the library report. The library report will be tabled until the next meeting when the librarian could attend and explain some of the content.

New business

The council received a presentation from representatives with the Southwest New Mexico Community Forestry Network. They have $5 million and five years to do this project with funds from the United Stated Department of Agriculture and United States Forest Service. They have been interested in tree equity and tree planting. The project will include Bayard, Santa Clara, Hurley, Lordsburg, Deming and Silver City. They will be planting trees and teaching the communities how to care for them. Western New Mexico University will be involved, and they will be seeking public input. The project will have 1,000 trees and it wants to make sure everyone has a tree canopy. Specifically disadvantaged neighborhoods will be addressed.

They will kick off the plan in each community and seek public input at that time. They will also have some funding to give away seedlings to people. The project will include tree care, irrigation and how to prune the trees correctly. Through the project they will also be working with the Five Points Project of Southwest New Mexico ACT.

Frances Gonzales said the schools needed the trees the most and some of the neighborhoods. Ojinaga agreed that would be a good idea, but they had to reach out to the schools, and they said they would.

The project will be teaching proper care, maintenance and planting of the trees. In the past they could not use the wastewater for watering because the local system didn't meet state and federal regulations to reuse the water but now, they did.

The council asked the presenters about the kinds of trees they would be planting, and they said they would be different species and diverse but none of them would be invasive species. The project will only be for public spaces except for the small seedlings they would be giving away.

The project has also partnered with Tree New Mexico a state nonprofit program for planting trees in neighborhoods.

Ordinances and resolutions

The council approved resolution 10-2024 to adopt Grant County affordable housing plan after Lucero explained the reason for the resolution. The New Mexico Finance Authority (NMFA) now has funding to help do infrastructure and has some creative programs available. To be eligible for the funding Bayard would need to have an affordable housing plan. By adopting Grant County's plan Bayard can then have an ordinance for the community and it will allow the application for that funding. It will allow Bayard to work with other entities to provide additional housing and repair or build on existing homes. Lucero said this could only be done by adopting the Grant County plan and then adopting a local ordinance. The NMFA has other initiatives that will attract developers to come in. She told them it would be a good opportunity. It will help the economy by providing affordable homes to families and help revitalize the community. She added that this should be on their ICIP and would add housing improvements.

The council approved the permission to publish the intent to adopt the city of Bayard affordable housing ordnance.

The council went into closed session to discuss personnel matters and real property water rights.

The council came back into open session and said no action had taken place

Action for personnel

The council approved the termination of two employees in the maintenance department.

Mayor and councilor reports

Salas announced that on June 29, 2024, they would be having the annual clean up sponsored by Freeport McMoRan for Bayard, Hurley and Santa Clara. A dumpster would be provided at the safety building and trash bags. The winners will receive $100 in each town and will be eligible for the drawing of the $500 prize.

Michael Paez, maintenance director, said the road project had been moving along but has required breaking up a lot of rock. They have had some utility conflicts, but the engineers have been working on it.

Police Chief Hector Carrillo said he had just come from the Cobre school board meeting after providing them with a report on the last year. The department has had fewer calls from the schools. "Whatever they are doing, it is working." He told the council that he had committed to having McGruff, the crime dog, visit a 4th grade class at Bayard Elementary once a week and he will be part of the curriculum.

Carrillo addressed the public comment Frances Gonzales had made earlier. He apologized to her but said Bayard had never been dispatched. He would be looking into what happened.

Ojinaga said the maintenance department had done a good job with the little league field. Some confusion had taken place on who would be painting the concession stand. He commented he felt the city had been looking better.

The next regular meeting would be held June 24, 2024

Meeting adjourned.