By Lynn Janes

The town of Bayard held a work session and regular meeting December 11, 2023. Attendance included Mayor Chon Fierro, councilors, Frances Gonzales, Eloy Gonzales, Jose Diaz, and Eloy Medina. Gabriel Ramos, city clerk, also attended.

The work session allows the council to ask questions about items on the agenda.

Ramos received a letter from the New Mexico Municipal League on his request for information concerning a past conversation with the council. The letter said city clerk/treasurer and city administrator would be two different positions but could serve as both. The letter included the statues that support that. Ramos told the council it would be their choice. Diaz said they needed to wait for the new mayor to make any decision. It would also mean an ordinance would have to be done and a period of time for the public to have the opportunity to review. Ramos said he just wanted them to have the documents.

At the request of Fierro, Ramos put together a proclamation to declare the week of December 11, 2023, Cobre All American Cheer Leaders. Five of the girls had won at a state competition and had been chosen to participate in the Thanksgiving Macys Parade in New York City.

In a previous meeting the council approved a personnel policy change allowing up to 160 hours carried over. Ramos said he later found out they needed to do an ordinance for the change

Fierro and Ramos had a meeting with Michael Paez, public works director, for the purpose of evaluation and possible removal of the probationary period. Both felt he had been doing well on the job. Frances Gonzales asked if that came with a 5 percent raise. Ramos said yes it has been automatic for all employee that have been taken off the probationary period.

The maintenance department had an opening, and they had several candidates and Enrique Quinteros had been the best choice. Ramos said this would give the maintenance department a full crew. He would start at $14.25 an hour and be contingent on passing all the checks.

The police department has an uncertified candidate, Isaiah Vega, who has passed all background checks and psychological evaluation. He will start academy in July 2024. His starting wage will be $18 an hour.

Richard Maynes, Stantec, attended the meeting to give the council an update and approval of the award for the 1 million gallon water tank project. They had put it out to bid and received 2 bids of which both came in higher than the funding available. The city has $1,390,575.74 available and the lowest big came in at $1,600,475. They have broken up the bid into three base bids and will be able to do the first two. If the council approves the recommendation, they will start the project in February 2024 and finish June or July 2024. Medina asked about the water supply and had they taken care of making sure they had a backup. Maynes said yes, they would be using the reserve tank. Diaz asked him if he had seen any problems with projects of this kind. Maynes said he had not and had worked with the company they had recommended which has always done a great job. Ramos said he would be monitoring the project daily.

Regular meeting started.

Public input none currently

The council approved the consent agenda that included minutes from November 20 and 27, 2023, holiday schedules 2024, meeting schedules 2024, Steve Estrada to attend a certification class, library report and accounts payable December 11, 2023

The council brought up that Mayor Elect Lawrence Ojinaga had said he would have a letter in the council's packet. It had indicated that a protocol had not been followed and they needed to follow procedures. Ramos said he had followed procedures. The letter had not gotten to him by the cutoff date to include it in the council packet. It can be put in on the next meeting. Ramos went over the procedures. He said Ojinaga had asked for a lot of the policies but not all. Medina said they needed to clarify the policy. A lot of discussion went on about the policies and the need to make it public.

Old business

In the work session they had gone over the documents Ramos received concerning the city clerk/treasurer and city administrator/manager positions.

New business

The council approved the week of December 11, 2023, Cobre All American Cheerleaders. Fierro read the proclamation. Five of the cheerleaders had been chosen to participate in the Thanksgiving Macys Parade. They had stayed close to Time Square and visited Rockefeller Park.

Police Chief Hector Carrillo had attended and brought McGruff the crime dog to meet everyone and take a photo with the cheerleaders. He said McGruff would be going to all the schools in the future.

The council approved the recommendation to award Smithco Construction the bid for the 1 million gallon tank project.

George Esqueda, Stantec, attended to give the council an update on all the projects and had documents with information on all that he gave the council. At the end of October, he had come and given them a long update and in January he would be back for approvals on some projects. He said today's would be brief.

The highway 356 sidewalk project had encountered several problems with both property owners and the DOT (department of transportation). It all had been taken care of and they had been able to finish all the hardscaping. December 30, 2023, terminates the funding but it will be done in full by then. They had some issues with power poles and the utilities. Lumen, formerly Century Link, will be taking care of what they needed to and then PNM can finish. They had funding of $628,129 and the contract totaled $418,381. Ramos said the city had the funding for three years and for different reasons kept being delayed. When he started, Esqueda came to him, and they got it going and out to bid right away. If not, the funding would have been lost and making it hard for the city to be eligible for grants in the future. Ramos said Stantec worked hard to get the project done. Esqueda said it had been a team effort.

North Foy and Alta Vista road project Stantec had been contracted to design. It had been put out for bid and the bids far exceeded the funding. The city had been able to secure an additional $261,000 but still did not provide enough to do the project. At that time, they broke it up into bid lots which allows it to be done in phases. They have until June 2025. The project will be sent out to bid in February 2024. Diaz asked what funding the city did have currently. Esqueda said the first amount had been $732,000 with a 5 percent match and the $260,900 had also been with a 5 percent match. The city would have to pay roughly $50,000. Most of the time they only have two companies that bid on these projects but recently had one more, so Esqueda said he hoped it would create more competition and bring the bids down. Diaz asked about the contractor that had done the recent highway 180 work and Esqueda told him those companies generally only do multimillion dollar projects, but he could certainly reach out to them.

The Oak Street wastewater design project will be looking at relocating off private property. They have been meeting with Freeport McMoRan and they have been very receptive to help. A 20-foot easement is what Bayard will need. Esqueda showed them a map with the location. He said by doing this it will save the city $400,000-$500,000 in construction in the future. The projected total of the project will be $1 million.

He reminded them to make sure to have their audit done up-to-date to make sure to be eligible for funding from the state. Medina asked him for some additional finance and funding information to have at the January meeting. Esqueda said they could also apply for match waivers but could not on all projects.

The council approved resolution 20-2023 loan agreement for police cars. Ramos said the resolution is just a formality the state requires.

The council voted to table resolution 21-2023 personnel policy change.

Action for personnel

The council approved the removal of the probation status for the public works director. This would include a 5 percent raise to Paez.

The council approved the hiring of Enrique Quinteros for the maintenance position.

The council approved the hiring of Isaiah Vega as a patrol officer.

Mayor and councilors reports.

Eloy Gonzales offered Fierro the best on his retirement and thanked him for all he had done for Bayard.

Frances Gonzales said the housing authority would be having a meeting December 20, 2023, on Reynolds Drive at 4:00 pm. She had not attended the Planning and Zoning meeting. She had attended the follow up meeting on mental health and said Medina had attended also. She had missed the legislative finance meeting and would be contacting Sen. Siah Correa-Hemphill to get an update. She thanked Fierro for all he had done for Bayard and had many memories of all he had done many years ago when she was growing up. "We have had a lot of differences, but I respect you for all your years of service."

Diaz said the beautification committee would have judges out looking at the Christmas decorations in people's yards starting the following week. First prize would be $300, second prize would be $200, third prize would be $100 and two prizes of $75 would be given. Diaz thanked Fierro for his time and service to the community.

Ramos wanted to let the council know the person that wanted to rent the HMS building has been asking about it. The council needs to decide what it wants to do. Medina said they needed to get a structural engineer in to look at it first. Ramos said he had found out the work being done before had to be stopped because of not obtaining the proper permits. He brought up he had been contacted by a resident to buy 30 feet of city property. He had told her she would have to survey it and pay for an appraisal. Diaz said that had already been approved and she had been told to get a survey and appraisal.

Ramos said they had advertised for the custodian position. He thanked the girls in the office for doing a great job and going above and beyond their duty. The deputy clerk position has not been filled and Ramos said he had some ideas he wanted to chat with the council about that he thought they would like.

Ramos said in the short five months he had been there Fierro had helped him and appreciated all he had done and said they would miss him. People don't realize the hours you put in behind the scenes.

Carrillo thanked the council for allowing them to get the training needed. He said in the future he would be changing up the reports. He felt they also needed to show the accomplishments of the department. He will be putting in what happened after some of the arrests and other things at the department. He brought back McGruff the crime fighting dog to teach kids to have confidence in reporting crimes. He will be taking him to all the schools in the mining district. The department has seven officers now and is fully staffed. He thanked the mayor for his support.

Paez thanked everyone and said now they will be fully staffed. He did ask that people slow down with the construction going on. The chlorination system will be self-sustaining soon after the upgrade.

Fierro asked Ramos to do some things on a few projects and suggested he ask DOT to donate that small piece of land for the welcome sign. He thanked every department for their hard work and for how well they had treated him through the years. "I appreciate the city of Bayard and they have treated me good, and I enjoyed it. I did this from the bottom of my heart." He told the residents how much he has appreciated their help.

The next regular meeting will be held January 12, 2024

Meeting adjourned.