By Lynn Janes

The town of Hurley held a special meeting February 19, 2025. Mayor Ed Stevens, Mayor Pro Tem Reynaldo Maynes and Pete Ordonez attended. Two council positions have been vacated.

The council approved the agenda with one change—the deputy clerk position that will be voted on would be for Dezinae Salas. They also excluded the judge's report and library report on the consent agenda.

Public Input

Arcelia Padilla had some information for the council. She thanked the council and mayor for including a notice on the water bills about dog registration requirement. "I think for all dogs to be registered they must have their rabies vaccine." She urged residents to not only have the rabies but the parvo and distemper vaccines, because it runs rampant in the community. She continued that both were deadly viruses, and they can be prevented by vaccination.

Other requirements she felt the residents had not been aware of included the requirement for spay and neuter unless an intact animal permit has been obtained. No animal shall be released from the Hurley animal shelter to the original owner unless a sterilization agreement has been signed, and a sterilization deposit has been paid. "This has been our state law for50 years." The intact animal permit costs $50 a year per dog. The town requires a $50 permit also per year. The person would need to pay $100 per year. "I would like to see this enforced, as it would reduce strays, unwanted puppy litters and the number of animals entering the shelter."

Padilla addressed the prevention of animal cruelty section of the ordinance. It would be unlawful for anyone to fail to provide proper food, water, shade, shelter or proper care. She went on to explain the definition of a shelter. "Our dogs today are suffering for lack of enforcement." Padilla continued with restraint of a dog and what the ordinance says.

Stevens said he normally does not comment on public comment but wanted to recognize Padilla's assistance with drafting the present animal control ordinance and thanked her.

The council approved the consent agenda which included the regular meeting minutes January 14, 2024, maintenance report, town clerk report, fire department report, animal control report, code enforcement report and police report.

The council did not make a motion to the change request for the council meetings. Mary Ann Cummings had asked for this to be put on the agenda, and she said she represented some of the residents that would like to see the meetings moved to 6:30 or 7:00.

Ordonez said he had noticed that as the meetings continue, and it becomes darker people trickle out. He would not be in favor of making it later and if anything, would prefer making it earlier. Maynes said 6:30 would be too late, and the council only meets once a month and people could make arrangements. He did say 5:30 would be ok. The council pointed out that Bayard meets at 4:30 and county commissioners at 2:00.

The council approved the purchase order to Angel Armor for the purchase of police body armor. Kevin Vigil, police chief, said the company is fairly new. The body armor would be significantly lighter than the body armor they have been wearing. The current one alone weigh 35-40 pounds. He had worn the armor before, and it weighs about 20 pounds less and offers the same protection. "The current armor the department has is not suitable for our needs at this point." He continued to explain all the reasons why. One being having to wear the current one 35-40 pounds for 8-16 hours a day wears on the body quickly. The council asked the age of the current vests. Vigil said he had no idea but they need replacement every five years. They talked about how they would be sized and if they could be used by others. Vigil said they had some adjustability but not a lot.

The money for the vests would come out of the law enforcement funds. The company has also been listed for state contracts. The council wanted to know how many he would be purchasing. Vigil said seven, both over and under armor and the total would be $15,000.

The council approved Vigil and Officer Jacob Romo to attend a training for enhanced drug ID and narcotics on patrol in Las Cruces. Vigil explained drugs have been a big problem not only in the country but in the town. "We see it on a daily basis and so do the citizens." The purpose of the training will be to enhance drug identification and will actually be hands on training. Part of the training will be to actually hide narcotics in a vehicle and the officers will have to find it. This will help to better know what they would be looking for. The money would come from the law enforcement fund. The council asked if they would be spending the night and Vigil said yes to make sure they had adequate travel time.

Mayor and council reports.

Maynes said he had attended the legislature in Santa Fe. The best way he could describe it was "controlled chaos," It had been a great experience and his first time at the roundhouse. He learned a lot and looked forward to attending the next year. They would not know what funding Hurley would receive until April 2025.

Ordonez wanted to address the current construction of the new highway. Some residents had talked to him about being confused on the reroute bypass road on the north side of the old bridge. They had concerns about the exit point. Ordonez said that road will be temporary, and they have been working closely with Mountain States Construction. He has been in contact with them biweekly. The company will be dismantling the temporary road prior to completion. They have changed the order of the project and will be doing the south end of the project near the railroad tracks. The completion date has been moved to September 2025. He had been told Mountain States will also probably be doing the next two phases of the project. Ordonez said the state wants them to finish phase two and three because of their work ethic.

Stevens read a letter from a Hurley resident, Winston Caine. He had said he would donate up to $1,000 to the police département for whatever they needed. Stevens thanked him. Mrs. Ramirez had also sent a letter requesting that the construction company use the water trucks to keep the dust down.

Because the council has been short, he asked that Maynes and Ordonez take on some extra duties. He asked Ordonez to take on the cemetery and fire department. He asked Maynes to take on the A Street and E Street Park along with the Big Muddy. Stevens asked both to look into what needed to be done to move the American Legion project forward. The funding will be expiring.

Stevens asked that they look into who had the keys to the community center. "We need to do a better job at keeping track of all the keys." The community center had a few screens torn up in the back a few nights ago. People have less respect for other people's facilities. He suggested a camera system. He asked that they start obtaining quotes.

At the next meeting the people that had come to them about the train depot would like to come and do a presentation. Stevens said he thought the town didn't want to move forward on that project but said they should listen to what they had to say.

Stevens said Blas Rodriguez, maintenance supervisor, had checked the roads being used for the detour and said he didn't see any issues. He would double check with him on that.

When Hurley Pride disbanded, they turned all of the flags over to the town. He suggested they need to work with Rodriguez on which flags to put out when and follow through.

The council went into closed session.

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

The council approved the hiring of Dezinae Salas as deputy clerk, pending the background check.

The next regular meeting will be March 11, 2025, at 5:00 pm.

Meeting adjourned.