[Editor's Note: This is part 4 of the Grant County Commission work session on Jan. 9, 2024. This begins the county director reports.]

By Mary Alice Murphy

County director reports continued at the Jan. 9, 2024 Grant County Commission work session.

The next report came from Emergency Manager Scot Fuller.

"Most of our current and future projects haven't changed that much, so I'll give some updates on them," Fuller began. "I got tired of waiting on the IPAWS (Integrated Public Alert and Warning System) designation, so I called FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Administration) up on Friday and expressed my displeasure with their process, so hopefully by the end of the week, we should have access to get us started. On the Hazard Mitigation Plan, which you approved funding for last meeting, I will be getting with procurement to get an RFP out to get a contractor on hand to start the process."

He said he would be working on the process for the FEMA emergency preparedness program to get it started.

On the key event dates, he said something came up after he had prepared his report for the packet. The Department of Transportation, in conjunction with the Federal Highway Administration and the U.S. Forest Service, "will be fixing and repairing three bridges, along with a culvert along Highway 35 in Mimbres in the next few years. That was news to me, so I'll be attending the meeting on the 17th to get some more information on that."

On the AEDs (automated external defibrillators), "hopefully within the next few weeks, we'll get them put into the senior centers and we'll get a couple of extras to put in Sheriff's deputy vehicles on the periphery of the county, because they can probably get to the people quicker than the medical people can."

District 2 Commissioner Eloy Medina agreed and said that was the plan, "but who is going to take care of the training? We're working on that."

Fuller said that was about all he had for the emergency management portion, but as the interim fire management officer, the state is looking at the audits and there is one issue that needs to be resolved. "I'm working with the finance officer to get that fixed, so we can close out the audits of the volunteer fire departments this week or next. I have finalized the database for all eight of the volunteer fire departments, so I have all that data in one central location now. If there are ever any questions, I should have it all from the ISOs (insurance standards office, which looks at fire departments and rates them to their standards) to the fire marshals division, any testing, any truck, so its there for the new county fire chief. We had four department inspections in December with the fire marshal's office, which found some deficiencies that I am working on action plans to correct those deficiencies. With the fire season coming up, I'll make sure that all the volunteers complete their wildfire suppression training and pack inspections before the season starts."

District 5 Commissioner Harry Browne said he knew they would get an update after the meeting on Jan. 17 in the Mimbres, "but one thing raised my eyebrows. I think you said federal agencies are involved. Do we know why that is? Highway 35 is a state road."

Fuller said all he got was the news release that said the Federal Highway Administration, the Central Federal Lands Administration in conjunction with the Forest Service and in cooperation with the New Mexico Department of Transportation is doing this project. "It was news to everybody. It was a surprise to the County Manager (Charlene Webb), too. Especially that there is funding for those bridges, but not the Hamilton Bridge." [Webb made a guess, but her microphone wasn't on yet, and it was intelligible.]

District 1 Commissioner and Chair Chris Ponce asked for an email briefing after the meeting, because most of them would be in Santa for the New Mexico Counties meetings and Grant County Day.

Medina said they had met out there with the Forest Service and Rep. Luis Terrazas was there on McKnight Road after the flooding. "Do think there is a tie in there?"

Webb replied that it is possible.

Medina referred back to a previous meeting when one of the firefighters was complaining about losing their money [which they haven't. It's simply in a different county fund], and that he had holes in his gloves, so, "that has been brewing in my mind. That's a concern if they don't have the proper equipment to be safe. Can you make sure they have all their safety equipment?"

"I think I have allayed all their fears about equipment issues," Fuller said. "I think they all know where to come to get anything replaced, and we will make sure it gets replaced."

Finance Director Linda Vasquez gave the next report. She said current projects include two bids, the Pinos Altos Volunteer Fire Department North Swan Street fire station construction bid, which went out that day, due by March 1, 2024. The second bid is for the Upper Mimbres VFD water storage tanks, which would go out on Jan. 10 for a due date of March 1. "And for future projects, I'm beginning the process for the fiscal year 2025 budget in February."

The IT (Internet Technology) Director Adam Baca gave the next report. He noted the new website would go live in mid-January at https://grantcountynm.gov/ .

"We were able to migrate to the cloud some of our Tyler Technology services, primarily Incode, which is now called ERP Pro Ten," Baca said. "These are the modules used in HR and finance in order to keep things as organized as possible. That migration was successful, and we made sure everyone could log into it and get access. So now the software resides on the Tyler Technology servers and we access through our internet connection their services. Last month, we were able to implement network vulnerability management. This is a tool that allows my department to keep an eye on all systems, laptops, desktops, servers and get an idea on how vulnerable we are. We can remediate any issues from there. As Rebekah (Wenger, airport manager) mentioned, we plan to help them move into the new administration facility. We made sure we had an internet connection established, as well as a wireless presence, and also getting a phone system implemented."

For future projects, he said they look forward to implementing some more cloud migration efforts, particularly for Tyler Eagle services, which are used in the Assessor's office, the Clerk's office and the Treasurer's office. He is also looking to virtualize some of their older, aging servers.

"We took part in a three-day training on how to maintain our new website, " Baca continued. "The week of the 22nd, we have a couple of things going on behind the scenes. They include the content manager implementation and the new virtual server infrastructure configuration." He said the content manager would allow them to upload documents in a more streamlined fashion. An engineer will help them build the virtual server system.

Road Department Superintendent Joe Grijalva gave his report at the work session. He began by saying the road crews were cleaning up from the previous day's snow and addressing fallen trees.

"Blade men are continuing routine maintenance," Grijalva said. "And the road crews address complaints as they come in. We want to continue to work on the 2022 special project on Little Walnut Road and the SP 2023 on Noonday. For future projects the department will begin in February the 2023 LGRF (Local Government Road Fund) projects."

He said the week of Dec.26, the department received five of the six new blades. "We are expecting the last one in March. All our crew will attend a traffic control class in Deming on Jan. 22 and 23."

Grijalva asked for continuing patience and understanding from the public as they continue to address work orders.

[Editor's Note: It simply takes too long to type all the Planning Department projects, so I copy them from the packet, because it gives all the detail. BOP means beginning of project/ EOP means end of project).

Planning Director Randy Hernandez gave the report giving the following details for each project.

COLONIAS
• Arenas Valley Road (Design): Design is 100% complete. Will seek funding for full or phased construction.BOP/EOP: Entire Road, 2.56 Miles

Little Walnut Road Phase 1 (Const.): Construction at 75%
completion and set to achieve substantial completion by
February 2024. BOP: Trail Ridge, EOP: Tanglewood Circle.

Crum Road (Design): Design phase to begin.

Franks Road (Design): Design phase to begin.

North Hurley Road Phase 3 (Const.): Working on obtaining work permits from property owners.

DEPT. OF FINANCE AND ADMIN.
• Bataan Park Veterans Memorial Walking Path: Design is
Colonias and/or NMDOT TPF 98% complete. Anticipated bid by January 2024.
Hamilton Bridge Replacement (Design): Design and permitting in progress. Anticipated completion by June 2024.

NM DEPT. OF TRANSPORTATION
Fleming Tank Road Improvements: Construction began on December 4, 2023 and is 18% complete.

Truck Bypass Road (Const.): Construction at 65% completion and set to achieve substantial completion by February 2024. BOP/EOP: Entire Road

OTHER
Courthouse Needs Assessment: Preliminary design plans in review. Presentation scheduled for February 2024.

EDA Grant: Planned free workforce development trainings throughout 2024.

Old Jail Brownfields Project: Subgrant agreement received, pending approval.

Upper Mimbres VFD Water Storage Tanks: Anticipated bid release in January 2024.

Future Projects:

DFA: Local Emergency Infrastructure Fund – IN REVIEW
• Public Safety Building Acquisition/Renovations ($600K)
NMDOT: Highway Infra Off-System Bridge Fund – CONTINGENT • Hamilton Bridge Constriction ($3M)
Arenas Valley Road Improvements (Full or Phased) 2.56 Miles; Estimated Cost: $8.3M Colonias and/or NMDOT TPF
Ridge Road Phase II Improvements0.85 Miles; Estimated Cost: $2.2M Colonias and/or NMDOT TPF.

At the end of his presentation, he noted that two agreements were on the agenda for approval at the Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024 regular meeting agenda. The agreements, which were approved at the regular meeting, addressed the Quality of Life grant agreement to replace the small baseball field turf at Bataan Memorial Park for $480,000. The second agreement, also approved at the regular meeting addressed the New Mexico Environment Department Brownfields subgrant agreement for the abatement of the old jail at a cost of $100,000.

He also asked commissioners for potential projects for the Colonias Infrastructure Fund for the next fiscal year. "My recommendations would be for two or three, with one being Ridge Road Phase 2, Arenas Valley Road full or phased and Little Walnut Phase 2. I request feedback because they are due Jan. 19."

Ponce said his feedback is agreeing with the recommendations.

Medina asked if Hernandez could ask on the Mimbres project with the Forest Service the following week about a walking path from San Lorenzo School up to the museum. "I'm getting a lot of phone calls about the kids not having a safe place to walk on the road."

The next article will begin with the review of the regular meeting agenda, which will include the annual election of the chairperson and vice chair, as well as the GRMC monthly update and elected officials' reports and a presentation, before the regular meeting items such as financial reports and new business, agreements, resolutions and other items on the agenda.

To read the previous articles, please visit https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/82291-grant-county-commission-holds-work-session-010924-part-1 ; and https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/82325-grant-county-commission-holds-work-session-010924-part-2 ; and https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/82348-grant-county-commission-holds-work-session-010924-part-3 .