[Editor's Note: This is the first of a series of articles on the Feb. 6, 2024, Grant County Commission work session.]

By Mary Alice Murphy

After preliminary business, including the call to order, the pledge of allegiance and salute to the state flag, plus approval of the work session agenda and purpose and public input, of which there was none, and with no presentations, the Grant County Commission began to hear county reports from department directors.

The first came from Grant County Airport Manager Rebekah Wenger. "I'm happy to say that we are fully staffed, and our newest employee is airport tech Lauren Gonzalez, who is a certified EMT-1. We are in our new administrative building and when we have completed the furnishing, we will move the pilots' lounge into the new building, too. Along with that, I'm hoping to start a new marketing plan, so we can bring in more transients. We are working with a national CBO (community-based organization) that tries to bring traffic in.

"One thing I've been told is appealing about our airport and our location is that we are a quick turn for fueling, instead of going into someplace like El Paso. They can set up their order with us ahead of time, refuel and go, so it cuts down on the pilot time and wait time. It's exciting and I'm looking forward to marketing us now that we have good facilities and our infrastructure is coming together. Within the next two weeks, we will take possession of our expanded fuel farm. That's exciting for me."

She said training was the next week, and another improvement was when the fuel was tested, and had to be thrown away, the airport will have a recovery system to keep the fuel instead of throwing it away.

"Other projects we're working on include a facility assessment using a grant we got from New Mexico Aviation," Wenger said. "It found some issues and Southwest Electric is doing some stuff to get us back up to snuff. Our airport beacon was actually put together with residential lighting. So we've updated it. We've updated a lot of things over the years that had kind of been passed over. We're getting the airport where it should be. We're working on a long-term maintenance plan, so we don't fall back into this pattern, 15 years later realizing something needed to be done."

She said for future projects, "I'm working to get funding for new T-hangars. We've completed the engineering and design. We're ready to go out to bid, but we have to find funding first. I'm going back to the state to ask for more money to put in eight new T-hangars. We've had a waiting list of about 11 consistently since I got here. So we would have places for the people who are moving here with aviation backgrounds. Some of them are starting to work with the school districts to do some STEM education, so the future is looking bright for the community. We feel like we're in a good position to take advantage of it."

District 5 Commissioner Harry Browne said: "Thank you for the positive report. Besides the sales of fuels, which creates revenue for us, what other economic benefits do we see by bringing in transient visitors?"

Wenger said she believes it is a chance also to develop the "plenty of land we have at the airport. Obviously the tourism aspect. A lot of corporations have gone to using private jet service, so that traffic is out there. Bringing them there will help us market our community, too."

Browne said he must have misunderstood about the transient traffic, "but they stay around long enough to do tourism?"

Wenger said they can stay long enough to visit the area. "We have Silver rentals out at the airport and they keep at least four vehicles available, which has opened up a way for them to go to town to the restaurants and shops. We provide that information to them when they come in. We have a great view out the big windows toward town and out to the Gila. It's quite breathtaking."

The next report came from Detention Center Administrator Joseph Andazola. He said the facility has five officer openings. "We have applicants to interview. We are almost ready to submit the application for accreditation. The county manager signed off on it; I signed off on it and as soon as we have the purchase order, I will submit it. I'm a member of the accreditation council and we have a meeting in March, when I think we will go over it, and move forward with it."

He noted that on Jan. 30, 2024, the population at the jail was 60 inmates, with the average population for the month at 70. For the RISE program, at the end of January, they had 21 participants with 14 in the faculty and seven in the community. "We are looking to expand the RISE program in our five-year plan. I know there was talk in the Legislature about making the RISE program funding permanent for detention centers. Lincoln County will come this week to see our program, and we will work with them to build their RISE program. We are looking to utilize the portable building. We also started to have graduation programs for the participants, not only in the faculty, but in the community facility. We had our first one last week in the community facility and invited their families to attend. I want to talk to the county manager to have a RISE program page as part of our social media page and perhaps putting those graduations, not only on social media, but also in the newspaper to celebrate the inmates' accomplishments."

Andazola said they had had corporal testing the prior week and will have the interview of the one applicant within a week. "In February, we will be doing maintenance on the door sliders and locks, as well as a retrofit of the cuff passes in the recreation yard doors. I would like to thank the maintenance department for the replacement HVAC system. We also, with the help of IT, switched out our computers, so we have new computers every five years. We are teaming up with New Mexico Counties to hold a first line supervisor training here in Silver City in March. Cpl. Ponce will be attending the FTO (field training for officers) in Albuquerque on Feb. 21-23, 2024. We also want to discuss our plans for the RISE program, as well as expanding our community outreach. Our staff has some ideas for the five-year plan. We are asking the state if we can include the family in the RISE counseling, so we can include them in the training."

District 4 Commissioner Billy Billings thanked Andazola for the "forward thinking you always have."

The next article will continue with county director reports at the work session.