[Editor's Note: This is part 2 of a multi- part series of articles on almost six hours of Grant County Commission meetings on Feb. 11 and 13, 2025)

By Mary Alice Murphy

This article about the Grant County Commission work session on Feb. 11, 2025 continues with presentations.

Joseph Hill, director of prevention and community collaborations at the Center for Health Innovation-Public Health Institute (CHI-PHI), presented the Grant County Community Health Council quarterly report. He began with the council's mission statement, which is to bring together to assess, plan, prioritize and coordinate local efforts to empower the community. He said: "Our vision is to form a diverse and passionate group of individuals that unite to strengthen local resources and build new opportunities in Grant County. And so I just want to show you some highlights of how we've been doing that over the past six months."

Hill began with what he called collaborative partnership events. "These are where we were a primary partner in planning or executing a community event or action."

The senior health and resource fair took place in the Mimbres Valley. "We did that with HMS, the Youth Prevention Coalition, as well as other departments within the Public Health Institute, and that went very well. We also had International Overdose Awareness Day, where we did a presentation at the Silco Theater, showing a film and also providing access to resources to the various people that attended. Other partnership events that we supported where we just showed up in a supportive capacity, included the Community Partnership for Children's prevention, the Mimbres Valley Fall Festival and the Silver City Health and Resource Fair."

"We participated in Red Ribbon Week. One thing that we're very excited about is we just received a grant from the Department of Health for opioid overdose prevention," Hill continued. "We just got this in January, and we already have lined up that all incoming HMS staff will be trained in Naloxone, which is what you use to help someone if they're having an overdose. And so we'll be training them how to administer that for the incoming staff, all the staff. We'll also be working with WNMU nursing department to offer that training to nursing students, as well as Cobre schools to offer it to their school staff.

"The last time we were here giving you a report, we talked about our collaboration with the local Behavioral Health Collaborative, also known as LC 6, so a really brief idea of what that is. It was written into legislation that there would be a group that would work and collaborate amongst all the agencies. It was originally called the inter agency hub collaborative around behavioral health, which they changed to local Behavioral Health Collaborative, in each judicial district. So this being the sixth Judicial District, we do it with the three sister counties."
He noted it had gone dormant for a bit, and so the Public Health Institute picked it up and thought through why it didn't work and why it didn't serve the counties the way it should have.

"What we came up with was to embed it in the bodies that are already doing that work in those communities, so we have a formal agreement with each health council in each county. And so that's been a great development for the Grant County Community Health Council, as it not only continues our conversation around what's going on in behavioral health in our county, but it also links us in with what's going on regionally."

Hill noted that CHI-PHI has been doing analysis across the three counties, but also a deeper dive within Grant County.

"I wanted to make you aware of a few of the things that we're responding to. Based on that analysis in substance use for adults, we found that Grant County has one of the highest rates in the state around chronic heavy drinking. So that's one of the things that we're responding to in our response as a health council. Amongst youth, there are various other rates that are above state level, and so we're responding to that as well. The good news is that it's trending down, and you can see here, since 2019 it has been moderately going down. So we want to work to continue to make sure that it continues to go down."

Around mental health, they have found that Grant County has one of the highest rates around diagnosed depression. And so that's another thing they are responding to amongst adults

In a slide, he pointed out various mental health and suicide issues for youth. "And again, this is rather high as well, but you can see that this is also trending down, so we want to continue to work on that."

He then introduced a few people, due to a transition in staff. "In November, our coordinator made it known to us that she was moving to Utah to pursue some educational pursuits. We miss her, and she did a great job. But I wanted to introduce you
to our new coordinator."

Coordinator Emma Eileen McKinley introduced herself. "I see some familiar faces. Some of you may know me from my work with Silver Regional Sexual Support Services and Child Advocacy Center, where I've been for the past half decade. I'm really excited to step into this new opportunity to take a broader scope on health issues in Grant County, as all of you have chosen to be part of this together, I know that you're all big-picture people, and so you know that health of a community is not just about individual choices. It is about individual choices, of course, but it's not just about that. If someone makes an individual choice to be healthier, but they don't know where to go, or they're part of a culture that encourages unhealthy behaviors, or are part of communities that don't allow them to make those positive changes, then that individual choice isn't going to go very far. So we're looking forward to partnering with everyone that we possibly can to make sure that Grant County is a place where people are able to make healthy choices and able to make healthy changes and work towards being a place where we have really good health outcomes, because, like Mr. Hill said, we are trending down in a lot of these poor health behaviors, and so we want to continue those downward trends in poor health behaviors and to encourage upward trends in good health behaviors, and really encourage Grant County to be a place that's a healthy place to live, work and be."

McKinley introduced the DOH (Department of Health)health promotion specialist, Cassandra Jewell.

"I am the new DOH health promotion specialist for Grant and Hidalgo Counties," Jewell said. "I'm a Grant County native, born and raised here. I also hold a community health records certificate through the state, and have had one for about two years now. Previously, I worked with HMS, and I'm very familiar with struggles of our county. I'm happy to be with the Department of Health to be able to help actually make an impact now."

Hill said: "We've been very busy. We've had a lot of great things happen in the community. We have a great team."

District 1 Commissioner and Chair Chris Ponce said: "I understand behavioral health, mental health. We have a lot of great people working in agencies, and they tend to go up through the money, because that's a big issue, rightfully so. I'm not complaining. I don't know if I missed it or you don't have it up here. What about our senior centers? That's where I want someone to focus on. I've been saying that for six years. You know, I see behavioral health; I see all that. It's great the kids, believe me, I'm on board with all that. I think we just need to expand a little bit more to our elderly, because our elderly being healthy is also that social aspect and being there to help them, and referring to different programs that are out here in Grant County. A lot of our seniors do not have access to the internet, do not have cell phones. Some do. I would really like to see before I walk off of this stage in two year, that somebody actually worked on that, and I've asked the health council to do that for so many years."

Hill agreed with Ponce, but noted the efforts do fall along funding streams. "Last year, we did a survey in the community and assessed what were the top needs. We based our priorities on those top needs. This is why every senior, every senior initiative, every senior health fair, we've not only participated in, in many cases, we've been a driving force of it."

Hill said the funding is harder to come by for senior issues, and so that is why there is more emphasis on behavioral health, because it's just that they have access to that funding. "We do continue to seek those funding opportunities. In the meantime, we do make as much space as we can with what we have available to support any senior initiative. And currently in our steering committee and our senior committee, it's a very well represented issue. And the people that are on our steering committee, the people that participate in the Health Council meetings, this is one of the top issues. It's one of the things that is discussed.

Ponce said he didn't know what the requirements are to distribute or use that funding. "But I do feel that a lot of our behavioral health is really mental health issues, "Is there any way that we can look at that funding to see, maybe expand it, trying to incorporate some of our seniors? I don't know what the right way is, but I'll leave that up to you, that that's just my request. Thank you."

District 3 Commissioner Nancy Stevens thanked Hill for his work. "As a social worker. I really appreciate your efforts to revitalize the Behavioral Health Collaborative. I was just curious logistically like, how often do you have meetings, and how do you try to engage behavioral health providers in the community to make sure that you're all collaborating and not duplicating services and identifying gaps and services?"

Hill explained the structure of how they're running the collaborative, which is based in Judicial District Six.."What we do is, instead of having one meeting and asking everybody to come to that meeting, we actually have an in-person meeting every quarter in each county, and it rotates. So every three months it's going to show up in one of the three counties. The good news is the health councils were already having those discussions. They've already been integrating these things and working on the issues of duplication efforts and things of that nature. CHI has been working on that specifically in this county for a bit. And so we've had a little head start on that. Particularly, the big thing also is that we're able to discuss it with the other counties, because the reality is in this region most people seek services within the region, rather than just in their communities. It's really about connecting the conversations that are already being had. It's what we're trying to do to ensure that this actually works and doesn't go down again like it did before."

The next presentation came from the County Livestock Loss Authority (CLLA) Chair Audrey McQueen, who also serves as a Catron County commissioner. "I just wanted to give you guys a little presentation of what the CLLA is. I know that Grant County is starting to get a little bit of a problem from the wolves with livestock producers. Catron County is inundated with them. And now Socorro County and Sierra County are starting to really get hit. Two years ago, we decided to get together as three counties and form the CLLA so that we could get money and refund the producers for the problems they're having."

"Last year, we were successful in going to Santa Fe to the legislature," she continued. "We asked for $9 million for the next year, They ended up giving us $1.5 million, which was a start. And then there's a little bit of federal monies that we get to try to compensate ranchers' losses The capturing of wolves is so poor right now that ranchers are losing 35-40% of their calf crop. I've got calves worth $1800 to $2,000 that I'm losing. It's just something, we've got to be compensated for it. So I brought the forms and stuff so that whenever your producers are getting hit, they'll know what to do. It is a JPA, formed with the three counties, and it's statewide. We hope Grant County would be interested in getting this to their producers. There are ways we pay for indirect damages, which could be like light birth weights, stuff like that. And then there's conflict avoidance, whether you want to get a range rider or just your hours spent trying to prevent the depredations. And then every quarter we have three doctors at the university that put together a report for depredation loss, so that we stay at the market price on that, and hopefully it'll get better. Because, as we know it, if you lose a two-year-old pregnant cow and the calf, you're going to get compensated for the cow, possibly the calf, because it was born alive, but you're not going to get compensated for the rest of the years you would have had that cow. And so we're slow off the ground, but I'm hoping the more we work at it, the better we can get, and hopefully maybe push to get a little bit of management of the wolves. And I think their numbers are getting close to where they can maybe do this."

She said any livestock loss could be filled out at their website, https://cllanm.org/. "You can fill out these forms online and email them to the administrator. And if I can leave these with you guys, that'll give you the website and the declaration form and stuff to get to your producers, if you have anybody starting to get wolf problems."

District 5 Commissioner Thomas Shelley asked if it were only for depredations due to wolves, or is it depredations from any predator.

McQueen said it was only for wolf depredations

Shelley asked if there weren't a federal program for compensating for livestock losses.

McQueen agreed there had been such a program, but U. S. Fish and Wildlife chose to stop the Coexistence Council. She said it wasn't very effective because they were always a year or two years out making payments. "That's why we formed our group. Fish and Wildlife was happy to be out of the depredation business."

Shelley asked what the benefit for Grant County would be for becoming a member of the coalition.

"I think there is a benefit, because whenever we go back to the legislature, I think the more counties that are involved, the better chance we have of getting funding," McQueen replied

Shelley also asked if the program is working. "Are you able to compensate? I mean, right now, has it been successful to actually compensate for depredation losses?

"Yes, we've had some bumps in the road, but I think, to date, we've already paid out, like $400,000 in kills, and we're almost caught up on all the depredations for 2024," McQueen said: "Then we're still working on the conflict avoidance and indirect damages for, actually, years 22 and 23. A lot of it that we took on was stuff that wasn't paid from the Coexistence Council. And then there's like four different pots of money that we're working with, from federal, state to county money. So it's been a little challenging, but it's a lot better than what we had."

Shelley asked if there had been any opposition or backlash to getting compensation for those ranchers, like litigation or anything like that that they've experienced.

"It's a coalition. There was public knowledge," McQueen replied "There was an ethics claim filed on three of our board members that would have been myself, Nelson Shirley and Tom Paterson, because we were producers on the board that lose livestock. It went through the Ethics Commission, and it took about three months, and they actually ruled that there was nothing done unethical. Everything was on board. I think everything's good to go, but it was bumpy for a while. I spent a good amount of time in the legislature last year, and for the most part, everybody was in support of getting the ranchers taken care of with their losses."

Ponce said: "I think we should go through the process of having a commissioner on the board.

District 2 Commissioner Eloy Medina thanked McQueen for bringing the idea to them. "It's a lot of information that can be helpful to Grant County. This is important for our ranching community."

District 4 Commissioner Eddie Flores also thanked her for the presentation."You mentioned that it's a 30 to 40% loss in the calves last year. Is that correct? Some ranchers, if you didn't have this program, how would they get compensated? And how long would it take?"

McQueen replied: "They wouldn't. They, in the past if you lost a calf, they were going to pay you about $650, so that's a low compensation."

Flores asked: "If a rancher files a claim for a loss and it is proven to be a wolf loss, what's the time period from the time filed to the time of compensation?"

"So our goal is two weeks," McQueen said. "It hasn't been that. Like I said, some bumps in the road, so now it's taking about six weeks. We've hired a new administrator and we're in the process of moving the fiscal agent to Catron County. Now that we've got the administrator in house in Catron County, the process should get a lot better. I do think it's a good program, and the ranchers in Catron and Socorro were very happy."

Flores said that it is all overdue. "It would be hard to ask any one of us here just to take an $1,800 hit and brush it off and move on, because, as we all know, times are a lot different. Things are a lot more expensive. And I'm very happy to hopefully be a part of this, to represent Grant County and be a voice for the ranchers."

The next article will begin county reports from department heads at the work session.

To visit the previous article, please go to https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/grant-county-commission-work-session-021125-part-1  .