[Editor's Note: This is the second in a series of articles on the May 7, 2024 Grant County work session and decisions made at the regular meeting on May 9, 2024. This article begins with the review of the regular meeting.]

 Commissioner Eloy Medina and other commissioners present the EMS Week proclamation to one of the EMS providers.

Photo and article by Mary Alice Murphy

County Manager Charlene Webb began the review of the May 9, 2024 regular meeting agenda at the May 7 work session.

At the regular meeting, when approval of the regular meeting agenda came up, District 5 Commissioner Harry Browne requested tabling of items p and q, which addressed the annual USDA wildlife damages management due to the contract reverting back to a previous contract without the changes made in 2023.

District 1 Commissioner and Chair Chris Ponce also questioned the document, and said it did not reflect what the commissioners had demanded in the previous contract. He said he would like to see a copy of the previous contract, as he knew they had determined they did not want M44s used on public land. "The contract we approve should mirror what we had approved in the past."

District 2 Commissioner Eloy Medina amended, by tabling the items, his previous motion to approve the agenda. District 4 Commissioner Billy Billings seconded the motion. Commissioners approved the motion.

Next came public input. Planning Director Randy Hernandez asked to correct his previous mis-speaking at a previous meeting about the potential of receiving Colonias funding awards. "Due to our audit, it is unlikely that we will receive any of the awards."

Christine Hess came forward to speak and said she lives in the White Signal area. "It has been brought to my attention that M44s and foot-hold traps were banned four years ago, and there are some who would like to bring back that language. I think it is 100 percent barbaric, I have heard about what these M44s do, and shame on humanity if we are even considering something like this, much less foothold traps." She noted that with the cyanide M44s, the animal that consumes it dies, and unfortunately, other creatures feed on the carcass and they also die. She also questioned that working hours for the agent may have been cut down, but "is he still being paid for the who knows how many hours? I am standing here saying we need to make some changes and thank you for tabling this. I understand there is concern for the cattle. We need to appreciate all the wildlife we have in this state. I'm out there hiking and it's a joy to see wildlife. ... I think we need to learn to live with this wildlife. I think there are too many cattle here. They encroach upon our wilderness areas and they pressure our wildlife. I understand that the reimbursement for a downed cow is more than they could get if sent to market. I don't think this should be rushed."

Glenn Griffin commented on Zoom. He said he lives in District 4. He said last year in late June, there was no comment to renew the wildlife services contract. "And as a result, the agent and the contractor are spinning out of control. What is the rush to get this contract approved? Is it to cover up the lack of our agent's work? His inability to follow the contract? Or to show support for ranchers?"

He also noted "what is being hidden from us. The return of foot-hold traps and M44s on public lands. The gifts that keep on killing. From coyotes to eagles to possibly harming search and rescue personnel, hikers and dogs. What are the commissioners thinking when they take away the liability from the contractor and put the liability on the county? The agency lost the ability to use these things on public land in 2021, and again in Roxie's law in 2022. The cyanide bomb, the M44, is now banned on BLM lands. From the last quarterly report, commissioners seem to be OK with the agent working only 66 hours out of the required 250. That means we are paying the agent $324 an hour. Why give the agent a blank check and not enforce the contract? We were lied to at the Tuesday work session. The amount for the agent is up from $86,000 to $92,000."

Griffin continued by saying that in the last four years not one non-lethal relocation, as is mandated, had taken place as the first choice over lethal killings. "I hope that the item is tabled today."

Another speaker on Zoom was April Lee, who lives in District 3. She said she read the second quarter report from wildlife services and was "confounded by the lack of actual substantive data reported. Once again there are no GPS coordinates or ranches included in the report. The new contract is clearly cut and pasted from an old contract and has numerous points for concern. The state of New Mexico's Roxie's Law bans the use of foot hold traps on public lands, yet they are included in the contract equipment list. The new contract also allows the use of M44 cyanide canisters. These methods are draconian. Why is the contract allowing this? This is a step backward."

She also noted that information required in the contract to be reported is not in the report, such as what type of land and the identity of the requesting entity, nor the number of species re-located, the number of outreach efforts, among other requirements listed in the contract that are not in the report. She also said the contract requires at least 624 hours per year for the assigned agent, distributed among actual activities, tech assistance, agency requirements and annual leave. She calculated the hourly wage at "a whopping" $107 per hour.

Lee also alleged that a lot of ranchers raise cattle as a side hustle, including paying grazing fees on forest land and having a "callous attitude" to letting the cattle fend for themselves. She said the term wildlife services is a misnomer. She also alleged that the fees are no where near commensurate to the damage done by cattle to riparian areas, which requires taxpayer dollars to fix. She also accused those agriculturalists who call for help from wildlife services tend to be "scorched earth" types. She kept talking after her five minutes were up, and she was warned.

The next item addressed a proclamation for May as Motorcycle Awareness month. Executive Assistant Kristi Franco read the proclamation and commissioners approved it at the regular meeting.

The second proclamation proclaimed the week of May 20-24, 2024 as National Emergency Medical Services Week. Commissioner Eloy Medina, who also serves as EMS director for Gila Regional Medical Center, read the proclamation. Commissioners approved the proclamation and presented it to a group of Grant County EMS providers.

Medina thanked all the men and women who provide these services, including those who volunteer or are paid, fire, ambulance, EMS, flight, those who come out at 3 o'clock in the morning to help the community. "I appreciate their never-ending efforts. Thank you guys."

Detention Center Administrator Joseph Andazola then gave a presentation on the accreditation process the jail is going through. He defined accreditation as a "formal, independent verification that a program or institution meets established standards and is competent to carry out specific assessment tasks." They include assessment of facility strengths and weaknesses, establishment of measurable criteria for upgrading operations and performance-based benefits.

He also cited the importance of accreditation, which accomplishes improved staff morale and professionalism, safer environment for staff and offenders, defense against lawsuits and reduced liability insurance costs.

To achieve and keep accreditation requires adhering to 211 different standards, including 37 in administration, 9 in physical plant, 15 in safety/sanitation, 86 in security and control, 47 in medical/mental health and 17 in detainee program.

Andazola noted that only nine detention facilities in the state are accredited. "Once approved to proceed with the accreditation process, initial accreditation is one year of proof of practice of each standard, which must be accomplished within a 24-month time frame. Average length of accreditation process is between 12 and 18 months. After the first one-year accreditation, re-accreditation is accomplished every three years, with three years of proofs of practice of each standard."

He explained that proof of practice can include photos, receipts or contracts of various maintenance of equipment, training files, detainee files, logs to include rounds conduction, meals that are fed to inmates, showers given, the temperatures of food, as well as the temperature of showers and housing units. Also under scrutiny will be policies and procedures and staff and detainee interviews.

Andazola presented several detailed standards that require proofs of practice.

He also said that the process involves various county departments, including HR, maintenance, finance and the county attorney.

"Accreditation becomes a way of life at the detention center," Andazola said. "It's not something that comes only at the time of inspection. Each standard has a hard copy folder, which is transferred to an electronic system called Power DMS, where proofs of practice are uploaded."

The Power DMS has streamlined the audit process, so that proofs of practice can be read by the auditors prior to the arrival at the facility.

Also key to the accreditation is an accreditation manager,
who manages the activities, data and records on a daily basis. The manager manages the accreditation program including leadership to the accreditation team and preparing for re-accreditation. The manager must ensure ongoing compliance with the standards including timely submission of compliance reports. He identifies non-compliance and makes recommendation to remedy non-compliance. The manager prepares the annual accreditation compliance report and collects, monitors and analyzes a wide variety of data specific to the standards. Critical to the position is a high degree of accuracy oriented toward detail.

Andazola said during several site visits, consultants reviewed staffing for all four shift and developed an analysis, which provided recommendations, including establishment of a full-time compliance officer to manage the accreditation process and policy development. He noted a compliance officer can help speed up the accreditation process, which usually takes several months to receive full accreditation, because records must be established for a minimum of one year, which would be done by the compliance officer, instead of stretching the administration with additional duties.

Accreditation management involves about 500 to 700 hours a year to maintain files, document and proofs, with an additional about 200 hours performing compliance audits.

He noted the Grant County Detention Center five-year plan created in 2022 and updated yearly had the goal of accomplishing accreditation and maintaining accreditation as well as providing a succession plan for the facility and its administration.

District 5 Commissioner Harry Browne said: "You've done impressive work toward this goal. It requires amazing organization to do this work."

Medina asked how hard it would be to stay accredited.

Andazola said once the facility it accredited, "we have a young staff who are committed to continuing it. It will take daily work by the accreditation manager, who is also your compliance, quality and control manager. He just has to just keep at it. The hard part is retention. We have to work at it for succession of the administration."

District 4 Commissioner Billy Billings thanked Andazola for taking on the accreditation. "We appreciate your taking on this job in addition to what you are already doing. How is your staffing?"

Andazola replied: "Right now, we have the administrator, a warden and two lieutenants, one for operations, and the training sergeant. That is our administration. We do have a corporal in training to be the field training officer. The only change I want to make to continue to be fiscally responsible is the captain position, who will be the accreditation/programs manager. The programs would include the RISE program, we want to bring in Ignite and we want to bring back all the programs we had before Covid. The programs were busy from noon to 8 p.m., so the captain would oversee that also."

The next article will have a presentation to address a vocational education center.

To view the first article in the series, please visit https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/84689-grant-county-commission-work-session-050724-part-1