[Editor's Note: This is the fourth of a series of articles on the June 11, 2024 Commission meeting. It continues county director reports.]

By Mary Alice Murphy

The June 11, 2024 Grant County Commission work session continued county director reports with Fleet Maintenance Director Corey White enumerating the oil changes and inspections, the diagnose and repair, tire repair and replacement, dealership -warranty repair, independent shop programming, Road department blades receiving new cutting edges, a windshield, Safety Kleen pumping off used oil for recycling, the installation of two new post lifts and G&G Towing removing 14 Sheriff's Office units from the yard for disposal. For the rest of the month, they planned to prepare and install fuel tanks and hitches on a new blade and operator pickups when they arrive, as well as installing new decals on all county fleet vehicles and to closeout fiscal year 2024 invoices.

With no questions from the commissioners, IT (internet technology) Director Adam Baca reported the computer lab at the Grant County Veterans Memorial Business and Conference Center had been completed. He said the Clerk's Office had received a grant for $50,000 for implementation of additional cybersecurity methods, which would include a centralized location for all log ins.

His department would add surveillance cameras at Bataan Park Pavilion and the Grant County Airport Office. He and his team were assisting Detention Center personnel with tablet implementation and would continue to improve the wireless at the conference center, along with desk phone upgrades, with the intent to perhaps implement more.

Future projects include the virtualization of physical servers and Cloud migration for Tyler Eagle services.

The following report came from Planning Director Randy Hernandez.

Current Projects
Colonias
Crum Road & Franks Road (Design): Design in progress. Surveyors were on site locate utilities and ROW (right-of-way).
North Hurley Road Phase 3 (Const.): Recommendation for award at Regular Meeting.
NM Dept. of Finance & Administration
• Bataan Park Veterans Memorial Walking Path: Contractor set to begin work.
Hamilton Bridge Replacement (Design): Design is 100% complete.
• Bataan Park Small Field Turf Replacement: Contractor has begun 
site work.

NM Dept. of Transportation
• Fleming Tank Road Improvements: Pending utility pole removal by PNM and seeding.

Others
• EDA Grant: Successfully completed the first Certified Fiber Optic Tech training – 17 individuals are certified. Next training is scheduled for October. Kick-off meeting with contractor for Comprehensive Plan Update scheduled this week.
•Old Jail Brownfields Project: Pending final items from contractor to NMED and then work can begin.
• Upper Mimbres VFD Underground Water Storage Tanks: Project has begun and contractor working with engineering firm to get all submittals in place before breaking ground.
• SWNM Collaborative: Met with Town of Silver City, Gila National Forest and the SWNMAct (5 points initiative) to discuss needs and opportunities. Staff will continue to schedule meetings with both government and non-government entities.

Future Projects
• FY2026-2030 Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan
• Ridge Road Improvements - Phase II Construction
• 0.85 Miles; Estimated Cost: $2.3M
• Colonias Application & NMDOT TPF Application
• Arenas Valley Road Improvements – Phase II Construction • 1.3 Miles; Estimated Cost: $3.5M
• Colonias
• Little Walnut Road Improvements – Phase II Construction • 2.58 Miles; Estimated Cost: $6.8M• Colonias

District 1 Commissioner and Chair Chris Ponce thanked Hernandez for the work on Franks and Crum Roads. "They understand it's in progress."

District 5 Commissioner Harry Browne asked if there was a tentative date for the Brownfields project and Hernandez said: "The end of September."

Browne said he was happy to see the Collaborative report and he would like to know the results of the meetings.

Hernandez said the town has been talking about partnership possibilities. "They want to collaborate with others that have GIS capability and also on other recreation opportunities beyond Forest Service boundaries. They also on the Five Points Initiative want to figure out how to connect with outdoor recreation."

Browne also asked about the Hamilton Bridge. "Is it moving forward without our input?"

County Manager Charlene Webb said they had funding for the design, and will contract with Bohannon Huston on the future direction. "Federal funding is not an option, so we will work with you on how to move forward now that the design is done."

That concluded the director reports. The next article will begin with the review of the regular meeting on June 13, 2024.

To read the previous articles, please visit: https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/grant-county-commission-work-session-061124-part-1 ; https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/grant-county-commission-work-session-061124-part-2  ; and https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/grant-county-commission-work-session-061124-part-3