By Lynn Janes

The town of Hurley held a special meeting and workshop meeting September 3, 2024. Attendance to the meeting included Mayor Ed Stevens, Mayor Pro Tem Nanette Day, councilors, Reynaldo Maynes and Keana Huerta. James Langley did not attend.

They started with the workshop meeting and David Takeuchi, an engineer from Stantec working with the town to renovate the old General Office of the mine. He had visited the site several times and they will be striving to bring it up to code and incorporate the needs of the town but still maintain the original structure and history of the building with minimal impact.

He had a presentation for the council to view and make any changes they felt needed for the town administration and police department. They will be keeping the entrances the same. The plan utilizes both levels and will have a meeting room that will seat 40 people.

Stantec started with the first floor and Day had questions about the access for the police department after hours. Takeuchi went over the entrances and accessibility. They discussed possible remedies. The discussion took into consideration of lockdown procedures in the event of a violent prisoner. Police Chief Christian McGuinness brought up possible issues that needed to be considered in the design such as they had to have a separate area for holding juveniles and adults.

Although a meeting room had been part of the initial design the council discussed the possibility of leaving the council meetings in the community center and maybe not needing the meeting space. Huerta liked the community center, and Day said it took up a lot of real estate for a once-a-month meeting. Stevens pointed out that it could be used for many things and not just council meetings. It would be a multipurpose room.

The second floor would have the town offices, judges' office, mayor's office, courtroom and an employee lunch/break room. They addressed the security concerns of that floor.

Day pointed out some parking problems that mostly addressed the police department. They went over some possible options, but Takeuchi pointed out that they had a limited footprint. He noted all the concerns and needs to incorporate on the next presentation.

The council questioned the courtroom being in the facility and if it would be a good idea. McGuinness said he had been contacted by the sheriff's department and they had expressed interest in having a substation in Hurley which would require additional space.

Stevens went over all they had discussed with Takeuchi and the adjustments that he could make, and he said he would have the changes for them at the next meeting. He did request that the council review the changes before the meeting to make sure he had addressed everything they had discussed.

Adjourned.

The council started the special meeting.

The council went into closed session to discuss the hiring of a town clerk.

The council came back from closed session and said no action had taken place.

The council did not approve the hiring of Darlene McBride, deputy clerk for the town clerk/treasurer position.

The next regular meeting will be September 10, 2024, at 5:00 pm.

Meeting adjourned.