By Lynn Janes

The town of Bayard held a regular meeting February 26, 2024. Attendance included Mayor John L. Ojinaga, councilors, Frances Gonzales, Eloy Gonzales, and Gilbert Ortiz. Gabriel Ramos, city clerk, also attended. Mayor Pro Tem Eloy Medina did not attend.

Public input

Jeff Carbajal addressed the council concerning the proposed raise in rent at the community center. Carbajal teaches Zumba classes twice a week. He told them these classes also give back to the community and have not just been about fitness. He went over all the things that they had done for the community. They provide food boxes, give free classes to anyone that voted, and he mentioned several services. They had done a fundraiser for the cheerleaders to help them get to New York to be in the Macy's Parade and were able to help them with $1,400. His classes have people age 12 to 98 and have about 10 – 15 a class. Carbajal said he had to attend training out of town periodically and those expenses have to come out of his pocket. He asked the council to keep his rent the same so he could continue. Currently he pays $5 a class for rental.

Jose Diaz addressed the council as a citizen of Bayard. He pointed out to them that Southwest Disposal had been picking up the trash on Mondays but have started to pick up on Tuesday. He had talked to one of the drivers that said it would be changing to Wednesday. The residents need to know when to put the trash out and said especially the elderly.

A local resident added they wanted to know what will be happing with trash pickup also. Ramos said they would be putting information in the paper and in people's utility bills. He also reminded them as soon as they had "Text my gov" app that would be something that they could put on that. Another resident pointed out the inconsistencies he had with the trash pickup lately. Tanya Ortiz, deputy clerk, said one of the problems had been one of the drivers had been sick. Ramos said he would verify the changes and let everyone know.

The council approved the consent agenda that consisted of the police report for January, accounts payable report, minutes from last meeting and Michael Paez training in Albuquerque.

Old business

The council approved the agreement with the Department of Finance and Administration for the appropriation of $10,000 to plan, design, construct equipment and install a safety surrender device. This has been discussed in past council meetings and referred to as an infant surrender box. Gilbert Ortiz has some suggestion to put it in an existing window and save some money. Ojinaga and Frances Gonzales pointed out it had to be in a place that made it anonymous.

New business

The council agreed to table the discussion about the community center rates. Ramos had put together the current contracts they had and provided them to the council and said he would like to condense it into one contract. Ojinaga commented that they would be getting funding from the state to do renovations and upgrades so they should look at the rates. They talked about the current rates for rental and deposits. They also went over the rates for local residents and nonresidents. After the discussion they brought up that Santa Clara charged more. Bayard will be receiving $355,000 from capital outlays to renovate, repair and upgrade the facility. Ojinaga brought up how bad the roof job had been and hoped it would be better this time. Gilbert Ortiz said Stantec will be the engineering firm for this project, and they need to be held accountable.

One of the residents asked about the use of alcohol at the community center and they said it would not be allowed. Ramos said the facility has been alcohol and drug free. The police may come and do a walk through for any event and if the rule has been violated, they can shut down an event, the renter will lose their deposit and not be able to rent in the future.

Carbajal interjected that in the past he had given up days when they had a funeral or events at the same time that needed the facility. He said he would always work with them, and the council agreed to keep his rate the same.

Representative Luis Terrazas attended to give the council updates on the legislative session. They had been able to procure $1.6 million in funding for the area. The community center has been a viable part of Bayard and they had received $355,000 for repairs and upgrades. He said some of the bills that went through will not be good for the community.

He went over one of the good bills. "I sponsored the return to work for public employees." This allows people retired from the state to return to work and not lose their pensions but also be paying into their pension. They can't come back at the level they left. It will be a win for New Mexico and make it possible to fill many vacancies.

Highway 180 has been on the list to do for 30 years. Many people came together to advocate for making the project happen from both Grant and Luna Counties. Because of costs it will have to be done in three phases. He said the first phase would start in March and has been funded. He didn't know when the second would start but it had also been funded.

They had been able to get $200,000 to get the Vocational Technical school started. Dr. Joe Shepard has been looking at the armory in Santa Clara because of costs. To have an existing building would be far more cost-effective than building. He commented that they needed to support the university. "Questioning is good, and they should be looking at comparables." He referred to the recent conversations on spending at Western New Mexico University. "They are a major player in our economy and an opportunity to keep our kids here to go to school."

Crime in the state has been a catch-and-release, revolving door and it needs reform. Terrazas said nothing had passed to address the problem. He commented that it will eventually touch everyone and mentioned he had recently lost family members due to someone being let out many times. He quoted a statistic that in Albuquerque most of the crime has been by the same 400 people.

He cautioned although they had passed many capital outlay projects the governor could still veto them.

They had not been able to have any resolve for CYFD (Child Youth and Families Department). Children have been lost and mistreated by the agency.

He thanked the council for passing the resolution to install a baby box. Silver City will also have one. Currently these boxes have saved three infants in New Mexico. It allows people choices.

Terrazas told the council that the oil-and-gas industry funds New Mexico. Sixty cents of every dollar come from oil and gas, and they should be supported. He commented that he would rather see jobs here and have regulations than obtaining the oil from the Middle East. Unfortunately for New Mexico the Clean Fuel Standard Bill will cost everyone 38 cents more a gallon at the pump. "I voted against it, but we didn't have enough to stop it." He pointed out the struggles people have already, and many make less than $15,000 a year. It will not only increase the cost of gas but will increase the cost of everything. "I feel sorry for the families already having a hard time."

He asked if they had any questions. Ojinaga wanted to know why the Vocational building would not be in Bayard like had been talked about. "It was supposed to be centrally located." Terrazas told him cost had been a big part of it. To build a new facility, with inflation would be $30 million. He went back to the highway project that now must be done in phases because of inflation.

Ojinaga brought up the taxes paid through gasoline to fix the roads. Electric cars would not be paying those taxes and still have the use of the roads. Terrazas told him that was a very good question. He had met with some dealerships in the state, and they will be forced by the state to have forty percent of their inventory be electric cars. They all told him they could not afford it, and no one has been buying them. He brought up that when we went from horses to cars it had been a slow transition. They had to have the infrastructure to support the change to realistically make that switch and that takes time. "It is the same situation, and the transition needs to happen slowly." He addressed what Ojinaga had brought up and said they didn't have any legislation to tax the electric cars. Ojinaga asked how long it would take to tax them. Terrazas said the legislature has not addressed it. "We should not be forced, and we don't need to kill the oil-and-gas industry."

The council approved the installation of a mobile home on lot 2, block 3, on the Waggoner Watson addition. Frances Gonzales said they had needed some paperwork but had now received all that would be required. Planning and Zoning had approved it also.

Ordinances and resolutions

The council approved resolution 5-2024. This resolution would be for the planning, construction, equipment, and installation of the surrender safety device.

The council approved the notice of intent for ordinance 1-2021 Section C. This will add a 300-foot requirement for a cannabis business to be away from a school or church. It will be 300 feet building to building. Ramos said this had to be done before a cannabis business could come in. It will be posted 15 days before it can be passed. It will then be posted 5 days before it can be law. Currently they have two cannabis business that want to come into Bayard. One will be at the Shamrock and the other next to the Food Basket.

The council approved resolution 6-2024. This will support the application to the New Mexico Finance Authority under the Colonias Infrastructure Fund for wastewater improvements. The application will be for $550,000 and will be for the chlorinator and the rest of the water tank rehabilitation.

Action for personnel

The council approved the swearing in of Sergeant Marcus Salas starting pay $27 an hour. Chief Hector Carrillo said when Anthony Marcus left to go to the sheriff's department it left the position of sergeant open, so he brought Salas in as sergeant.

The council put the next two promotions on hold until further information had been obtained. A lot of discussion and disagreement came from the promotions and how it had been done. Carrillo pointed out that the promotions would not cost the city any more, the names of the captain and lieutenant would just be changed. The council had questions if the policies and procedures for the promotions had been followed. Carrillo said, "I did not violate any policy."

The council approved the resignation of Robert Ruiz from the wastewater treatment plant.

Mayor, council, and department reports.

Eloy Gonzales said he didn't have a report but added he invited the little league to come and present to them what they will be doing.

Frances Gonzales let everyone know about the upcoming Housing Authority meeting and that they will be looking for bids to redo the burnt-down units.

Gilbert Ortiz said he had been meeting with department heads to learn but still has some left. "It is a learning process."

Carrillo said most of the activity for the past month has just been suspicious activity. They have been walking through the Snell Middle School and Cobre High School periodically and going to the games to have a presence. They will have two new vehicles in March and will be looking at two used vehicles for patrol.

Ramos thanked everyone for the opportunity to serve Bayard. However, his last day will be March 31, 2024, as clerk treasurer. He said he was moving on to start a new business. He went over what he had done in the past eight months. He said it had been a pleasure to work with all of them and thanked them.

Fire Chief Cody Dove just wanted to report they had gotten a car donated to the fire department by the sheriff's department.

Ojinaga had talked to PNM, and they will be getting the streetlights on highway 180 working. He expressed wanting to do something different with the little league. Every year the city pays out a lot of money to get the restrooms repaired because they keep being damaged. They need to keep a better eye on the restrooms. People had been stealing the millings at the cemetery and he said they will be locking the gates at night and added other municipalities lock theirs.

The next regular meeting will be held March 11, 2024

Meeting adjourned.