By Lynn Janes

The Village of Santa Clara held a regular meeting March 27, 2025. Mayor Arnold Lopez called the meeting to order. Mayor Pro Tem Albert Esparza an Trustees, Peter Erickson, and Ralph Trujillo attended. Olga Amador didn't attend.

Mayors report

Lopez said they had been able to have the wells working again in Hanover. Another contractor had gone out along with Matt Dement of Dement Electric and they had fixed it. They still will need to do some more work on the chlorinators.

Badger Western will have well four running and then they can give well three a break. With the colonias funding coming they can do all the needed work for well three in the summer.

Lopez spoke to the owners of the new restaurant, and they will be doing a soft opening on April 5, 2025. He invited all the village employees to come. It will then open the following Monday.

The village will be doing some road improvements within the year. They will add some curbs and gutters in areas. Lopez called PNM about fixing the road on Maple Street. They had opened up the road and left a mess that needed to be cleaned up.

Southwest Asphalt had provided Sheila Hudman, village administrator, with quotes and they will start working with DOT (Department of Transportation). He hoped late April they would start the chip seal and pothole repairs.

Lopez asked Leandra Esparza, city clerk, if he had missed anything. She said she had been able to get the information she needed to post on the Facebook page, and they would be using it more. Lopez said they would also be cleaning it up and having accurate information.

The council went into closed session

The council came back into open session.

Public comment

Reynoldo "Reyne" Maynes addressed the council with some concerns about the variance Jaime Perez had asked for to have a car repair business. He had lived in Santa Clara most of his life and his parents live near the area of the proposed variance. His parents had received a letter, but he knew they would not submit anything because of their age and not wanting to drum up problems. He had spoken to them, and they had safety concerns. His parents could have problems exiting the area if something would happen because that area has been very congested. He cited several other concerns with safety including combustible chemicals. "There is a reason we have residential areas and a reason we have commercial areas." Maynes added that his heart went out to the Perez family but hoped they could have a good plan for some safe barrier for everyone. He pointed out that if they approved this it could open up the community to others wanting to do the same.

Lopez thanked him for his comments and added for the record they have had two public hearings for this variance requested by Perez. In those they had heard from Perez, his attorney and other residents. The case has actually been closed but the comment welcomed.

Old business

The council disapproved the variance request made by Perez. It had been disapproved due to health, wellness, and safety to the community in the residential area. All had voted to disapprove the variance. Code enforcement will be citing Perez to have the property cleaned up.

New Business

The council approved the application by Susan Garay to move a 28-foot by 48-foot 2025 Barbarita double wide mobile home to 204 James Street. Rosemary Arciero, code enforcement officer, said it would be a brand new home and met all requirements. Lopez said it had an old home, and it had been demolished to move this in.

The council approved task order three. Leandra Esparza said this would be for the Oak Street Bridge project for survey and design. They were not sure yet if it will be a two-lane bridge.

The council approved the agreement between the village and David P. Chandler for grant-writing services. He had been doing this for the village for a while and has done a good job and it helps the girls in the office.

Resolutions

The council approved resolutions 2025-9. Leandra Esparza said they had already approved this resolution but had to make some small changes in the areas being done. Some streets had been removed and some streets added.

The council approved resolution 2025-10. This allows the participation of the destination forward grant program. This will finish Maple Street.

Proclamations

The village of Santa Clara has made a proclamation declaring a drought. Larry Montoya, fire chief, said because of the dry weather and fire season starting was the reason for this. He said Silver City had already done this. It will put restrictions on any open fires or burns in the village limits. Currently they will be in stage one. The proclamation will go through the year unless conditions change. The restrictions could go to stage two or drop. Montoya will be posting the proclamation poster around the village, and it will be put out on Text My Gov and also be put on Facebook.

Lopez added something pertaining to the proclamation. They have had some more situations on Cameron Creek off the bridge and have had people illegally camping there. Some abandoned campfires had been found. Lopez said he had called the Forest Service, and they will be figuring out the exact boundaries and addressing the situation. The biggest concern was open fires and how quickly something can happen on a windy day. "We don't want people hurt down there regardless of if they are homeless or not. They also need to know they can't live down there." They asked the residents if they smelled a fire to call county dispatch.

Lopez had forgotten to add some information about the Bradley Hotel in his mayor's report. The project will still be moving forward but the previous contractor that had provided a quote for services (stucco), but no agreement had been signed andnow he could not be reached. Lopez has been trying to call him, and his calls have not been returned for some time. Every effort had been made to reach out and make it work with this contractor but could not. He had two other quotes come in and had run them by the council. Both quotes had been good and asked the council which one they would want to use. He approved of both but just wanted to move forward.

The council approved the cancelation of the original contractor because the contractor had been unable to fulfill the bid recommendations.

They approved the quote from J and J Stucco in the amount of $60,000 plus tax to do the outside of the Bradley Hotel. He has projected to start on April 8, 2025, and an end date of June 1, 2025.

Lopez said it had been unfortunate they could not work with the original contractor. "It's not personal. It's just business. I just think maybe he had an overload of other stuff going on in his life."

Budget meeting to be held Thursday April 10, 2025, at 4:00 pm
First regular meeting to be held Thursday April 10, 2025, at 6:00 pm
Second regular meeting to be held Thursday April 24, 2025, at 4:00 pm

Maynes had some comments about the stucco work, as he is a contractor himself. He did want to add in the end that he liked all the improvements he had seen in the village. "It is really gratifying to see."

Meeting Adjourned