By Lynn Janes

The Village of Santa Clara held a regular meeting November 13, 2025. Mayor Arnold Lopez called the meeting to order. Mayor Pro Tem Albert Esparza,  and Trustees, Olga Amador, Peter Erickson and Ralph Trujillo attended.

The council approved the agenda, past meeting minutes and department head reports.

Mayor's report

Lopez had returned from an unsuccessful deer hunt, but it had been a lot of fun with his family. He wanted to congratulate Sheila Hudman, village administrator, as she had won Employee of the Year at the Chamber of Commerce Awards Banquet. "It is a big accomplishment." She not only works with the people in the village but has helped throughout the mining district.

December 4, 2025, Santa Clara will be presenting at the Prospectors' legislative forum at Western New Mexico University. They will present for the top five capital outlay projects they will be asking funding for.

Lopez said the council will only have one meeting in November and December due to the holidays. December 18, 2025, they will hold the employee Christmas Party.

He congratulated Esparza and Erickson for their win at the election. Lopez said he would be glad to have them back. The village didn't succeed on the general obligation bond. He respected everyone's vote whether it had been yes or no. They had fallen short by a small number of votes and will just do what they can with the roads with what they have.

Hudman said the dinner for the award and honoring the volunteer firefighters that worked on the Trout Fire would be the next day. Lopez thanked all the firefighters. "It was a nice thing for the county to do."

Public comment none currently

New business

The council approved the cutting of the curb by Kenneth Tappen to construct a 12-foot apron for a driveway at 504 Encino Street. He had come to the previous meeting, and they had spoken a little about the request. Code enforcement had checked it out and approved it.

Resolutions

The council tabled resolution 2025-39, a schedule for the 2026 holiday season due to some last minute changes that needed to be made. It will be on the agenda in December.

The council approved resolution 2025-40 adopting the 2025-2030 Santa Clara community forest management plan. This will be the final plan, and they had already started some projects earlier in the year and had already done planting and projects along Fort Bayard Street, at the senior center and other areas. Currently the village has been working on a grant to put in irrigation to water the trees. In the future they will be looking at doing some planting in the cemetery. They will be planting trees at the Bradley Hotel even though it had not been in the plan.

Lopez said they had all been great to work with this past year.

The council went in closed session

The council came back into open session.

Hiring, raises and terminations

The council approved a raise for all employees starting next pay period. All employees will receive fifty cents an hour raise, police will receive two dollars an hour raise, and the police clerk will receive one dollar an hour raise. The police chief had given up one position and out of that they distributed that among all employees.

Lopez wanted to retain the village employees and hoped they could find a way to do this every year. Lopez acknowledged Larry Montoya, fire chief / animal control for all his hard work and countless calls he has to answer. The village will be receiving funding for the animal shelter that will really help.

Second regular meeting cancelled due to Thanksgiving holiday
The next meeting in December will be December 11, 2025

Meeting Adjourned