By Lynn Janes

The Village of Santa Clara held a regular meeting September 12, 2024. Mayor Arnold Lopez called the meeting to order. Mayor Pro Tem Albert Esparza, and Trustees Peter Erickson, Olga Amador and Ralph Trujillo attended. 

Mayors report

Lopez said they had a sewer line break between Aspen Street and Aurora Street. The lines went down as deep as 8 feet. They had J and S Plumbing come and they will be obtaining the parts to have it repaired. The village maintenance crew could not have done the job. They have had Humphrey Enterprises come in twice a day to clean up until the line has been repaired. Some sidewalks still need to be installed downtown. Lopez said they have more projects he will talk about at the meeting in October. He and Sheila Hudman, village administrator, had met with Freeport McMoRan concerning FMI quarterly reports. 

Lopez said he had been out hunting the past weekend and everyone had stepped up and things had run smooth. The following week he will be meeting with the Gila Backcountry Horsemen. The group will be having an event coming up in the Fort Bayard area. Hudman said they would be dry camping for two days and having back country rescue training. This will be their yearly rendezvous and will include members from all over the state. Lopez said he had been asked to speak at the event. 

Hudman announced some other events at Fort Bayard. In October Cobre would be having a class reunion and in November would be the Tamale Fest. The following week they would have all new signs up around town from the construction and the contractors would be cleaning the streets and sidewalks. Bellm Street project has almost been completed. They have one area they can’t finish until the DOT (Department of transportation) gives permission to connect to their sidewalk. Hudman will be meeting with them to have that taken care of. When everything has been finished, they will patch all at one time the asphalt  that needed to be done from the construction. 

New business

Aaron Amador and Billy Trujillo addressed the council requesting to rent office space at the armory. Amador said he had been gone for twenty years but had grown up in the area and attended Cobre High School. He had experience in successful business training. When he came home, he saw kids that would be great leaders go under the radar in sports. They had great coaching but would be capable of more. They want to stay at the high school level for now and offer leadership and development training. Currently he has been coaching weightlifting at the high school. It starts with teaching them discipline and encouraging them. They have applied for a 501c3 to start a program that would begin with a monthly leadership training. The training will include bringing in local heroes to speak to the kids. They just need a space to have the training. This will help them prepare for life with hard work, discipline and dedication. Sports will be a great gateway. Amador said, “I attribute my success to athletics, hard work and discipline.”

Lopez asked him how often they would use it and how they would use the space. Amador said two times a week to start but would like to expand. He said he had been involved in a nonprofit organization in Florida like what they will be doing. The program will also be providing tutoring and motivational speakers later. Hudman asked what kind of space they needed. Amador said an office and classroom. Lopez said he wanted to work this out with them if the council agreed and do what worked for both. Lopez acknowledged they had done well starting the weightlifting program at the high school. He wanted to help them because they had been doing a good job with the youth. Billy Trujillo said he sees leadership qualities in these kids they don’t know they have. “It will be life changing when they find out.” He said this had been Amador’s brainchild. He strived to keep the weight room open all summer, so the kids had somewhere to go. 

The council approved moving forward with a rental agreement. Yvonne Gonzales, village attorney will be meeting with them to negotiate a lease and rental agreement plan that works for both parties. 

The council approved the quote from Larry Montoya, fire chief, to purchase extrication tools in the amount of $44,807.83 from Municipal Emergency Services. The funds to pay for the equipment will come from their fire fund and use what had been left from last year;s funds. Montoya said this would just be an upgrade to what they have and will help them be more proficient. Someone from the company will come to the department and provide free training for the use of the equipment. 

The council approved the quote from Montoya to purchase firefighting training software in the amount of $1,049.00 initial payment and $708.00 a year thereafter from Lexipol for Firefighter Training. It will be paid out of the fire fund. The software allows them to do training online anytime and includes all the courses offered. 

Montoya had additional information for the council. He had been contacted by Red Cross Disaster and they want to set up an event. He didn’t have all the information currently. He did know they want to set up an event to provide smoke detectors to the residents that need them. The Red Cross will provide and install them for free. He will be meeting with them soon and will know more and share with the council at that time. 

The council approved the quote from Lonnie Sandoval, police chief, to purchase police unit cameras in the amount of $61,422.00 from Axon Enterprise Inc. It will be a five-year contract and be paid with the law enforcement funds. 

Ordinances

The council approved ordinance 2024-03 village of Santa Clara affordable housing plan. The MFA (Municipal Finance Authority) had sent a letter approving the ordinance. Hudman said it had been the same one they approved before. It had been published and then sent to the MFA for approval. They just had to follow the full process to have it in place. 

The council went into closed session

The council came back into open session

Hiring raises and terminations. 

The council approved the request by Sandoval for a $3 an hour raise. Sandoval had not been able to attend to speak to the council due to a family emergency, his mother had passed away. Lopez said they had talked about his request for some time and after careful consideration had agreed. 

Second regular meeting to be held Thursday September 26, 2024, at 6:00 pm

First regular meeting to be held Thursday October 10, 2024, at 6:00 pm

Meeting Adjourned