By Lynn Janes

[Writers note; article partially written (after executive session) using the minutes provided by the Village of Santa Clara due to technical issues.]

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

The council approved the minutes with the change of moving the executive session after the mayor's report. They also approved the minutes from the last two meetings and the department reports.

Mayor's report

Lopez wanted to review the department head reports and had some questions and comments. The Santa Clara fire department had three calls in the past month. Some had been medical calls. Lopez asked Larry Montoya, fire chief, about the new restaurant inspection and how it had gone. Montoya said they had done it the previous week. The restaurant has one more inspection before they can open. It will be sometime in March that they can open. Montoya said it had been really nice inside. Lopez said it would be good for the village and residents to have the restaurant. It will be a little different cuisine and have specialty coffees.

Lopez commented that Rosemary Arciero, code enforcement, had been busy, and Montoya had been busy with the volunteers for the animal shelter. Arciero had been looking at and working on the vacant homes. Lonnie Sandoval, police chief, had not been able to attend but Sergeant Ford was there. Lopez saw from the report they had been busy and ask Ford if he had anything to add and he said no. He thanked all for their hard work.

Lopez and Sheila Hudman, village administrator, had recently returned from the legislature. They worked together on current projects and some to begin in the spring. His main focus will be the roads in the village. The village will be sending out for bids for areas they already have funds allocated. Downtown looks great but he wants to continue that trend.

Hudman said they would be combining local government road funds from last year with this year's. Lopez had already taken a drive around with one company showing them the roads that need the most attention and spoke to the potholes and cracks.

Hudman added the Clean and Beautiful grant they have of $7,200 for shrubs, plants, and flowers. The plan currently has been to take the rock out of the buffer strips on the north side of town and replace them with matching bark placed on the other end of the village. The New Mexico Community Forest Tree Network would be helping with the plant choice and design. They had also sent Hudman to a class in Albuquerque to learn how to care for the trees and identify any problems such as pests, fungus, care for the trees, etc.

Lopez said his main thing to address would be the infrastructure of the roads. He wanted to finish some of the road projects and move into other projects.

The council went into closed session

The council came back into open session.

New business

Program manager for New Mexico Community Forest Network presented their plan on the five-year project to plant trees in Santa Clara, Hurley, Bayard, Silver City, Lordsburg and Deming. The project includes tree planting, tree care and removal of some trees that needed to be cut down. The YCC (Youth Conservation Corps) will be assisting in the projects. Lopez and Hudman said they would be open to any ideas the program has.

Joseph Sepulveda had not attended concerning a request he had made to the council to put a 12' x 24' camping trailer and live in it while awaiting property improvements at 1011 Jasper Street.

The council approved the request from Judge David Grijalva to move the court clerk hours from full time to part time.

The council approved the quote from Badger Western Exploration Inc. to service and repair well number four in the amount of $31,863.00.

Resolutions

The council approved resolution 2025-03. This had to do with the second quarter budget adjustments to cover negative balances in other funds awaiting reimbursement.

The council approved resolution 2025-04. This adopts the amendments of section four of the Village of Santa Clar employment manual. Manual section titled attendance, holidays, leaves and reduction in force.

Hiring raises and terminations

The council approved the completion of the six-month probationary period for Cruz Salas, public works clerk, and a raise from $16 an hour to $17 and hour.

Second regular meeting to be held Thursday February 27, 2025, at 6:00 pm
First regular meeting to be held Thursday March 13, 2025, at 6:00 pm

Meeting Adjourned